By Guy Lawrence
Don’t shoot the messenger here, but this one is SO important. But firstly lets eliminate a common point of confusion. There is glucose that is manufactured in the body, which is ever present in the blood and essential as the brain wouldn’t function without it.
Then there is Glucose/Sugar, which is taken externally. This includes: lactose, which is milk sugar; maltose which is malt sugar; dextrose or ‘corn sugar’; fructose, which is fruit sugar; sucrose, which is refined sugar; honey; syrup; caramel and the list goes on. The point being that they are all considered sugar.
Westerners Love Sugar
Sugar consumption has exploded over recent years. A century ago you would be lucky to consume 2-3kg per annum. Fast forward to today and the average person eats more sugar than their own body weight per annum! Don’t believe me? Start looking at the ingredients you eat, from the tomato ketchup to the canned beans. They even cure a lot of meat in sugar these days. Make no mistake, sugar is insidious and is used in almost everything you buy in the commercial supermarkets these days. They wouldn’t be able to store food without it.
But here’s the thing, sugar itself is not harmful if taken in small doses. I’m the first to agree a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down on occasion, just not a shovel full!
Why is sugar a problem?
Sugar is depleted of any nutritional value, with no vitamins or minerals. What you have is a pure refined carbohydrate or what is considered an ‘empty calorie’. What makes matters worse, refined carbohydrates put additional demands on the digestive system. In order to be digested it leaches from the body’s reserves, which includes its proteins, vitamins and minerals.
When you eat food the way nature intended, the natural proteins, vitamins and minerals are present along with the carbohydrate. This makes metabolizing a smooth process, as there is no excess carbohydrate. But humans have gone and dramatically tipped the balance.
Not only are you putting demands on the body but you are also putting demands on the endocrine system, making the pancreas secret more insulin to try and control your blood sugar levels. This is a sure way to gain weight as well as contributing towards degenerative disease over time.
Cutting sugar out is not as simple as stopping a teaspoon in your daily cupper. Start to assess how much you are having on a daily basis, and as all you sweet toothed chocoholics know, sugar is very addictive – just try stopping it for a month!
If you want to fast track your health, sugar has got to go.
- The average person consumes more than their body weight in sugar per year.
- Sugar is depleted of any nutritional value.
- Too much sugar in your daily diet puts undue stress on the body over time.
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