When I was a youngin’ in my early 20’s, the low fat craze was gaining some serious traction. I imprinted hard on the concept. In fact, I specifically remember going to the grocery store with “low fat” in mind and discovering the cornucopia of foods I could consume. I was SO excited!
Twizzlers? Fat free! Snack Well cookies? Low fat enough to be fair game. Hard candy? Soda? Popcorn? Yes, yes, yes!
I gave this new diet the serious college try. How could I not with these “healthful” choices? And I also clearly recall my dismay in discovering that despite STRICT adherence (twizzlers for dinner?), and a heavy bicycling workout, I was getting fat.
It was a bit of a biochemical head scratcher for me, and a serious lesson learned around dubious dietary trends. Now, I solidly understand the sugar>insulin>fat/inflammation connection. Nothing stokes the generation of adipose (and associated total-body inflammation) like SUGAR. I recall a professor in medical school stating that sugar would be regulated as a drug should it have been discovered more recently….
With all this said, I am excited to check out a few documentaries coming down the pike looking closely at the scourge that is sugar in our woefully sugar-addicted society. Check ‘em out: That Sugar Film, Sugar Coated, Sugar Rush.
Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study.
Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Additional publications
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