Sugar is Poison

You have heard me say this over and over and over again.  Sorry about that.  No…I’m actually not.  You need to hear this.  You need to understand this.  You need to believe this.  You need to stop eating it.  Here’s why:

1. Sugar makes you fat.  
2. Sugar can cause Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease. 
3. Sugar is addicting.

 Let’s deep a little deeper into my statements above. 

1. Sugar makes you fat.  Really a no brainer here, right?  Doesn’t everyone believe that eating a lot of sugar will make you fat?  Sugar is empty calories the "experts" all say.  Your body does not have a need to take in extra sugar – it does a fine job of converting fruits, vegetables and other unrefined carbohydrates into blood sugar (or glucose).  This glucose is then used as your body’s primary energy source.  The problems begin when you take in more than you need – the excess is stored as fat.

2.  Sugar can cause Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease.  Again, a no brainer with regards to diabetes.  We all can agree that diabetics shouldn’t eat too much sugar.  Processed or refined sugar (the kind you buy at the supermarket, in bags of five pounds at a time) enters your blood stream immediately.  Your body starts producing insulin to work on this overload.  This is also the “sugar high” you get after eating sweets.  Once the insulin has does its job, you get your energy “crash”.  What do you do then?  Oh yeah…eat more sugar.  The sugar from fruits, veggies, and other unrefined carbs, however, is eaten along with the fiber that is in those foods.  The fiber slows down the entry of glucose into your blood stream and you don’t experience the high or the crash.  So by continually giving your body more sugar than it needs, your insulin response is working overtime.  Eventually, it won’t work like it used to.  You will experience greater highs and lows.  You may become weak or dizzy or even shaky between meals due to your blood sugar being too low.  Your body is now working so hard to process the extra sugar that it can’t do much else for you…like fight off infections…. so you catch everything that comes around the office.  This is referred to as insulin resistance and it is thought to be the main link to Type 2 Diabetes as well as the underlying factor in heart disease and possibly many cancers.

3.   Sugar is addicting.  I can hear you tell me, “It tastes so good.  I love eating sweet things.  I just can’t stop eating them.”  Wanna know why you can’t stop?  Sugar is addicting – just like a drug or alcohol.  The more you eat, the more you want.  What happens when you stop eating sugar?  You crave it….you lust after it….you seek it out and give into temptation.  That’s if you’re lucky.  You may suffer withdrawal symptoms….headaches, depression, weakness, sleepiness or even fatigue.  Sounds like drug withdrawal doesn’t it?

Now the scary stuff….yes, it does get worse.  SUGAR IS EVERYWHERE.  It's not just in cakes, cookies, candy bars, ice cream, etc.  It’s in breads, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, peanut butter, canned crab meat, bacon…..the list goes on and on.  So, while you think you may not eat a lot of sugar, if you eat anything that comes out of a box, a jar, or a can, you might be eating additional sugar.  Here are a couple of labels of common foods – notice the ingredient list:

The bread shown here has THREE different types of sugar added!  And speaking of different types of sugar……with a little investigating, I have found 70 different names for sugar.  SEVENTY!!  I know you wanna know, so here they are: 

1.      Free flowing brown sugar 2.      Agave nectar 3.      Barbados Sugar 4.      Barley malt 5.      Beet sugar 6.      Blackstrap molasses 7.      Brown sugar 8.      Buttered syrup 9.      Cane crystals 10.   Cane juice crystals 11.   Cane sugar 12.   Caramel 13.   Carob syrup 14.   Castor sugar 15.   Confectioner’s sugar 16.   Corn syrup 17.   Corn sweetener 18.   Corn syrup solids 19.   Crystalline fructose 20.   Date sugar 21.   Demerara Sugar 22.   Dextrin 23.   Dextran 24.   Dextrose 25.   Diastatic malt 26.   Diatase 27.   D-mannose 28.   Evaporated cane juice 29.   Ethyl maltol 30.   Florida chrystals 31.   Free flowing 32.   Fructose 33.   Fruit juice 34.   Fruit juice concentrate 35.   Galactose

36.   Glucose 37.   Glucose solids 38.   Golden sugar 39.   Golden syrup 40.   Granulated sugar 41.   Grape sugar 42.   Grape juice concentrate 43.   HFCS 44.   High-fructose corn syrup 45.   Honey 46.   Icing sugar 47.   Invert sugar 48.   Lactose 49.   Malt syrup 50.   Maltodextrin 51.   Maltose 52.   Mannitol 53.   Maple syrup 54.   Molasses 55.   Muscovado sugar 56.   Organic raw sugar 57.   Panocha 58.   Powdered sugar 59.   Raw sugar 60.   Refiner’s syrup 61.   Rice Syrup 62.   Sorbitol 63.   Sorghum syrup 64.   Sucrose 65.   Sugar 66.   Syrup syrup 67.   Table sugar 68.   Treacle 69.   Turbinado sugar 70.   Yellow sugar

But, you cry out, sugar is all natural!!  It has to be better than artificial sweeteners!  Ah….but is your sugar really natural??  Compare today’s sugar to the all-natural sugar cane or sugar beet, and you’ll find it has been refined and processed to virtually eliminate any vitamins, enzymes and other beneficial nutrients.  See this Wikipedia page for all the gory details:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_refinery .  I particularly like how sugar dust can cause explosions!!

I will agree, however, that even with all the refining, white sugar is marginally better than ingesting artificial sweeteners – but that is another story for another day.