Shadowing Practice: The Truth About Sugar and Wheat - Learn English Speaking with Video
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45 sentences
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1
Too much glucose.
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coming to the cell, The cell wall develops insulin resistance.
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You've heard of insulin resistance?
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It's as if the cell says, "I'm sick of the side of you." And so the glucose stays in the cell.
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In the blood, sorry.
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In the blood.
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can't get out of the blood and into the cell because of insulin resistance.
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AND SO THE BRAIN SEES There's still too much glucose in the blood, so it starts screaming at the pancreas, "More insulin!
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More insulin !" And so the pancreas is releasing more insulin, more insulin.
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The problem isn't that we need more insulin, the problem is we've got insulin resistance.
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And what's the body going to do now with all this glucose in the blood?
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It'll just spill out in the urine.
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Did you know that diabetes mellitus means sweet urine?
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The glucose can't get into the cell so it's spilled out in the urine.
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because they noticed that the ants were feeding on urine.
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So they tested the urine.
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This is back in the early 1800s.
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when they first diagnosed diabetes.
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Diabetes was not around until sugar was refined.
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And they noticed that this problem didn't happen in the little villages with the poor people, because they couldn't afford sugar.
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It was only the wealthy ones that could afford the sugar, and it was the wealthy clients were getting the diabetes.
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There's no doubt about it.
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This refined sugar has played a huge role in diabetes.
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Mm -hmm.
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Thank you.
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There's a book called Sugar Blues.
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It's a fascinating book by William Dufty and he gives the history of sugar.
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But something else has happened.
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Something else has happened that has caused this explosion in diabetes.
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And it's something to do with the grain that is in the majority of cereals, the majority of breads.
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all the cakes, biscuits, donuts, cookies, in fact we've got a lot of ticks there, what majority of pizzas are made out of,
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what the majority of pastas are made of, It's wheat.
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So what's the problem with wheat?
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One lady said to me, "But Barbara, God made wheat good." I said, "He did." "And Jesus is called the bread of life." I said,
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"He is." But the bread that Jesus referred to is not the bread we have today.
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It used to be called the staff of life.
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I'd like to suggest, as you will see, it's almost the staff of DEV today.
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Except for Tristan's bread, of course.
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Thank you. So why?
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Well, back in the 1950s, Wheat was put through intensive crossbreeding.
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They wanted to create a plant with a high yield of grain.
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To help with the starvation crisis in Africa, Mexico, India, And they put this through intensive crossbreeding.
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Now at first, because when I was a little girl, the wheat used to grow that high.
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And at first, the stalk would break under the weight of the heavy load of grain.
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So back to the drawing board.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “The Truth About Sugar and Wheat”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: insulin, diabetes, sugar, cell, glucose. This video has 45 sentences and 498 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:39. The speaker talks at a steady 136 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| insulin noun | /ˈɪnsəlɪn/ | A polypeptide hormone that regulates carbohydrate metabolism (in various animals including humans). |
| diabetes noun | /ˌdaɪəˈbiːtiːz/ | Diabetes mellitus; any of a group of metabolic diseases whereby a person (or other animal) has high blood sugar due to an inability to produce, or inability to… |
| glucose noun | /ˈɡluː.kəʊz/ | A simple monosaccharide (sugar) with a molecular formula of C₆H₁₂O₆; a principle source of energy for cellular metabolism. |
| urine noun | /ˈjʊɹɪn/ | Liquid waste consisting of water, salts, and urea, which is made in the kidneys, stored in the bladder, then released through the urethra. |
| wheat noun | /ˈwiːt/ | Any of the several cereal grains, of the genus Triticum, that yields flour as used in bakery. |
| grain noun | /ɡɹeɪn/ | The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice. |
| crossbreed verb | /ˈkɹɑːsˌbɹiːd/ | To produce (an organism) by the mating of individuals of different breeds, varieties, or species; hybridize. |
| pancreas noun | /ˈpæŋ.kɹi.əs/ | A gland near the stomach which secretes a fluid into the duodenum to assist with food digestion. |
| refine verb | /ɹɪˈfaɪn/ | To purify; reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities. |
| spill verb | /spɪl/ | To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour. |
| intensive adjective | /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/ | Done with intensity or to a great degree; thorough. |
| biscuit noun | /ˈbɪs.kɪt/ | A small, flat, baked good which is either hard and crisp or else soft but firm; a cookie. |
| diagnose verb | /ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/ | To determine which disease is causing a sick person's signs and symptoms; to find the diagnosis. |
| fascinate verb | /ˈfæsɪneɪt/ | To evoke an intense interest or attraction in someone. |
| starvation noun | /stɑɹˈveɪʃən/ | A condition of severe suffering due to a lack of nutrition. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. |
| make out of verb | To construct from; to create (something) using (a material or substance). |
| put through verb | To connect (a telephone caller) with the callee. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was refined · are made · is called |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | You've heard · has played · has happened |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, we've, couldn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like insulin, diabetes, glucose.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.