Although the taste of sugar is more than good, it is not your friend. Sugar may comfort you because of the beta-endorphin rush in your brain, but it’s your ENEMY rather than a friend.
One of the worst things to do for your health is a regular intake of sugar. According to the latest scientific research, our overall health is devastated by the intake of sugar.
We present you the trends of sugar intake over the past 300 years:
- An average person in 1700, had about 4 pounds of sugar intake a year.
- An average person in 1800, had about 18 pounds of sugar a year.
- The individual intake of sugar in 1900 had increased to 90 pounds a year.
- Over 50% of all Americans had about ½ pound of sugar intake a day in 2012, or 180 pounds of sugar a year.
Just three people out of 100,000 were diagnosed with diabetes in 1890, whereas in 2012 this number increased to 8,000 out of 100,000.
Creating the Sugar Addiction
Nowadays, American kids have about 10 times more sugar intake than those in 1900. The greatest source of calories for the average American is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which includes glucose and fructose but is not bound together, which is why the body doesn’t need to decompose it.
The result is immediate absorption of fructose, which goes directly to the liver turning it to fat (triglycerides and VLDL).
Dr. Joseph Mercola explains that fructose fools your metabolism by turning off the system responsible for the control of the appetite resulting in gaining weight.
Moreover, fructose doesn’t correctly stimulate insulin which doesn’t stimulate the satiety hormone leptin and doesn’t repress the hunger hormone- ghrelin. Both cause you to eat more and develop resistance to insulin.
If you don’t consume HFCS, it doesn’t mean that you’re safe. Excess consumption of all processed sugar causes decreased ability of the immune system, as well as diabetes, and obesity.
Always remember that sugar is extremely addictive!
One research conducted on rats, by Dr. Serge Ahmed of Bordeaux, France, showed that rats choose sugar over cocaine over and over again. Yes, you heard right, sugar!
The sweet taste of sugar has proven to be more satisfying than the high of cocaine.
Sugar produces the chemical in the brain responsible for happiness and good feeling-dopamine. That’s why people get addicted to sugar, to feel happy or at least normal, and if they cut it from their diet, they will “withdraw’.
The brain will start dopamine production on its own, but many sugar addicts can’t stand the withdrawal discomfort, so they stay trapped in the sugar addiction.
What is the Connection between Sugar and Cancer?
Sugar is the most favorite food for cancer cells, because of the anaerobic respiratory mechanism manifested by all cancer cells.
Half of the white sugar in America is derived from sugar beets, which are now genetically modified. So this is one reason to avoid the so-called “White Death”.
What we recommend is avoiding white sugar, agave, and brown sugar, as well as all artificial sweeteners like AminoSweet/aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose.
In case you have a great liking for sweet-tasting food, the best option is to use 100 pure stevias, raw honey, xylitol, coconut sugar, molasses, and pure maple syrup.
The conclusion is that we have to control our sugar consumption to be and stay healthy. Otherwise, the sugar will take control over us.
Explaining Sugar Terms
Here’s the basic overview of different sugars and sweeteners:
- Saccharide is sugar.
- The main difference between the monosaccharides glucose (“grape sugar” or “dextrose”), fructose (“fruit sugar”), and galactose (“milk sugar”), is the way our body metabolizes them.
- Every cell in our body needs glucose for energy.
- Great amounts of fructose are harmful to our body since if not burned right away for energy, it’ll go to the liver where it’s turned to fats (triglycerides). Huge amounts of triglycerides increase the resistance and production of insulin, resulting in diabetes.
- Pure sucrose (refined white sugar) is first washed with syrup, then with hot water, chemically clarified to get rid of impurities, concentrated, decolorized, evaporated, and re-boiled until the formation of crystals, then again centrifuged to separate, and finally dried. As you can assume, at this point, there’s no natural value or goodness in sugar. To be honest, white sugar shouldn’t be regarded as food, but as an industrial product.
- White sugar combined with molasses gives brown sugar.
- Since “Raw” sugar has been cooked and most of its vitamins and minerals lost, it is not raw. However, it’s still a bit better option than refined white sugar since there’s a little of the molasses remaining.
- AminoSweet or Aspartame is a neurotoxic poison for rats… is there anything to say more?
- Regardless of the deceptive marketing slogan “made from sugar”, Splenda (sucralose) is not sugar. Instead, it is chlorine-sweetened like aspartame, although not that harmful.
- Although honey is about 50 % fructose, the best form is the one bought locally and unpasteurized.
- Stevia is a highly sweet and safe herb from the stevia plant leaves that can be found in South America. The entire plant is green stevia, whereas the processed is called white stevia, and it contains other elements such as dextrose or natural flavors. The best option is 100% green stevia in its natural condition.
- Agave nectar is produced from a cactus-agave plant, and although it seems completely natural, like honey from a beehive or maple syrup from a tree, it isn’t. It is extremely processed and the resulting product can’t compare with the original agave plant. Moreover, agave is about 80% fructose, which is much more than maple syrup and honey.
- High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is 45% glucose and 555 fructose. Avoid it since it’s mostly genetically modified.
- Secant or Rapadura is the pure juice resulting from sugar cane extraction with the use of the press, afterward evaporated on low heat, mixed with paddles, and finally sieved ground to get a grainy sugar with molasses in it.
- Coconut sugar has high amounts of amino acids and a low glycemic index. Its main component is sucrose, and it normally has less than 10% fructose. This sugar is produced from the sweet sap from the cut flower buds of a coconut palm.
Via The Truth About Cancer | CDC | Nairaland