Sugar Saps Energy
and Life Force--
Leave Home Without It!
The following list is based on an article, “76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health” by Nancy Appleton, Ph.D., author of the book Lick The Sugar Habit. I prefer sweeteners like agave syrup, from which tequila is made, stevia liquid, though too much causes headaches for B blood types like me, grade B maple syrup, and raw uncooked honey. While all of these are concentrates and therefore hard on the body--which is why a little goes a long way and most, even raw forms are diluted somewhat--honey is the natural wonder most of us are accustomed to. It is known as “a healing” in both the Bible and the Quran.
Table sugar, on the other hand, is usually NOT derived from the raw cane sugar treat that I enjoy when visiting Jamaica or Trinidad & Tobago. Often you will see cane-derived sucre in better supermarkets as Turbinado or raw sugar. Sugar in The Raw brand is from Maui, Hawaii. I understand some of the raw brands are heated (for “refinement”) and merely have molasses added for color. Beware “brown sugar,” for that is exactly what it says, white (bleached) sugar with brown coloring added, usually from molasses. REFUSE to buy anything that says “high fructose corn syrup,” (HFCS) including what used to be my favorite, the Arizona brand of green tea, ginseng and blended teas that seemed cost-effective in gallon sizes. Fructose is fruit sugar of corn boiled to imperfection—too much of a concentrate for the body (i.e., alcohol). HFCS has many additives and is overprocessed and quite scary in effects. Read labels carefully, as always. White sugar, further down the food chain from the high fructose, is nonetheless still no help to one’s body. We consume 100s of pounds of it a year in everyday foods; this is quintuple if not ten times what our grandparents had in their diet. Canned foods, packaged foods and sweet drinks and even natural juices (always dilute 50%+ for babies) are the biggest offenders. Too much sugar causes imbalance in all of the body’s systems. MANY OF US GREW UP ON WHITE SUGAR and the need for removing it from our diet comes as a shock. Drink pure grape juice as a replacement for orange juice to start. White grape juice is too sweet so stick with the purple/blue kind. (Aren't you a big baby? Dilute a bit for you, too.) Begin eating all-fruit jams instead of jellies, and increase the amount of astringent fruits you eat--cherries, apples, grapes and most berries--to fulfill the longing of your sweet tooth. Don't even think about saccharin, aspartame or other synthetic sweeteners of ANY kind. No good. NO GOOD!! For all the horrible things white table sugar can do, the artificial sweeteners are worse. But without the calories. This is why holistic is a better way to go. The Wikipedia (online) references are just the tip of the iceberg as to the dangers of both HFCS and artificial sweeteners. If these are the only choices, go for regular white sugar and try to use only half as usual. Weaning is good, as is "cold turkey." Both have consequences and results may influence who you know yourself to be as someone's Sweetie....
Sugar is a bad habit for the majority of Westerners. The following is a listing of some of metabolic consequences from over-indulgence, compiled from medical journals and other scientific publications by Dr. Appleton. Some items are repetitive, such as #11 and #59 that state the sweetener is like alcohol in the body. I've made notes after some entries, probably unnecessarily, since I realize the author is citing the summary findings from various research studies, hence the overlap. 1. It can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease. 2. It upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium. 3. It can cause can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children. 4. It can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol. 5. It causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function. (Thus eaters become wired, literally, like the illustration.)
6. It feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.7. It can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia. 8. It can weaken eyesight. 9. It can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including: an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis. 10. It can cause premature aging. 11. It can lead to alcoholism. 12. It can cause your saliva to become acidic, tooth decay, and periodontal disease. (similar to #76) 13. It contributes to obesity. 14. It can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis. (Very strong accusation!) 15. It greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections) (Unnecessarily weak accusation!) 16. It can cause gallstones. 17. It can cause appendicitis. 18. It can cause hemorrhoids. 19. It can cause varicose veins. 20. It can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users. 21. It can contribute to osteoporosis. 22. It can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes. 23. It can lower your Vitamin E levels. 24. It can increase your systolic blood pressure. 25. It can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children. 26. High intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(its molecules attaching to and thereby damaging proteins in the body). 27. It can interfere with your absorption of protein. 28. It causes food allergies. 29. It can cause toxemia during pregnancy. 30. It can contribute to eczema in children. 31. It can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. 32. It can impair the structure of your DNA. 33. It can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body. 34. It can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen. 35. It can cause cataracts and nearsightedness. 36. It can cause emphysema. 37. High intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body. 38. It lowers the ability of enzymes to function. 39. Its intake is higher in people with Parkinson's disease. (Before or after onset? Do we mean UPtake?) 40. It can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide and it can increase the amount of liver fat. 41. It can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones. 42. It can damage your pancreas. 43. It can increase your body's fluid retention. 44. It is enemy #1 of your bowel movement. 45. It can compromise the lining of your capillaries. 46. It can make your tendons more brittle. 47. It can cause headaches, including migraines. 48. It can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders. 49. It can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves which can alter your mind's ability to think clearly. 50. It can cause depression. 51. It can increase your risk of gout. 52. It can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease. 53. It can cause hormonal imbalances such as: increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone. 54. It can lead to dizziness. 55. Diets high in it will see an increase in free radicals and oxidative stress. 56. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vasculardisease significantly increases platelet adhesion. 57. High consumption by pregnant adolescents can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant. 58. It is an addictive substance. 59. It can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol. 60. When given to premature babies, it can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce. 61. Decrease in its intake can increase emotional stability. 62. Your body changes it into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch. 63. The rapid absorption of it promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects. 64. It can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 65. It adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition. 66. It can slow down the ability of your adrenal glands to function. 67. It has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases. 68. I.V.s (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to your brain. 69. It increases your risk of polio. 70. High intake can cause epileptic seizures. 71. It causes high blood pressure in obese people. 72. In intensive care units: Limiting sugar saves lives. 73. It may induce cell death. 74. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low-sugar diet, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior. 75. It dehydrates newborns. 76. It can cause gum disease.
As for sweeteners that may be beneficial, this
site on honey and sugar alternatives
describes why honey is one of the best sweeteners available and provides a real education as to why this is so. You will also find that the more whole grains, sea vegetables, greens and other whole foods you are able to eat, the less dependent you will be on sweeteners or sugar itself to provide you with energy. It is quite beneficial to eat vegetables grown locally--in the northeast during fall this usually means root vegetables like the squashes--this cuts down on the forced-ripe foods brought to market for the bottom-line rather than your good health. We have much variety in the foods available to us, and this includes naturally sweet foods too. Consider becoming sweeter in attitude about what you bring to the table, and more grateful and responsible in your choices of food for yourself and your family. Give thanks always.
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