Holistic Health & Sugar Risks

Sugar - The Nutritionally Vacant Promise

Over 30 years ago, the legendary Gloria Swanson told William Dufty “That stuff is poison – I won’t have it in my house, let alone in my body.”   The reference was to a single cube of sugar during a coffee break. 

Fast forward to the 21st Century and most people know by now that sugar should be consumed in moderation but those same people might be shocked to learn that the average Westerner consumes a whopping 159 pounds or 72 Kilograms a year, excluding natural food sources. Source: USDA 1999 Report

World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines advocate a 10% free sugar level or about 12 teaspoons (tsp) a day, based on an average 2,000 calorie diet. That’s about 75% below current levels.  So to help put this in perspective on the practical methods of measurement, here's a look: 1 tsp = 4 Grams = 16 Calories and FYI, 1 pound = 454 Grams.

Therefore, 159 Lbs x 454 Gr. = 71,186 Gr. a yr/365 days = 198 Gr. a day/4 = 49 tsp a day. That’s over 780 empty calories and many easily exceed this by over 30%. Given the body will do quite nicely with just 3-4 tsp per day, the numbers are excessive. 

If this seems like a lot for you, let’s break it down to see how quickly just a few typical lifestyle choices add up in the average day:

• 1 Bowl of typical cereal for breakfast = 7 tsp
• 1 8 oz Cup of Fruit yogurt at lunch = 8 tsp
• 1 12 oz Soda about 3pm = 10 tsp
• 1 4oz Chocolate Cake or 4 oz of alcohol tonight = 10 tsp
• 6 Oreos cookies or similar late snack = 6 tsp

That’s 41 tsp or over 650 calories already, 4 times the recommendation! What other sugar laden foods might be eaten? A double-double coffee, a fast food sandwich, an energy bar, a muffin, white breads, crackers, pasta/sauce, a second soda, etc…

Note that 1 pound is the equivalent of 3,500 calories.

Highly refined sugars deliver no nutrition yet they are consumed constantly through refined and processed foods and most people unknowingly eat far more sugar than their bodies can possibly use. 

When this happens, the liver converts the excess energy into molecules called triglycerides and stores it as fat, or else produces cholesterol from the by-products of sugar and deposits it in veins and arteries.

And what are the naturally occurring levels of sugar in our fresh fruits:

• Apple, 3.8g/100g
• Banana, 8.5g/100g
• Cantaloupe, 4.1g/100g
• Dried fig, 9.9g/100g
• Mango, 7.4g/100g
• Onion, 7.9g/100g
• Pear, 1.2g/100g
• Peach, 5.5g/100g
• Pineapple, 6.9g/100g
• Strawberry, 1.0g/100g
• Watermelon, 3.2g/100g

What are the dangers of sugars?

In the past 200 years or so, sugar consumption has risen by over 1,500%. Sugar was once a rare luxury treat available to the very rich but today it's become a significant part of the Western diet and we’re hooked. 

Read our free health article about The 76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health!

This rise in sugar consumption is primarily based on the availability of modern, fast, convenient and highly processed foods and interestingly, this rise correlates with the dramatic rise of illness across the population, and at much younger ages. 

Type-2 Diabetes was once a mid-life disease, now its rising fastest in our teenagers and the obesity situation continues to grow, even in the very young.

Sugar is a short-term fix of both energy and pleasure but with sugar everywhere; perhaps it's time to ask an important question. 

How is it we have developed such advanced technology in our western society while at the same time managed to allow an explosion of excess weight/obesity, allergies, type-2 diabetes, chronic fatigue, pain, premature aging and so on? 

Are we manufacturing products that are making us ill and creating still more products which mask the symptoms of our illness as opposed to getting and staying well?

The Hazards of Our Chemically Engineered Foods

If you are purchasing processed foods of any type, it is virtually unavoidable that among the many highly undesirable ingredients, you will be ingesting a high concentration of nutritionally vacant sugar. 

The human body does require sugar, the kind best delivered in small amounts from fresh foods, but it simply was not built to cope with and process these “vacant food” products.

And what about those highly marketed Sugar Free “Diet” products advertised everywhere?  Most people are just now becoming aware that these artificial sweeteners are hazardous toxins to be avoided entirely and in fact, studies are now pointing to increased health risks that exceed those of sugar. 

We may be technically clever at breaking down plants into small synthetic chemical elements, but the human body is many orders of magnitude more complex and it successfully evolved over tens of thousands of years by primarily consuming easily digested live whole plant foods rich in a broad range of nutritionally complex nutrients and natural sugars and the somewhat rare catch of game.

The general overuse of sugars is being linked to our declining physical and mental health and there is no lack of debate and clinical study on the topic of sugar and sweeteners yet our grocery stores remain very well stocked with more and more nutritionally vacant sugar laden products. 

