SUGAR … are you addicted?
Posted on February 22, 2011 by aim
By Jenny Brown
Do you take time to read the labels of refined products you plan to eat!
Some of us might spend time making sure that trans-fats have been eliminated from processed products, but many people aren’t aware that in order to make the product taste good without the fats, the food manufacturers add sugar!! Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from Tomato sauce to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread. And now some infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one if taking formula!!
Food Manufacturers really don’t want to inform you that there is a whole lot of sugar in their processed products because that would eliminate those “crazy label reading customers” as potential buyers. So they disguise this fact by using scientific sounding names like sorghum or corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup or fructose or lactose or dextrose or sucrose or sucralose or galactose ….. all enough to make you comatose!!!
Now I do confess that I’m not a paragon of virtue when it comes to sweetness, but it does pain me when our gardener and other casual labourers we have hired insist on having 3 teaspoons of sugar in their coffee! Many people I know (including family members) are quite happy to down a can of cola that probably contains up to 10 teaspoons of sugar – and they do this more than once a day!
If you saw someone in a restaurant adding that much sugar to his coffee, wouldn’t you think he was crazy?
Did you know that just consuming one can of soda a day increases your risk of diabetes by 85% and can cut 11 to 20 years off your life?
A study done at the American College of Neuropsycopharmacology (see if you can pronounce that after two cans of soda!) found that sugar gives the same brain reaction as morphine, cocaine and nicotine.
To put it another way, sugar is addictive!
Sugar and Diabetes:
As we eat more refined foods, this causes sugar to very quickly enter the blood, thus requiring more insulin to transport it into the cells. If not enough insulin is produced, or if the insulin present is not sufficiently effective, the elevated blood glucose levels that normally follow a “high carb” and “high sugar” meal subsequently do not fall in the normal pattern.
This occurs because glucose cannot enter the target cells in the liver, muscles, and fat for storage or conversion to usable energy. This is why a highly refined diet is particularly troublesome for anyone with a blood sugar imbalance such as diabetes.
So what are the other negative effects of eating sugar?
From a vast number of Medical Journals and other scientific publications
Nancy Appleton, PhD, contributes in her book “Lick the Sugar Habit” an extensive list of the many ways sugar can ruin your health.
Here are just a few facts we would rather not know:
sugar damages teeth, feeds bacteria, yeast and fungus
All sugars provide quickly absorbed calories that must be rapidly converted into hard fats in order to prevent the toxic effect that “sweet” overload would otherwise have on our bodies.
Sugar interferes with Vitamin C transport
Depletes the immune system and impairs our defences against infectious diseases
Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol
All sugars, including honey, brown sugar, corn syrup, fructose, etc…. have the same detrimental effects on our health as do hard fats – they make platelets (a blood component, which helps with the clotting of blood) more sticky,
Bear Paw Garlic lowers LDL, stops oxidation and raises HDL, reduces platelet aggregation (blood stickiness). Helps treat diabetes by regulating insulin – providing more free insulin to the bloodstream. Bear Paw Garlic enhances cognitive functions and is a powerful immune stimulant
Sugar interferes with insulin function
Upsets the mineral relationships in our body causing chromium and copper deficiencies
Interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium contributing to osteoporosis
AIM’s Glucochrome helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels for people with hypoglycemia and Type II diabetes. BarleyLife balances blood sugar levels and keeps insulin in the system for longer periods and supplies
11 major minerals and 12 trace minerals needed by the body – high in calcium needed for strong bones!
Sugar causes crankiness in children and is the main contributing factor for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating
BarleyLife, AIMega and Proancynol 2000 are three products that are most effective in dealing with ADHD – BUT don’t forget to eliminate sugar!!
Sugar 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
AIM’s Herbal Fiberblend improves the gastrointestinal tract, aiding in nutrient absorption. BarleyLife helps with any inflammation in the body which means any diseases ending in “itis”
Sugar is to cancer cells as fertilizer is to plants!
Sugar has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach!
BarleyLife contains the enzyme P4D1 known to shrink tumours.
Cancer thrives in an acidic system and BarleyLife is 66.4% alkaline which is helpful in balancing the body’s pH.
Sugar causes us to age fast!
Sugar speeds up ageing by causing a loss of tissue elasticity and function. The single most important factor that accelerates aging is insulin, which is triggered by sugar.
Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
AIM TO THE RESCUE FOR AGING SKIN …..
Proancynol 2000: Contains OPC’s in the grape seed extract.
This “cosmetic” value protects elastin and collagen which gives skin its strength, elasticity and smoothness. Alpha-lipoic acid is described as an anti-aging substance, which protects against the effects of free radicals.
BarleyLife : Contains one of the greatest anti-oxidants – SOD (super oxide dismutase) for anti-aging and the good news is that one can even build up a bank account of it!
Under no circumstances substitute fake sugar and think it’s the answer!
Aspartame will turn you into a zombie because the methanol in aspartame converts to formaldehyde at 84 degree F (the body’s temperature is 37 C) – read Pat Quill’s story below
Sucralose (Splenda) is derived from chlorine and is best used in your swimming pool. It is NOT a sugar, despite its sugar-like name and deceptive marketing slogan, “made from sugar.” It’s a chlorinated artificial sweetener in line with aspartame and saccharin, with detrimental health effects to match.
The reality is that these fake sugars do not eliminate sugar cravings; they actually increase them. A study proved that a person’s risk for obesity went up 41% for each daily can of diet soda.
Sugar alcohols like xylitol, glycerol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, and erythritol are neither sugars nor alcohols but are becoming increasingly popular as sweeteners. They are incompletely absorbed from your small intestine, for the most part, so they provide fewer calories than sugar but often cause problems with bloating, diarrhea and flatulence.
Dextrose, fructose and glucose are all monosaccharides, known as simple sugars. The primary difference between them is how your body metabolizes them. Glucose and dextrose are essentially the same sugar. However, food manufacturers usually use the term “dextrose” in their ingredient list.
What is considered a healthy alternative to sugar?
Stevia is a highly sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant, which is completely safe (in its natural form).
Lo han (or luohanguo) is another natural sweetener, but derived from a fruit.
Honey is about 53 percent fructose but is completely natural in its raw form and has many health benefits when used in moderation, including as many antioxidants as spinach.
How can you keep your blood sugar stable?
Apart from the help from AIM as mentioned above, you can keep your blood sugar stable by including protein with every meal. If you know about quinoa, the incredible grain from Peru which is a complete protein, you can include that in your diet and you’ll be getting plenty of fiber as well.
Remember, if it had a face or a mother it has no fiber!
If you use fruit as a substitute for sugar it will help curtail your sugar cravings.
It should now be crystal clear just how damaging sugar is. You simply cannot achieve your highest degree of health and vitality if you are consuming a significant amount of it.