Sugar-
it’s amazing how one of the most vital things we need to survive as humans is
also one of our biggest nemesis. Everyone needs sugar! Sugars occur naturally
in a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and dairy foods. Simple sugars, also known as monosaccharides (with the most
important one being glucose) are present in almost every meal we eat. They are used
for many activities within the body.
If
these sugars are so much needed by the body, why then should you say no to
them? Well because there are other types of sugars. These ones can cause a lot
of harm to the body if taken in excess. Even though our cells need sugars,
consuming it in excess can harm the body. Processed sugar, for instance, is in many products and is a key
ingredient for baking. It seems that everyone has a sweet tooth for some sugar
food in one way or another. Processed sugar can cause major imbalances in the
organs and systems. High sugar intake may throw off the homeostatic balance of
the whole body by unusually increasing the production of adrenaline. In other
words, sugar stimulates the nervous system by inducing a flight or fight
response.
This
is obviously not a healthy process. This intense reaction of the body increases
the production of cortisone, which suppresses immune function and can lead to
other health disorders. The excess intake of sugar leads to many other
imbalances and malfunctioning of the bodily processes. High sugar consumption
leads to an overly acidic body and in turn,
will cause the body to strip nutrients from its reserves to counterbalance this
effect.
Getting scared yet? This is not even the worst part! Sugar is absorbed into your bloodstream and insulin converts it to some energy and a lot of body fat contributing to health problems like diabetes, heart disease, obesity-related cancers and obesity itself. Most experts agree that sugar in its pure form is not inherently "bad" for you. The problem with sugar is that it packs a lot of calories per serving. And because foods with sugar in them taste good to most people we tend to eat larger portions of those foods. Therefore, we consume more calories when we eat high sugar foods. Excess sugar intake also causes blood sugar spikes which makes you hungrier and craving more sugar. It's a vicious cycle.
To significantly reduce your sugar intake, it's mandatory that you read labels and know where your sugar intake truly comes from. Remember, sugar has other names or alias such as sucrose, fructose, glucose etc. and just because sugar is not expressly written on the label does not mean it isn’t present. Stay away from all products that contain the various forms of aspartame! These include aspartame, Nutra sweet, splenda etc. Eating foods with refined white flours and other enriched products can cause the same physiological effects as sugars. Consuming excess pasta, rice, chips, pretzels, and other highly processed carbohydrates can lead to fat deposits on the body.
Lastly, substitute sugars for other forms of sweeteners like organic honey, Barley Malt Syrup, and Rice syrup for tea and drinks; Date Paste and Fruit Juice Concentrates for baked goods and pancakes, waffles and cookies.
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