During WWI and WWII while sugar was rationed, the incidence of diabetes decreased drastically. **
In 1991, Singapore banned sugary soft drink sales from all schools and youth center's, citing the danger that sugar poses to mental and physical health.

• In Sugar Blues, William Dufty writes; “The difference between sugar addiction and narcotic addiction is largely one of degree.”
• In a recent study conducted by Dr. C. Keith Connors of the Children's Hospital in Washington, DC, a 'deadly' link was established between the consumption of sugar with carbohydrates (such as breakfast cereal, cake, and biscuits) and violent behaviour, hypertension, and learning impediments.  Source: Daniel Reid
• Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defences against infectious disease. Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Nov 19731,2
• Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children. Source: Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.1986 3, 4
• Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function. Source: Scientific American. May 1987 5
• Sugar is an addictive substance. Source: American Psychological Society, Toronto, June 2001  6
• German researchers have identified that intelligence, measured in terms of the mental capacity to think, reason and memorize is significantly reduced when sugar is consumed.

It should be no surprise to learn that the WHO/10% recommendation has not been welcomed by the sugar manufacturers, their advocates or the American Government. Sugar is very big business indeed.

Refined Sugar Is An Industrially Processed Chemical  

Sucrose is the white crystalline sugar refined from cane or beet juice which is stripped of virtually all vitamins, minerals, protein, fibre and water.  This is refined sugar, is an industrially processed chemical not found naturally in nature and not recognized as a source of food by the human body.   It has a shelf life of years, which in itself, should be considered unnatural for a food.

Be it white, yellow or brown, it has no resemblance to the more nutritionally sensible and natural versions produced by boiling down whole cane juice.  Raw Cane Sugar is becoming a widely available and as a great replacement for refined sugar, still use sparingly. 

It’s interesting to note that in locations where sugar cane is cultivated, people chewing “whole sugar cane” get fewer or no cavities.

Perhaps We Are What We Eat  

In the early part of the 20th century, Dr. Weston Cost, a dentist, studied different populations looking for a relationship of diet to dental decay, and as it happened, how general health was affected.  In a study of 2 Swiss villages, one using a century’s old traditional diet and way of living due to its remote isolation and the other village which had better access to transportation, modern farming methods and a diet based more on processed foods.

The results of the study were striking.  In the traditional village where there was no doctor or dentist, because there was no need, the incidence of cavities per child between 6 and 16 was 0.03.  This village of 2,000 also raised some of the finest physiques in all of Europe and a surprisingly large percentage of the Swiss Guard had been recruited from this area.

The other village that was using the more modern methods of farming and foods (refined flour and sugar) had an incidence of tooth decay that was dramatically higher; each child had an average of 6 to 7 decayed teeth.  In addition to the dental findings, Dr. Cost also was surprised to observe other significant health problems in this group. He later traveled globally studying the remnants of traditional lifestyles and the effect of modern processed foods, as they slowly disappeared. Source: Rudolph Ballentine M.D.

The Sugar Rollercoaster  

When hungry, our body signals its need for nutrients and energy and one way we have come to get energy into the body is by eating a quick sugar snack.   When we satisfy our hunger by eating sugar, which is essentially a stripped carbohydrate and empty calories, our hunger symptoms are temporarily subdued.

However, in order for the body to process that sugar snack, it requires nutrients including vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats. Because the body will have to use stored nutrients to process the new sugars which give no nutrients in return, we are creating a nutrient debt which over time gradually reduces our body’s ability to fend off illness and disease.

For this reason, diets high in refined carbohydrates (refined sugar) are usually low in vitamins, minerals, and fibre; and foods with white flour, white sugar, and white rice are lacking in the B vitamins and other nutrients.  Excessive consumption of these foods will perpetuate any vitamin B deficiency an individual may already have. 

If the B vitamins are absent, carbohydrate combustion cannot take place, and indigestion, symptoms of heartburn, and nausea can result.  Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, anemia, kidney disorders, hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, syndrome X and cancer can all be linked to an overabundance of refined carbohydrate foods in the diet.

The rollercoaster ride begins when sugar is ingested, it is absorbed quickly and delivers a sudden burst of energy but just 60 minutes later we have an equivalent drop in energy.  This creates a cycle where we want more sugar for more energy and continues with more cravings, growing nutrient deficiencies, insulin resistance, etc. A regular heavy intake of stripped carbohydrates results in a gradual body system breakdown and recurring and/or prolonged illness.

Beating The Sugar Monkey

With just a little effort and discipline to begin, the internal body systems can easily be re-balanced to a point where when the body is getting all its nutrients, vitamins, minerals without excess through easily and quickly digestible plant-based foods and supporting nutritional supplements, you’ll be acquiring natural sugars in “normal amounts” and your body won’t crave sugar and as a bonus you'll feel better too.

Getting back to a balanced state does take a bit of time and its important to recognize that hunger cravings are simply an alarm signal that your body is out of balance, lacking something, or has too much of something. 

