There
is an ocean of research that proves it.
No but, if , when. No doubt.
Sugar is
doing to American civilization what lead did to Rome.
It’s making us fat, it’s
making us crazy and it is slowly killing us.
Are you scared of flying in a
plane? Are you worried about terrorism? No need to stress your already panicked
system.
Sugar will kill you faster than Al Qaeda.
In the 1700’s, only the rich could afford sugar.
Thus, they had very bad teeth. The lowly peasants, wanting to emulate their
lords and ladies and appear what they were not, would blacken their choppers.
Midwives and healers already could recognize all the signs of deterioration
brought on by the consumption of sugar. Unfortunately but very predictably,
those poor souls literally ended up in the fire for denouncing what would fuel
the expansion of a few empires, the colonization of others and the slave-trade.
For the mere 2.3 million years of evolution, humans had quite a rough time trying to maintain their blood-sugar at
the optimum level. Food was scarce and ability to store it even worse. Today,
we are facing a crisis due to the reversal of these parameters. You can get
your fill almost anywhere. Gas stations seem to be engaged into a war of which
one can offer the most absolutely revolting concoction. Florist are pushing
chocolate and office supplies stores rival each other with displays of potato
chips!!
Simply put, sugar is everywhere, from sodas and
candy, to sports drink and condiments. Most processed foods contain some sort
of sweetener. From birth to death, we are being poisoned. Some infant formulas
contain as much sugar as a can of soda. Medicines such as cough syrup are
filled with the stuff.
And still, some wonder why we are becoming a
nation of obese people. One third of the population is obese, the other third
is overweight, which leaves only one third healthy (not a very large pool in
which to find Olympians!) The rate of obesity of white middle- age men has gone
from 3% to 30% in little more than 100 years and with it the rates of heart
disease, diabetes and kidney failure.
Let’s take a look at the different sugars and
sweeteners:
Glucose,
fructose and dextrose are monosaccharides, simple sugars. The
body metabolizes them differently, with glucose and dextrose being
pretty much the same thing. They can form more complex sugars by recombining:
table sugar is half fructose/half glucose and is a disaccharide.
High-fructose
corn syrup is also a combination of
fructose and glucose (55/45).
Ethanol
is obtained from fermenting sugars with yeast but is not a sugar.
Xylitol,
sorbitol, mannitol, glycerol, erythritol and maltitol are very popular
sweeteners that are neither alcohol nor sugars although they are dubbed “sugar
alcohols” Partially absorbed by the small intestine, they can bring on a full
array of problems such as diarrhea, bloating and flatulence.
Sucralose
or Splenda is a freak, 600 times sweeter than table sugar, and obtained through
a chlorination process. A small percentage of the sucralose ingested is
absorbed by the small intestine but it has been shown that it is capable of
destroying the bulk of the friendly intestinal bacteria on which our immune
system depends.
Aspartame or NutraSweet is also an artificial sweetener with documented
and devastating side-effects such as headaches, migraines, dizziness, seizures,
nausea, numbness, rashes, depression, irritability, insomnia, hearing loss,
vision problems, loss of taste vertigo and memory loss.
Agave syrup is a highly processed substance and it is about 80% fructose. Thanks to very smart advertising, it’s made a grand entrance on the shelves of natural-food stores but there’s really nothing natural about it.
Stevia derives from the stevia plant, which is very easy to grow in
a lot of climates. It is 200 times sweeter than table sugar and does not raise
blood sugar. However if you have insulin issues, it is best that to avoid all sweeteners, including Stevia, as they all
can decrease your sensitivity to insulin. Some object to the bitter
metallic after taste of Stevia. It might be worth trying a different brand. The
whole-leaf extract has not been approved by the FDA and can only been sold as a
dietary supplement, while compounds from the Stevia plant can be
legally used as a “natural” sweetener (Truvia a no-calorie sweetener is is not
made from whole Stevia, just two of the sweetest compounds). Only the FDA can
make it so confusing and complicated.
Honey is 53% fructose. Used in its RAW form, it is natural and has
wonderful healing properties when used in moderation.
Glucose vs. fructose
Glucose
is the energy source of every living thing on our planet. The human body was
design to run on the stuff. But now, we consume mostly fructose. In vegetable
and fruit, fructose is mixed with minerals, enzymes, vitamins, fiber…All these
contribute to modulating the effect fructose has on our body. But sadly, we now
consume fructose in its most naked form: in drink, juice and processed foods.
One century ago the average person ate 15 grams of fructose per day. Today, the
average is closer to 75 grams with some people reaching a high of 130 grams.
Our liver
is the poor lone work-horse in the metabolization of fructose. Every day, it
receives massive amounts of fructose that has not been subjected to any break-down
by the body. The fructose from your Coca-Cola (remember, it’s made from
high-fructose corn-syrup, a mixture of unbound sucrose and glucose) goes
straight for the liver and is turned into fat, ready to be deposited in those
nice little areas we love to hate: thighs, belly, under-arms, buttocks. In the
meantime, the glucose in your Coke, being what every cell in your body in
programmed to use, is burned up soon after you have your drink.
The problems
of fructose metabolism don’t affect just your dress size. Here’s a sample of
the effects of fructose on the human body:
-Raises blood
pressure by elevating the levels of uric acid (a bit more complicated than that
really so please don’t run to your doctor with this paper in hand!!!!)
-Damages
kidneys,
-Increases
chronic low-level inflammation, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes,
and according to the latest research, to cancer,
-Promotes
weight gain, abdominal obesity,
-Leads to
Metabolic Syndrome (decreased HDL, increased LDL, high triglycerides, high
blood-sugar and high blood-pressure)
-Promotes
non-alcoholic fatty-liver.
According
to some research, it would seem that the more sugar you eat, the more effective
your body is in absorbing it. Of course, the more you absorb, the more damage is
done.
The
body becomes "sensitized" to sugar and more sensitive to its toxic
effects as well. But you can give a sugar holiday to your body in as
little as 2 weeks. The sensitization decreases and the body becomes less reactive.
But what about fruit?
Fruits are lovely
and perfect the way they are. Yes, they contain fructose but their design also
includes vitamins, fiber and antioxidants that minimize the negative effects of
fructose. But what happen when you drink only their juices? You still get all
the fructose but most of the antioxidants have been lost in the processing of
the fruit. Bottled juices from the grocery store are probably the most hazardous
for our health: they tend to grow fungus
as they sit nicely on their shelves waiting for a buyer. Fresh squeezed juices
are fine to consume in MODERATION, that is not every day. Fructose is not the
enemy per say, but the higher its consumption the higher the devastation it
brings on the body.
I can hear the objection rising in the back of some heads: Didn't our ancestors evolve eating fruits and berries? They sure did, but they ate
fruits when they were in season. They also ate fruits that had not been bred
and modified over centuries, to be uniform in shape, size and color and to be
SWEETER.
If you are a raw-foodist, eat the cleanest diet and get plenty of exercise, it is possible for
you to consume fructose in excess and still remain perfectly healthy. But my
friend, you are the exception.
My recommendation is to eat no more than 1 piece of fruit per day, unless you have insulin issues/diabetes in which case you should totally avoid it.
Here’s a chart of
the fructose content of common fruits.
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