JJ Virgin - The Sugar Impact Diet - Your Best Life!

In this episode of Your Best Life, Karl interviews JJ Virgin, a board certified fitness and nutrition specialist. JJ debunks the myth about the Glycemic Index, tells us why all sugars are not the same, shows how fruit promotes the creation of body fat, and gives us the 14 day plan you can use to reduce your addiction to sugar and program your body to burn fat!

JJ is the author of three New York Times bestsellers, and has dedicated her life to helping people overcome weight loss resistance. She has appeared on numerous TV shows, including Dr. Oz, Rachael Ray, Dr. Phil, and Access Hollywood. In this podcast, Karl and JJ discuss sugar and the medical industry, the Glycemic Index, The Sugar Impact Diet, and the 7 Groups of Sugars.

Click here To get JJ's exclusive bonuses for this episode!

Main Questions Asked:

• How did this become your life's mission?
• How can parents deal with picky eaters?
• How did the Virgin Diet become a New York Times Best
Seller?
• What is the science behind food inflammation / sensitivity?
• How can Inflammation impact weight loss?
• What are practical steps to eliminating sugar?
• Are substitutes a good alternative?

Key Lessons Learned:

• Every day is an opportunity to do better. Too often we think of who we are right now and not who we want to be and act like it.
• Successful people don't say, 'I'll do it tomorrow,' they do it now!
• Your health has to be your number one priority.

Parental Impact

• Parents need to be uber role models because if you're not doing it, then your children won't do it.
• Exposure equals preference. Kid's can't eat it if you don't buy it. Children will learn what they like to eat as they get used to eating good food. When they go to parties, bad stuff won't taste as good.

Food Intolerance

• One of the key things to weight loss resistance is food intolerance.
• People have different issues with food, whether it is genetic, hormonal, or immune.
• Most people have no idea what it is to feel fabulous with sustained energy, a great mood, and focus.
• JJ believes people have to completely pull gluten out of the diet.
• When you understand how food makes you feel, you realize how crazy a cheat day is. You would never say, “I'm going to drink two bottles of Tequila!"

Sugar & The Medical Industry

• Sugar is our number one drug of choice; however, if it were a drug, it would be illegal.
• Studies show sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine.
• Most doctors don't have the training to understand the issues of artificial sweeteners and fructose. If they knew better, they would do better.
• In the medical community, fat is still seen as causing heart disease when it's the sugar and not the fat.
• All sugar is not created equal, and it's not about cutting all sugar but lowering your sugar impact.

Glycemic Index

• JJ believes that we have so many problems because we have been looking at sugar all wrong and through the lens of the glycemic index.
• The Glycemic Index looks at a 50g dose of food and asks how much your blood sugar rises from this. This makes sense if you are eating a potato but not carrots.
• You need to look at the amount of food you would eat in reality, and how much that drives up your blood sugar. This will also change depending on what you eat with it.
• The Glycemic Index doesn't take fructose into account.
• All carbohydrates, except for fiber, turn in to sugar in the body. So, carbohydrates are sugar. The body makes its own sugar.
• All your carbohydrates are either fructose or are going to turn into glucose.
• Fructose goes straight to the liver, where it will turn straight into fat. Because it didn't raise blood sugar, it doesn't trigger any of the satiety signals or lower your appetite.
• By eating fructose, you are essentially making fat and are still hungry.
• We need to look at the impact of sugar. Is it making you store fat or burn it, giving you cravings or a bigger appetite?

The Sugar Impact Diet - Key Steps

• Step 1: Add before you take away (protein, fat and fiber).
• We eat too little fat. This makes us hungry and want more
carbs.
• People think they need sugar, but you want your body to make it from the food we eat.
• If you go too low in good carbohydrates, then you'll stress out your body and sap your adrenal glands.
• Lower sugar over time instead of trying to go cold turkey.
• JJ suggests tapering down, e.g. if you are eating pasta, switch to quinoa pasta. If you are eating a white potato, switch to sweet potato.
• In the first two weeks, go from high impact to medium while eating clean protein, healthy fats, and fiber.
• Then do a fructose reset for the next two weeks where you reclaim the sensitivity you have to sweet. Get fructose as close to zero as possible.
• During the second two weeks, the average person loses 10lbs and 2" off their waist.
JJ included items that don't have calories but have an impact on your body, such as artificial sweeteners.
• JJ doesn't believe in going low or no carb unless someone has cancer or is epileptic.

7 Groups of Sugars

1) Roots

2) Fruits

3) Grains

4) Low fat & no fat

5) Dairy

6) Diet foods

7) Drinks, dressings & sweeteners

Eating and Sleeping

• The whole idea of eating every 2-3 hours to keep your blood sugar stable is ridiculous. It keeps insulin high which prevents using free fatty acids (fat) for fuel
• You should to be able to go 4-6 hours before you need to eat again. This means you've trained your body to have access to stored fat for fuel, not sugar.
• The 4-4-12 concept (4 hours between breakfast and lunch, 4 hours between lunch and dinner, 12 hours until your next meal).
• Having an overnight fast for 12-14 hours is huge for weight control. This is where most weight loss occurs.

The 4 T's

1) Test

2) Taper

3) Transition

4) Transform

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5 star rating and review in iTunes!

Links to Resources Mentioned

The Virgin Diet

The Virgin Diet Cookbook

The Sugar Impact Diet

2 click to tweet links (Thanks for helping spread the word!)

Tweet: Discover the Sugar Impact Diet and start dropping pounds w/ @jjvirgin on Your Best Life Podcast! @wellnessgroup http://ctt.ec/d0YfV+

Tweet: QUIZ: Know the 7 Kinds of Hidden Sugars That Make Fat? Find out w/ @jjvirgin on Your Best Life Podcast! http://ctt.ec/DNcbs+