Refined Sugar: Sweet and Deadly
The average American consumes a staggering 115 pounds of sugar per year. It would seem that most Americans are addicted to this chemical and it should come as no surprise - we are exposed to sugar from the time we are born. Infant formula contains sugar and how often do you see parents stuffing candy into the mouths of their toddlers or allowing them to sip soda?
Our foods and beverages are loaded with sugar (or chemical alternatives that are just as bad and worse) – from breakfast cereals, soups, ketchup and other condiments, to hotdogs and some tobaccos. Most Americans get about 22% of their daily calories from sugar – an “empty calorie” source of no nutritional value! It’s no wonder we are malnourished.
If you examine your food labels carefully, you will notice that most packaged foods contain some form of sweetener. Have you noticed how people always gravitate to sweet foods? It’s a craving just like any other chemical addiction. Most people cannot get enough sugar. The companies that make our foods know this and sweeten their offerings in the hope of addicting and gaining a customer for life.
One of the most common results of excessive sugar consumption is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). About 35% of Americans suffer from some form of hypoglycemia, a craving for sugar that is followed by a quick “high” once the craving is satisfied, followed by a crash after the sweet foods have been eaten.
Hypoglycemia causes symptoms such as fatigue, hunger, trembling, nervousness, sweating, dizziness or light-headedness, sleepiness, confusion, difficulty speaking and anxiety.
The damage that sugar causes is insidious. Over time sugar ruins your pancreas, your adrenal glands, and disrupts your entire endocrine system.
Sugar also accelerates the aging process. It does this in two ways:
• Sugar attaches itself to proteins in the body forming a new sugar-protein substances called advanced glycation end-products (referred to as AGEs). The higher your AGE levels, the faster you are aging.
• Sugar increases free radicals in your body and this will also accelerate the aging process.
Here are some problems associated with excessive sugar consumption:
• Sugar is the leading cause of dental deterioration
• Sugar can cause premature aging
• Sugar contributes to obesity
• Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease
• Excess sugar in the bloodstream stimulates the generation of free radicals
• It is the main cause of diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia
• Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen
• Sugar is a significant or contributory cause of heart disease, arteriosclerosis, mental illness, depression, senility, hypertension
• Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, lung, gallbladder and stomach
• Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis
• Sugar disrupts the endocrine system, causing damage to the adrenal glands, pancreas and liver
• It is the reason why blood sugar levels fluctuate widely
• Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels
• It promotes overgrowth of the candida yeast organism
• Sugar causes food allergies
• Sugar increases chronic fatigue, hyperactivity in about 50% of children and also increases anxiety and irritability
There are natural alternatives to sugar, such as Stevia, Lo Han and Xylitol.
If the above list of problems associated with excessive sugar consumption does not motivate you to stop or at least cut down on sugar, nothing will. Sugar is your enemy. You can live without it and, once you have kicked the habit, you’ll find that you feel so much healthier.
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