Sugar, Oh Honey Honey!

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about sugar.  White, brown, demerara, honey, maple syrup and now the sugar substitutes, splenda, equal, etc etc.  It is a big topic of discussion and studies show it is near the top, if not the number one,  cause of heart disease and obesity.

WARNING - science moment coming up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sugar enters your body, is broken down and moved into your blood to be transported for use.  When there are 1-2 tsp’s of sugar in your blood, your body is the happiest:)  If it goes above this, the body is not happy (like really unhappy, I mean coma and possible death unhappy).  And did I ever tell you that most american’s consume 53 tsp's of sugar a day on average (unhappy body).  So the body has to do something to make itself happy again.  Enter Insulin!!!  Insulin moves sugar out of the blood and into cells so it can be used for energy.  However, we consume SO much sugar that not all of it has to be used for energy and is therefore stored as fat. 

The pancreas is the organ that produces insulin.  Insulin binds to insulin receptors on cells and that is what gets the sugar to go from the blood to inside of the cell.  IF there is a constant bombardment of the receptors with insulin the receptors get tired and don’t want to do their jobs anymore.  They get burnt out because they are sooooo busy (sound familiar?).  The end result is that there is still sugar in the blood!!! ======== DIABETES.

There are several long term complications of diabetes, and one is very near and dear to my heart ---à VISION DAMAGE!!!  Others include kidney dysfunction, heart disease, neurological issues, and poor wound healing. (Gojieyeclinic picture - your eyeball on sugar vs normal eye ball)

As if that wasn’t enough to want to cut a few cokes out of your day, here’s another reason to avoid sugar.  German Professor Otto Warburg, in 1931 (look how long ago we knew sugar was bad!), received a Nobel Prize for his studies showing cancer cells and tumors generate by glycolysis, the non oxidative breakdown of glucose (sugar) when oxygen isn’t around.  He hypothesized that cancer cells use sugar as their main source of energy, in contrast with normal human cells which use oxygen (regular cells still use glycolysis but produce much more energy by using oxygen, thus it’s more efficient)

When insulin levels become high because of high sugar in the blood, the liver releases a substance called Insulin Like Growth Factor, or IGF-1.  This substance causes the body to grow in the presence of food.  Cancer cells have 8x the number of receptors of IGF-1 on them than do healthy cells and so use sugar as their primary fuel.  IGF-1 also causes the formation of blood vessels in tumors (blood supply to cells = more cell growth = more tumor growth).  And not only does sugar feed cancerous cells, it causes our immune systems to not work as well.  An immune system that would otherwise hunt down a cancer cell and wipe it out.

 Everyone has cancer cells floating around inside of them.  And sometimes, nutrition won’t stop you from getting cancer.  Genetics also plays a part, as well as environmental factors.  But decreasing sugar consumption definitely can’t hurt!!!!

A Few More Reasons to Avoid or Decrease Sugar and Refined Grains

1.  Sugar is the primary cause of diabesity

Yeah, you heard me.  DIabesity.  Diabetes and obesity.  We’ve all heard that fat makes you fat.  That’s not true, as long as it’s good fat.  Fat doesn’t make you fat, but the sugar that turns into fat will. 

2.  Sugar can cause hormonal and metabolic imbalances

Insulin and cortisol levels in the body, which decrease, then increase, then decrease, then increase (you get the picture) blood sugar, burn out receptors on cells and set your system up to crash, as well as cause abnormal hormone functions which can lead to inflammation, premature aging and to you becoming sick.

3.  Sugar puts the body in an acidic state.

The pH of the body is important when it comes to health.  pH is a measurement of the hydrogen ion concentration in the body.  The scale ranges from 1 to 14, with 7 being neutral.  Below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline.  Our body’s ideal pH is slightly alkaline, 7.30 to 7.45.  You can actually get litmus paper and test your body’s pH.  With a body that is too acidic, it yields a place for disease to thrive.

4.  Sugar causes chronic inflammation in the body & heart disease

With a high sugar diet, inflammatory enzymes increase.  Inflammation is related to about 98% of chronic disease.  Increased inflammation in the arteries increases risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), stroke and heart attack.  

(References:  Maximized Living Nutrition Plans, A Randomized Trial on protein versus carbohydrate in ad libitum fat reduced diet for the treatment of obesity, Life Without Bread, Do National Dietary Guidelines Do More Harm Than Good, Sugar Feeds Cancer - Dr Neil McKinney)