2. Sugar, Carbohydrates and Insulin
Sugar is Sweet Danger. How so, it’s natural, it comes from sugar cane. At first it comes from sugar cane but then it becomes a processed chemical that is not found anywhere else in nature.
In the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Nutrition Dr Rubin says “White refined sugar is not a food. It is a pure chemical extracted from plant sources. Purer, in fact, than cocaine which it resembles in many ways.” According to brain scans, sugar is as addictive as cocaine.
Refining means to make pure by a process of extraction or separation. Sugar is refined by taking a natural food that contains a high percentage of sugar and then removing all the elements of that food until only that pure chemical we call sugar, remains. During that process 64 food elements are destroyed potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphate and sulphate, A, D and B vitamins.
However as I eat it, to metabolise it, I need what has been taken out. So my body pulls those nutrients out of my bones and tissues and muscles. Not just the vitamins but also the minerals and other nutrients are being pulled out of my body. Then these nutritional deficiencies lead to eating binges because my body is craving nutrients.
Back in the early 1800’s, people ate around 10 pounds of sugar a year, but now we eat an average of 130 pounds of sugar a year. And when we take the family photo, we do look different today! We Brits eat too much and exercise too little. We are addicted to sugar which not only makes us fatter, but after the initial sugar rush, also saps our energy. We are getting between 12-15% of our calories from sugar. So up to ONE QUARTER of our diet is a white, pure chemical—not a food. The NHS recommends that we have ONLY 5% of our calories from sugar or no more than 8 teaspoons a day. Some of us need to cut back by HALF, some of us by TWO THIRDS!
High sugar intake weakens the immune system, because when you have high insulin in your blood stream, you have a decrease in human growth hormone which then suppresses and weakens the immune system. However more than that, refined white sugar is treated as a toxic foreign agent by the immune system. Toxic! Your immune system tries to fight this toxic agent and result is your immune system fails. For instance the number of bacteria a white blood cell can kill significantly reduces when there is sugar in the system [0 teaspoons = 14 bacteria, 18 teaspoons = 2 bacteria.]
High sugar also affects our Mental and emotional health. Vitamin B1 is used up to process sugar so we produce Pyruvic Acid which in turn makes us irritable and depressed. Other changes include frequent bouts of depression, difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, lack of motivation, increased undependability, loss of enthusiasm for plans and projects, inconsistency of thoughts and actions, personality changes, irrational thoughts, emotional outbursts and eating disorders.
High Fructose Corn Syrup. It’s not really sugar its fructose and adds to the problem of overeating because it does not trigger chemical messengers that tell the brain the stomach is full and no longer hungry. This chemical is a hormone called Leptin is turned off. The increased use of HFCS in the United States correlates to the rapid rise in obesity.
Studies have shown that if you drink 2 cans of pop every day, it packs 35-40 pounds of fat on yearly. So naturally you would think that switching to a diet version will be the answer. However that is not so. Studies have found that artificial sweeteners like Aspartame can stimulate your appetite, increase carbohydrate cravings and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. The reason behind this is because the ‘sweet’ taste triggers chemicals to be sent to the pancreas so that it starts putting out insulin into the bloodstream because the body thinks sugar is coming. This phenomenon is actually called ‘1st pass release of insulin’. Because my body is tricked my blood sugar will drop because the insulin is going around opening the doors, putting the available sugar into the cells. Result of that is you feel weak and you will reach for either something to eat or drink – so diet drinks can add to obesity.
Most eat too much sugar than our bodies can use for energy so the liver changes it into triglycerides, then those triglycerides are stored as fat. Thinking of fat, excess fat is not good for you. When there are high levels of fat in the diet you are likely to have arterial blockage which could result in a heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Warberg, PhD in 1931 found that cancer cells need 4-5 times more sugar than average cells and that they like the acidic environment created by sugar.
Here is a partial list of the diseases caused or worsened by eating white sugar:
Obesity, heart disease, raised blood triglycerides, sticky blood platelets causing blood clots, duodenal ulcers from the acidity of the sugar, hypoglycaemia – pancreas is struggling to keep sugar balanced, diabetes, hyperactivity, kidney damage, liver struggling with this high amount of sugar people are eating today, increased uric acid in the blood, cancer growth, hindered breakdown of dietary protein, tooth cavities, weakened immune system, yeast over-growth, gallstones…
So sugar is an addiction how then can we break the addiction?
+ Retrain your taste buds. After about 20-30 days, you will notice you don’t crave the sugary drinks any longer and that water tastes great.
+ Fill up on fibre – your blood sugar will not spike as high. It stays lower and lasts longer.
+ Get exercise. When you exercise you will be hungrier for a good meal and less likely to snack.
+ Skip those “healthy” sugars too. Brown sugar is basically white sugar with a little molasses on it.
+ Don’t buy it! If it’s not in the shopping trolley then it won’t make its way into your house.
+ Drink more water. About 2 hours after a meal because you have used a lot of enzymes to digest your food you think you need a snack when actually you are thirsty. You mistake that thirst for hunger. Two hours after you eat, drink water. You should be consuming a minimum of 6 glasses a day.
+ Pray. Scripture says “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” So ask God to give you the power today and He will.
HEALTH POWER by choice not chance - SUGAR
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