Well you may think your sugar intake is limited to just

a spoonful here and there.

Unfortunately, that little bit adds up, and according to Dr.

Ian Smith, the average American consumes-- get this--

more than 150 pounds of sugar every year.

And to make matters worse, that overindulgence

is taking a toll on our health.

Take a look.

NARRATOR: We have a love affair with sugar,

but it's making us sick.

Bestselling author, Dr. Ian Smith

says, in order to feel better fast,

we need to reduce our intake of these granular crystals.

In his book, "Blast the Sugar Out," Dr. Ian

shares his five week plan to reduce sugar and carb-loads

by eating simple, affordable foods.

Well, Dr. Ian Smith is with us now,

and welcome back to the 700 Club.

Good to be back.

Thank you, so much.

How big a problem is sugar?

Oh, it's huge.

It's everywhere.

You know 29--

It is everywhere!

29.1 million people are diabetic, type 2 diabetics.

86 million Americans are pre-diabetic,

that means that they're on the verge of diabetes

and most don't even realize they are.

But the idea is that, I'm saying to people,

you don't have to eliminate sugar, but reduce

some of the sugars.

Control it, yes.

Yeah.

Control the sugar, absolutely.

What does it do to our bodies when we eat it, Ian?

You know, it's interesting.

So sugar is important, actually.

We actually need sugar.

It's a great source of energy, it's

the number one source of energy for our brain.

Our muscles need it, so we need sugar.

But when you have too much sugar you can't process it.

It affects your blood vessels, it

affects your heart, your eyes.

I mean, it causes cardiovascular disease.

You saw this firsthand with your grandmother.

Tell us how this whole sugar thing initiated for you.

So my grandmother was a type 2 diabetic.

I was a first-year medical student,

and I didn't know medicine at that time.

And there she is right there, I miss Gram.

And so she got this diagnosis, we were so scared.

We thought it was a death sentence, because she

had sugar diabetes--

So type 2 is when you're diagnosed as an adult.

Yes, well kids now, unfortunately, have it,

but it's not type 1.

Type 1 is a genetic issue where you're not making insulin.

So my grandmother had it and I said

I started reading real fast.

And what I read back then-- this is a long time

ago-- was exercise and reduce your sugar content.

So I said, Gram, let's join the gym.

Now here's this old black lady from the south, who

had never worked on her life.

Sure!

Right.

So Grams said, OK, let's do it.

After two weeks, she went to her doctor, and her doctor said,

what are you doing?

She said, why do you say that?

He said, your blood sugar levels have been cut in half.

Really?

And she said, well, my grandson's got me in a gym,

and I'm cutting my sugar.

So it worked.

Wow.

It worked.

And so when I decided to attack sugar this year,

because so many Americans don't realize

how much sugar they're consuming and how

it's affecting their body.

I decided to go back to the old basics of my grandmother, which

is increase your exercise, but reduce the bad sugars.

Still have sugars, by the way, because there

are natural sugars, right?

Yes, I was going to say--

There's fruit, there are vegetables, there's milk--

those are all good sugars.

But let's reduce some of these sugars.

Yeah, well, you've created a five-week program.

And I want to get into that, but let's start

by talking about sugar consumption.

Because you said, and I think it's true, most of us

don't realize how much of the bad sugar we're getting.

Oh, my goodness.

So the average American consumes this much sugar

in the course of a day.

A course of a day!

About 3/4 of a cup.

In the course of a week, three pounds of sugar.

In the course of a month, 13 pounds

of sugar, which makes 156 pounds of sugar for the year,

and 66 of those pounds are added sugars.

That's what we're worried about.

It's the added sugars that we're putting either on the table,

or in processed foods.

And that's the stuff that's addicting, right?

Oh, my goodness.

So sugar is addictive because when you consume it,

it releases a chemical called dopamine in your brain, which

is a happy chemical.

We like that.

We like that, right?

So the more sugar you eat, the more dopamine you release,

the more sugar you want.

And so we're trying to break-- so this book will

help you break that addiction.

I wanted to show here, by the way, this one

I wanted to take with you.

If you want to be able to see how much sugar you're

consuming, take the number of grams of sugar--

here it is 39-- um, 38.

So take the number of grams of sugar, divide it by 4.

That will tell you how many teaspoons of sugar

are in one serving of that particular product.

Are you kidding me?

So almost 10 teaspoons just in this one soda.

Wow!

Boom, boom, boom.

So this is why this book is so important,

so people need to know all these sugars are in there.

Let's start your program, week one.

So week one is calibration.

So the idea is let's see where you are, and let's

slowly reduce the sugar.

So you can have regular foods, by the way,

you don't have to just eat diabetic foods.

So, yes, there's French toast, but there's real maple syrup,

and there's some berries--

Really?

Yes, it's all about portion size.

Look at the size, it's not five slices, right?

It's a mixture.

So the idea is with calibration the first week.

It's let's hit the reset button, and get you reducing sugar

and doing the right thing.

Don't chuck it, just start it.

