The Not-So-Sweet Truth
In the early 1800’s the average yearly consumption of sugar was less than 18 lbs per person.
The average now is 146 lbs per person.
We all know that often times, the foods that are the worst for us taste the best.
Sugar tastes good, but sugar is not good.
When I say sugar I mean one of the following:
refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose, fructose, barley malt, beet sugar, brown sugar, buttered syrup, cane-juice crystals, cane sugar, caramel, carob syrup, corn syrup solids, date sugar, dextran, dextrose, diatase, diastatic malt, ethyl maltose, golden sugar, golden syrup, invert sugar, malt syrup. Maltodextrin, maltose, mannitol, molasses, raw sugar, refiner’s syrup, sorbitol, sorghum syrup, turbinado sugar.
Talk about aliases. Sugar is disguised in many different ways. It comes in many forms, in many names and is in most of the products we consume.
Here's a startling statistic: In the early 1800’s the average yearly consumption of sugar was less than 18 lbs/person. The average now is 146 lbs/person.
This number includes children. Which means a 20 pound toddler can be consuming up to SEVEN times his/her body weight in sugar per year. Yet we still wonder why kids can't concentrate in school.
Why sugar is no good:
Consumption of sugar causes severe deficiencies in nutrients that regulate blood sugar. Particularly B1 Thiamine.
B-vitamins are necessary co-factors that you need to digest sugar (among a ton of other things). When the B vitamins that are naturally occurring in sugar have been removed, your body will “steal” thiamine from other organs (the liver, kidney and heart) so it can digest the very thing that is causing it’s deficiency! It's a vicious cycle.
Sugar = insulin. Insulin = cortisol. Cortisol = inflammation.
When you consume sugar, the body responds almost immediately. Digestion of sugar begins as soon as it hits your tongue. As your taste-buds register the “sweet” taste, they send a signal to the brain to alert the 3 blood sugar regulation organs (the pancreas, the liver, and the adrenals) that sugar is on it’s way.
The pancreas responds by pumping out insulin. I like to think of insulin as the older, protective brother in this process. The pancreas sees that the body is about to get bullied by a large amount of sugar so it sends out it’s protective, big brother – insulin, to take control of the situation. Insulin responds by going out into the blood stream, grabbing the glucose bully by the ear and storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle tissue for energy use later. In an ideal situation where sugar is not overused, the pancreas releases just enough insulin to grab up all of the glucose.
Here is what happens when there is blood sugar dysfunction:
Think of your cell receptor sites as a very patient neighbor. Let’s think of glucose as an annoying soccer ball that always ends up in the backyard of the cell receptors, and let’s think of insulin as the teenager who is knocking at the door everyday to get his soccer ball back. EVERY day, multiple times a day, the patient cell receptor gets a knock at his door; it is the insulin teenager. He kicked the glucose ball too hard and is asking for his ball back. Cell receptor lets him in to retrieve the ball each time. After weeks, months and years of these interruptions, the patient cell receptor decides he is sick of the insulin teenager bombarding him. He isn’t going to open his door anymore. Insulin resistance will eventually ensue. Which is also known as type 2 diabetes.
But what if you don’t have diabetes or insulin resistance?
Well, when muscle and liver reserves are full, the only place for sugar to go is into the adipose tissue. Yep, fat.
In plain terms: sugar = fat.
I want to make something else clear: sugar isn’t the only thing that is sugar.
Starch and carbohydrates are also converted to sugar in the body. Potatoes, bread, pasta, rice – all converted to glucose in the body. So although you might be thinking, “I don’t blatantly eat sugar at all!", If you are eating starch and carbohydrates, those are converted to sugar in the body. Carbohydrates in the form of vegetables are different than carbohydrates in the form of bread. Your body prefers the carbohydrates in vegetables rather than grains because it slows the conversion to simple sugars like glucose and decreases your insulin level. Grain carbohydrates, on the other hand, will increase your insulin levels.
I am not saying to never eat sugar. I am saying to pay attention. Chances are that you don’t even realize the amount of sugar you are consuming in one day.
To put it into perspective, did you know that 1 standard sugar packet is about 2 grams of sugar? In one can of coca cola, there are 45 grams of sugar which equals 22.5 packets of sugar.
If you are craving sweets, there are healthier options. Raw honey, maple syrup and coconut nectar are all great choices. Local raw honey is an excellent choice because it has anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It is also GREAT for helping people who suffer from seasonal allergies.
Note* I do not recommend using agave nectar. It is high in fructose. High fructose corn syrup has an average of 55% fructose. Agave nectar averages between 70-97% fructose.
The bottom line is eat real food and if sugar is consumed, consume it sparingly. Eat quality proteins, fats found in nature and carbohydrates in the form of vegetables. Sugar might taste good, but is that taste worth the damage done to your body? I don’t think so.