I recently wrote about how sugar could be making you fat, read the article here. Now I want to talk about how sugar could be making you sick.

Most people acknowledge sugar is bad for you but few really understand how bad it actually is.

One thing you need to know is that you cannot eat sugar without causing a rise in insulin.

Here is a list of problems that have been associated with consuming sugar and the rise in insulin associated with it. I will not go into too much detail as I would be writing for days, but here is a summary:

* Sugar blocks the amount of vitamin C absorbed into our white blood cells. Vitamin C is essential to a healthy immune system.

* Sugar is devoid of any vitamins and minerals so it enters our bodies and robs essential vitamins and minerals from our muscles, bones, brains and other tissues.

*1 molecule of Sugar requires 56 molecules of magnesium to be metabolised which will lead to a magnesium defficiency. Magnesium defficiency is related to high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes and neurological problems.

* Consuming sugar will cause a sudden and dramatic release of insulin into the body. Over time this constant elevation of insulin levels will lead to insulin resistance or Type II diabetes.

* Insulin helps to store magnesium. If you become insulin resistant, your ability to store magnesium will be compromised leading to the magnesium defficiency and it’s related health problems listed above. Mainly high blood pressure.

* Insulin resistance is a factor in osteoporosis. Insulin helps control growth hormone, testosterone and progesterone. If these hormones are reduced, bone building is reduced and osteoporosis is a concern.

* Insulin resistance causes elevated levels of triglycerides. This is a major factor in heart disease and stroke. Most people think fat is the problem, but if we think about it, we all know this isn’t the case. Here’s a simple test; Do you or someone close to you have high cholesterol? Do you or they eat a high fat diet or high carbohydrate/sugar diet? The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. Literally! In the 80’s there was a push to cut down on our fat intake in order to reduce heart attacks. This fat replaced with an increase in sugar for flavour in our foods. This has led us to an increase in heart attackes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome. 

Yet, they still push the low fat theory for reducing heart disease etc. In what other place would you ever find a theory that causes the exact opposite of what it is meant to yet we still listen to it and believe it and die by it?

* Insulin resistance plays a major role in depression, fatigue and moodiness.

* Sugar is bad for your gut flora. It encourages the growth of parasites, worms, fungus and candida.

* Insulin plays a large part in cancer. I’m not going too deep into this one, but I have done my research and so should you for such an important issue. All of us know somebody who had been affected by cancer, but there are ways to help reduce your risk and killing your sugar consumption is the best place to start. Kill the sugar or let it kill you.

* Sugar makes you fat.

The American Diabetic Association lists sugar in the top 3 causes of degenerative disease.

I think we all need to take the idea of quitting sugar seriously.

I think we need a sugarholics anonymous!

What if everytime you ate a chocolate bar you had a heart attack. Woud you eat a chocolate bar again?

What if everytime you drank a cocktail you immediately got a serious illness die to your weakened immune system. Would you have 5 cocktails next Saturday night?

What if everytime you ate a bag of potato chips you suffered a stroke. Would you pick them as a snack again.

What if everytime you drank a bottle of fruit juice or soft drink you went into a state of depression? Would you choose it over water next time?

Sugar is killing us slowly. So slowly we don’t even notice it. Until it’s too late or as most people will say, just bad luck….

Tags: health, sugar

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Nutrition, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.