Don't chuck it, exactly.

OK, week two.

Yeah, week two.

Now this is a veggie burger.

The idea is you're going to be able to have regular foods.

So week two is called focus.

Because most people actually go off of a plan in week two.

Week one they get through, week two tends to be tough.

So now we're focusing on making sure that we're eating better,

we're taking little more sugar out, we want more color,

we want more fiber.

And you will have some what we call, Power Ups.

Now your Power Ups are things that are in the book,

in case you didn't have enough to eat,

you need a little boost of energy.

You can have some of the Power Ups, or all the Power Ups.

Good ways to do that.

Good ways to actually get more energy.

I just wan to say I love veggie burgers--

They're great, right?

Yes, they are.

But listen, if you like beef, you can have beef in the book.

Listen, all the recipes are simple and easy.

Each day is spelled out for you-- breakfast, lunch, dinner,

and snacks.

And you can swap out as you want to.

OK, week three.

Weeks three is important because this

is the breakout week.

So we have some beef here, we have our vegetables,

as you see.

Looks great.

And the reason why people like week three

is because this is when you start noticing a change.

Most people say to you, are you doing something different?

You know what I mean?

So you're breaking out, you typically drop maybe a size--

a dress size, you start feeling good.

And now you're well into the program.

Awesome!

OK, and, ooh, and I even see some--

concession.

Absolutely, because this-- the plan is realistic.

I'm not asking you to eat foods--

And you never look at something again.

Absolutely.

Who's going to live their life without having some sweets.

Tell me this is good, please.

It is wonderful.

Oh, good!

This is air-popped popcorn, try to buy air-popped popcorn,

it's great.

It's low in calories and it's a whole grain,

has all three parts of the grain.

There are tons of snacks in the book, as well as 45 recipes.

So you don't have to go hungry.

No, never.

And people say, actually, there's too much to eat,

sometimes.

Wonderful.

Which is a good thing, right?

Right!

So also in the book, we have with the recipes

and the snacks, I have swap outs.

So if you want to swap things out

for example, if you like Snickers, 27 grams divided

by four, it's about seven teaspoons just

in that Snickers.

But instead of that you can have the Nutella on some toast,

some whole grain toast.

That's good.

This is very important, look at this yogurt.

People tend to buy yogurt with fruit on the bottom.

Don't do that.

It tastes great, but guess what--

Sugar, sugar, sugar.

--tons of sugar, 30 grams of sugar in some of these yogurts.

So instead get the plain yogurt and add your fresh berries

and fruit--

Which gives the sweetness.

--still get your sweetness, but much less sugar.

OK.

Even your salad dressing.

So let's look real fast here.

So this salad dressing has--

a buh, buh, buh, buh, buh--

So you can that without glasses, I can't help,

So this is actually not a bad salad dressing,

it only has a gram of sugar in it,

but some have 10 or 12 grams of sugar.

So your swap out for salad dressing is use some olive oil.

And you can get wonderfully flavored olive oils now.

Absolutely.

That are really delicious.

Put a little pepper, maybe a little salt. So these

are important swap outs, as well as your cashews.

Take your cashews out, replace them with walnuts.

Is a big difference?

Not a big difference, but remember, small changes

yield big differences.

And it's the combination, I'm sure, of all of these things.

It may seem small with each individual choice,

but it's all adding up to something wonderful for you.

You know, it's interesting, we have a Facebook group

called Sugar Blasters, so people at home

should join our Facebook group.

And people are posting the changes that they're seeing.

And by the way, this is not just a plan

for diabetics or pre-diabetics.

It's for everyone.

People are losing weight, up to 20 pounds in five weeks.

They're dropping their blood sugars by 30%.

But more importantly, they're breaking their addiction,

because sugar is so addictive.

And they're posting recipes and workouts.

So it really is about a lifestyle change, not just

something that's trendy.

And actually, while you might not

feel like working out now, when you

get rid of the lethargy that comes after the sugar high,

you probably are willing to do something.

Absolutely.

And people have said that after being

on the plan for five weeks, they've actually gone back

to try to eat some of the things that they've eaten before,

or drink.

It's too sweet.

Yes.

Because your body actually re-acclimates and says,

I don't want all this sugar anymore.

You know, we've been talking about the plan.

The plan is in your book, I want to mention this, "Blast

the Sugar Out."

You know, I feel like--

I admit, I'm a sugar addict and--

A lot of us are, so am I.

I'm adhering to your plan.

I'm going to start this because today, I

felt like in my quiet time, the Lord said,

the reason you're not having success

is you don't have a plan.

You can be well-intentioned, you can talk about it all you want,

but if you don't have a plan, you're

not going to have success.

So "Blast the Sugar Out," it's available nationwide.

Dr. Ian Smith with us again with some life-changing information.

Thank you, so much, my friend.

Nice to see you, again.

You, too.

It's a wonderful book, and we all need to get on it.

So let's do that and get on the web site as well.

OK.

Absolutely.

All right.

It's a deal.