Why Sugar is Killing You
You can't just "burn off" sugar...
I know that every place you turn you are bombarded with the message that sugar is terrible for you. Although it may seem obvious, do you really know the why behind this warning?
There is a false belief that if you consume a lot of sugar, you can just exercise a little bit harder that day or the next to burn it off. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking will lead you to suffer from the many deleterious effects sugar can have on you and your wellness.
What sugar does internally to the cells of your body, and how sugar gums up your internal workings, causing disease makes the eating of and ‘burning off’ of this special white powder not quite so simple.
This is no exaggeration and I am not trying to use scare tactics. Sugar is truly a very harmful substance, so please, pay attention.
When you know exactly why sugar is so bad for you and understand what it does to your cells in your body, I promise that you would rethink eating that piece of cake, candy, sugary soft drink, fruit juice, or ice cream, or, more importantly, feeding them to your children or loved ones.
Of course, you already know that sugar makes you fat, and gives you excess calories without any beneficial nutrients whatsoever.
There are way too many other reasons sugar is killing you for me to talk about in one newsletter. Here are a few of the most important facts:
- Sugar causes extreme fluctuations in your blood sugar. Excess blood sugar causes Glycation (and the formation of AGE’s) inside your body, which accelerates the rate of aging of your organs, skin, arteries, and joints.
- For many decades, people have blamed saturated fat for heart disease, the number 1 cause of death world-wide.
New studies are now showing that saturated fat is harmless. It is sugar consumption, and high blood sugar levels that raise your triglyceride levels (fat circulating in the bloodstream) to dangerous levels, which can lead down that path.
The evidence is mounting that sugar, via the harmful effects on sugar on the metabolism and liver function, may be one of the leading drivers of heart disease.
Large amounts of fructose can raise triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (the worst type of all), raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity in a very short period of time. These are all major risk factors for heart disease.
- To make matters worse increased sugar consumption causes type 2 diabetes due to the excessive stress put on your pancreas and decreased insulin sensitivity.
- Sugar also slows down the efficacy of your white blood cells (the ‘fighting cells’ of your immune system), making infection more likely, and allowing deformed cells a better chance of survival in your body. This can lead to the primary stages of cancer cell formation!
- Excess fructose (at least 50% of what makes up sugar) gets turned into fat, which can lodge in the liver and cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
- The problem with sugar and many junk foods is that they can cause massive dopamine release (our feel good hormone). This release is often much higher we were ever exposed to from foods found in nature. This makes sugar highly addictive, and a difficult habit to break free from.
To clarify, when I discuss the damage sugar does to your body, I am not talking about tiny amounts such as the sugar you ingest from a teaspoon of honey sweetening in a warm beverage. Your body is well equipped to handle small amounts of natural sugar quite efficiently.
The true damage occurs when consuming 40-50 grams of sugar in one sitting – think a piece of chocolate cake, a bag of candy, a can of soda or even that ‘healthy’ smoothie at your local hangout. This is made even worse when repeated daily, sometimes more than once.
This is scary stuff!! I am hoping you will maybe reconsider before eating cereals, breads, bagels, muffins, candy, and low fat and processed foods, all of which are laden with added sugars.
Over the last few weeks I have tried to explain why some foods that you may be eating, thinking they are healthy, are anything but. It is easy to be deceived by clever food labeling, attractive marketing and ‘authoritative’ statements, more concerned with making a profit, and keeping you coming back for more than your health and wellness.
These foods include:
- whole grain breads
- whole grain cereals
- whole grain crackers (more wheat and sugar)
- soy milk
- tofu or "veggie burgers" (non-fermented soy can be harmful to your hormones)
- orange juice
- apple juice (all fruit juices are little fructose bombs)
- skim milk or homogenized milk
- margarine (deadly trans-fats)
- pre-packaged "diet" dinners
- sport drinks
- protein bars (candy bars in disguise)
- overly processed meal replacements (with few, if any, pronounceable ingredients, just check the label)
- rice cakes (massive blood sugar spike)
- pasta (more wheat to age you faster)
- diet ice cream or diet desserts
- ‘energy’ drinks (soda in disguise)
- low-fat foods (fat is replaced with even more sugar)
- low-carb processed foods
- soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil
Your simple solution for eating a diet that benefits you and your wellness goals is to take back control of what you are putting into your body, eating real, whole food, as it was intended to be eaten.
We, as a society, have, for too long, outsourced our nutrition, and in turn our ultimate wellness to big corporations and food manufacturers who are way more concerned with pleasing shareholders and gaining and maintaining market share than they are about the consequences of their actions.
If you would like more information on how to transition towards a more health promoting way of eating, or would like to schedule a consultation with me, contact me. I can show you how eating for superb energy and vitality, to live your best life (and prevent illness and dis-ease) does not have to be difficult or complicated. Choosing the right foods for you, and understanding how each one react with your uniqueness will dramatically enhance your wellbeing.
I would also love to hear your thoughts and questions. Reply to this email here.
Here’s to your ultimate wellness!