Sugar consumption should be from our live foods such as fresh fruits, fresh beets or from more natural sugars sources such as unrefined cane sugar Sucanat, pure maple syrup, unpasteurized honey, stevia but always in moderation.

The Serious Side Effects of Being Healthy               

• Body Weight will find its natural ideal state
• Skin elasticity and texture will improve
  Complexion will clear
• Energy will improve and be available throughout the day
• Clarity of thinking and memory will improve
• Sense of well-being and confidence in self will improve
• Simple Everyday Tips That Make Managing Sugar Easier

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of these suggestions. 

When you begin to take notice of the foods you choose, you'll be amazed at how easy it is to exchange a candy bar for a favorite fruit, you'll still get your sugar high, but you'll also get lots of good nutrients that will support the digestion of the sugar and take you out of the sugar rollercoaster effect.  You may also find that your total grocery bill moderates over time as your cravings for sweets and snacks subsides.

• Shop the perimeter of your grocery store and stock up on lots of live foods (fruits and veggies) and avoid the lure of the inner isles where the sugar is stored and available in virtually everything you’ll see. 
• Find a good organic grocery and while you'll find healthy food pricing is a small percent higher, but you’ll feel a large percentage better, and that’s good value!  A secondary benefit in buying organic is the avoidance of the chemical bath modern mass production farming practices inflict on their nutrient deficient soils and crops to coax them to grow.
• When you do venture into the inner isles, and we all do at some point, read the labels carefully.  Look for the 'Carbohydrates (sugars) and if you must buy, consider 10g or more of sugar per 100g a lot and 2g or less a more moderate amount. 
• Look carefully at the ingredient list noting what’s in the top 3 or 4 and if one of them is a sugar or sweetener any any number of names, it’s loaded with empty calories. 
• Also watch for other words that describe sugar such as sucrose, glucose, invert sugar and corn syrup. Some like fructose and honey are safer because they are natural, but again, in moderation. 
• Don’t purchase and avoid sugar-free anything.  Those products are a future newsletter topic of their own.
• Give up on highly refined white, enriched and whole-wheat breads and pastas. Try the spelt bread variety and move to brown rice pastas.  They taste great and you'll feel better and the kids will survive.  

Resources and Reading

Sugar is a serious impediment to achieving and maintain health. Further reading on the topic:

• Link: “76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health” - by Dr. Nancy Appleton, PhD Author of "Lick The Sugar Habit" link
• Book: A #1 Bestseller and Classic, “Sugar Blues” by William Dufty
• Book: “Lights Out” by T.S. Wiley
• Link: Sugar Surprise from CBC Marketplace http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/sugar/
• Link: Sugar Compound Profiles http://www.innvista.com/HEALTH/nutrition/diet/sindex.htm 

At the risk of self promotion, we want you to know that Healthy You Naturally would like to be a resource to you and we welcome your feedback, questions and comments

Solutions That Restore Balance In A Nutritionally Indebted Body 

To help rebalance the body and eliminate sugar cravings, here are a few services and 100% plant-based products that have been very successful for my clients.  I’ve set up a simple webpage for anyone interested in secure online shopping or you may call for a direct purchase and local pickup. 
The product links will open a new window.

1) Private Counselling – addressing your specific health objectives through an individualized program.  My holistic nutritional counselling programs represent an effective and progressive approach that ensures your optimum success in the least amount of time, in office and/or by phone.  Programs can be customized to meet most needs. Contact me for more information or to arrange an appointment.

2) Body Cleansing – considered the first essential step in countering the toxic effects of prolonged sugar consumption is a natural cleansing of the digestive/intestinal systems.  Once the system functions are returning to more normalized function, the effects of sugars will diminish as improved quality of foods and clean water begin to bring the body back into balance.  Two popular program kits that include by-phone support are listed below.

Natural Herbal Supplement Product Recommendations That Can Help

May we be of service to you?  87% of people purchase over the counter health supplements - that's the good news.  Did you know that a natural content of just 10% is enough to label a product natural?  In health and beauty products it's just 4%.  We suggest 100% natural is better value.

You will recognize value in our level of personal health care service, support and guidance, the high quality of our all natural plant-based products, the broad selection, the convenience of rapid coast to coast home delivery and many years of experience as a professional holistic health practitioner.

Key Natural Health Products Recommended to targeting specific needs

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(C) Copyright 1994-2008 Diane McLaren
Diane is a co-author with Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer and others in a best selling Wake Up ... Love The Life You Live book and creator and author of the recently published BODiWELL Health System. Discover what thousands of people have successfully learned about maximizing their health naturally through the professional guidance of a gifted Holistic Health Practitioner, Trainer and Author specialized in Iridology, Reflexology, Nutrition, herbal medicines and natural healing since 1994. Visit Diane McLaren - Natural Health Practitioner, Speaker, Trainer, Author   

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