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Pairing Sugary Drinks With High-Protein Meals Could Cause Body to Store More Fat

New research from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Grand Forks Human Nutrition Center shows that combining high-protein foods with sugar-sweetened drinks increases the body’s fat storage, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Study authors said that one-third of the additional calories provided by the drinks were not only unexpended, but increased participants’ cravings to eat savory and salty foods for four hours after eating.

If ever there were a time to rethink what you eat and how you burn energy, it’s now. Sugar cravings are nothing new — we’ve all experienced them. What is new is that you don’t have to go hungry to gain control of your life and, ultimately, your health. More than half of Americans struggle with chronic illness, and 1 in 5 deaths in the U.S. is obesity-related. This is a direct result of eating far too much sugar and grains, too much protein and far too little healthy fat.

All you need is to learn the proper balance of proteins, vegetables and fruits in your diet, and how to burn fat for fuel to optimize your mitochondrial function. This means turning the USDA’s food pyramid upside-down so that your body is able to burn fat as its primary fuel rather than sugars. Ketogenic diets are very effective for this, as is fasting.

In my book, “Fat for Fuel,” I show you how to burn fat for fuel. That’s high-quality healthy fats, as in olives and olive oil, coconuts and coconut oil, butter and other dairy from raw grass fed organic milk, avocados, grass fed meats, raw nuts such as macadamia and pecans, and more.

It also means ditching any and all trans fats and highly refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils, which are high in damaged omega-6 and produce toxic oxidation products like cyclic aldehydes when heated.