Ending Your Love Affair With Sugar
Mary Poppins sang that a teaspoon of it helps the medicine go down. Over the centuries, sugar has been a medicine, but is also a source of disease. At one time, sugar was a symbol of wealth, but now it is often an addiction. For over a thousand years, sugar has been shaping our health and our cuisine.
Can you imagine your life without something sweet to put in your mouth? Added sugar (and sugar substitutes) are in almost every processed food. It is difficult to avoid, and this excess is having an ill effect on our health.
Today, the average American consumes over 100 POUNDS of sugar in a year. That’s over 5 times more sugar per day than is considered “within healthy” guidelines. Is it any wonder that we’re experiencing an un-changing rise in heart disease, obesity, type II diabetes, cancer, and other preventable diseases?
None of us wants to admit it, but it’s time to break up with sugar. ‘Can we talk?’
Why sugar seems so attractive
Sugars are carbohydrates. We use carbohydrates for energy, and we LOVE energy. Starches are also carbohydrates, and break down into sugars; they can all be found in vegetables, fruits, grains, and milk products. Fiber is a type of carb that does not become sugar.
Naturally-produced sugars, like honey, maple syrup, and those found in fruits and veggies all travel with some amount of essential nutrients, such as minerals and vitamins. These nutrients help us metabolize the sugars and use them for fuel more easily, and they help run enzymes throughout our bodies.
Heavily-refined and artificial sugars, like all table sugars, agave nectar, corn syrup, etc., do not contain any nutrients. These sugars are absorbed very rapidly from the gut, since there is no fiber and zero nutritional value, and sent quickly to the liver… then stored as fat.
Artificial sweeteners like saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, neotame, and sucralose were all created in an effort to reduce calorie intake, extend the shelf life of packaged foods, and raise corporate profit margins by reducing the cost of putting natural sugars into snacks.
Though there is much debate over the pros and cons of artificial sweeteners, numerous studies link them to increasing chances of type II diabetes and weight gain. What happens with artificial sweeteners is that our bodies are not satisfied by just the taste of sweet. If it doesn’t provide calories and nutrients, then we can’t use it, and it’s considered a ‘waste product’. A body overloaded with waste products eventually creates disease.
After the honeymoon, sugar isn’t all that great
We need energy to survive, that much is obvious. But the energy from added sugar intake is just quick and temporary. We love those bursts though, don’t we? To keep up with the busy, busy lifestyle of society, energy jolts through the day seem to do the trick. However, sugar depletes us of vital nutrients. In a vain hope to replenish lost nutrients and increase energy, we feel the urge to eat even more. It’s a vicious cycle.
Our brain, incredibly rich in neurons, is an energy-hungry organ. It needs glucose (sugar) to thrive. So we naturally desire it. However, when we consume processed and refined sugars, (and too much of them), we can’t metabolize and burn that much that fast, so then our blood sugar levels rise.
Ever wonder why we don’t want to have high blood sugars? Caramelization. Caramel is made by heating sugars with proteins. The sugars glom onto the proteins and create that sticky gooey stuff that tastes yummy over ice cream. However, the proteins through our entire bodies can also get caramelized, which is exactly how we all age.
Yes, that’s right, sugar causes aging. Aging is happening to all of us, all the time, but it happens much faster in diabetics. Even worse, it effects some parts of our bodies worse than other parts. The tiny nerves and blood vessels in our feet, eyes, kidneys, and hearts get caramelized the fastest, which is why diabetics get specific complications such as amputations, blindness, kidney failure, and heart disease.
The way we keep blood sugar levels normalized is a hormone called insulin, released from our pancreas. Insulin lowers blood sugar by telling our cells to take up that sugar. Then, our cells can either burn it for energy, or store it as fat.
Surprise! This is the key to why it is not the fat in our diets that makes us fat – it’s the sugars. Blood sugar goes up, then insulin goes up, then fat gets deposited in our hips and bellies, but also in our livers and the walls of our arteries. And that’s a problem. This is the road to chronic inflammation, a mammoth issue that leads to debilitating chronic health issues.
Ending the love affair
Saying goodbye is never easy, especially with sugar. It tricks the body into believing that its quick energy offerings are necessary…so saying goodbye to that almost feels like a death sentence. Sugar also dulls our taste receptors, diminishing our sense of taste for “sweet”, so we crave more in order for food to taste ‘good’ to us and to feel satisfied. What we feel we need and what we actually need become as confused as any addiction when it comes to sugar.
But don’t worry. There are ways to let go and reclaim your health. It won’t even take that long.