Part 1 of 2
"Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies..."
Now that I have that song stuck in your head for days, I hope it will remind you of a few things I want to share with you! Tricky, I know!
Sugar, who doesn't LOVE it? But is it a true lover? I mean, does it really love you back? If you think your relationship with sugar is special, think again! She has millions of Americans addicted! Did you know that the same centers of the brain that cocaine lights up are also lit up by sugar? That might help you better understand why she's so hard to resist.
So what's the problem with sugar anyway?
While our bodies do use sugar as fuel, we can get fuel from other carbohydrate sources as well as proteins and fats. A balance of these macronutrients tend to be more efficient sources of fuel than "simple carbohydrates," like processed sugar or refined grains (think white bread and pasta), like all the "sweets" that fill our grocery stores, vending machines, and pantries! The reason for this is that simple carbohydrates are so "simple" for your body to digest that your body doesn't take as long in digestion, so you don't feel as full for as long. When we consume too many simple carbohydrates without having enough protein, good fat, and especially fiber, the body has to secrete insulin from our pancreas to keep our blood sugar levels stable. So we initially receive a" sugar high" that our body tries to maintain, then once it is stabilized, we experience a sudden drop in energy, making us crave more to get back the high. Who wants to deal with this roller coaster throughout the day? Ever have a lover who just made you irritable? You've definitely met your match with sugar! To top it off, the sugar (glucose) that isn't used immediately is stored in the body as fat reserves. The main problem begins when the body is constantly required to pump out high levels of insulin to maintain its balance. End result? A disease that has plagued our nation: DIABETES! Maybe you or someone you know have been diagnosed with this disease. "Approximately 30 million children and adults have diabetes in the United States. Out of that number, nearly 95% have type 2 diabetes." (www.diabetes.org) I have great news: type 2 diabetes can definitely be reversed and type 1 can sometimes be reversed too, with a change in diet and lifestyle!
A rather sickening lover...
Not only can consuming too much sugar cause diabetes, it can also throw off the balance of good and bad gut bacteria, causing a lot of gut issues that can manifest themselves in various ways: upset stomach, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramping, menstrual cramps, muscle cramps, itching, headaches, allergies, headaches, dizziness, insomnia, body itching, yeast infections, sinus infections, and respiratory infections, to name a few. Some of these symptoms could also be related to a hormonal imbalance due to the overproduction of insulin, which is a hormone.
And we can't forget about what Mama always said...it'll rot your teeth out! Too much sugar also throws off the bacterial balance in the mouth, feeding bad bacteria that turns into cavities. So unless you plan on carrying a toothbrush around with you everywhere and brushing after every sugar "episode," you might consider laying off the sugar.
Sugar suppresses the immune system.
It does this in many ways but is mainly due to factors like acidity, gut compromise, and unresponsive receptors. Disease loves an acidic environment, and it has been said that disease cannot survive in an alkaline environment. We've touched on the gut compromise, but what is a receptor? A receptor is "a region of tissue, or a molecule in a cell membrane, that responds specifically to a particular neurotransmitter, hormone, antigen, or other substance" (wikipedia). Both glucose and vitamin C share the same receptor; however, this receptor (specifically GLUT-1) has a greater affinity for glucose over vitamin C. That means the more glucose is present, the more it will "fill" or occupy the receptor so that it absorbs very little vitamin C or becomes unresponsive to the vitamin C. (www.naturalnews.com) That's why it's so important to stay away from sugar, especially when you're sick. You can take all the vitamin C in the world to boost your immune system, but it won't be absorbed and used by the body unless that receptor is responsive or unoccupied by glucose!
Sugar feeds cancer.
How heartbreaking! In fact, when physicians are trying to locate the cancer in a patient's body, they give them a glucose drink because the cancer cells light up when they are fed sugar! Isn't that scary??? We all have cancer cells in our bodies, but are we all keeping them dormant or could we be causing our own problems?
In summary, sugar can cause...
addiction
energy crashes
irritability
body fat (can also lead to heart disease due to increase in bad cholesterol)
fatty liver
diabetes
gut and hormonal imbalances that turn into A LOT of other issues
suppression of the immune system
cancer
Of course, the food industry isn't going to tell you any of this because it won't make billions of dollars on all the junk it feeds Americans year after year! And sadly, it's leaking over into so-called healthy foods (yogurt, granola, even processed meats!). For great information on how sugar has taken over our food system and its effect on the body, check out That Sugar Film. The narrator does an experiment on himself and teaches us all a lesson without having to go through the difficult experience ourselves! When I saw it in the plane on the way home from a vacation I thought, "I have to share this FREE information!" You'll definitely want to check it out!
Stay tuned for my next blog post to learn how you can kick your addiction! For answers NOW, my 21 Day Transformational Nutrition Cleanse can help you dump sugar once and for all!
To you health,
