Sugar is the leading food additive in the U.S. food supply and is making us sugar junkies. Sugar, not fat, is the leading cause of obesity in the United States.
Sugar isn't just bad nutrition; it's health damaging nutrition. The body actually has to borrow from its stores of nutrients in order to process it. Sugar literally eats up the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. This depresses your immune system, and that's way sugar can make you sick.
Your brain on sugar...
When you eat refined sugar, it goes straight to your intestines, bypassing any chemical breakdown in your body. From the intestines, it's absorbed right into the bloodstream. Your blood glucose level spikes fast. Your brain registers this sugar hit with a drug-like reaction. Sugar triggers the release of the same natural brain opioids released when shooting heroin, which are associated with positive feelings as pleasure, energy, and euphoria. That release makes most people feel good, but it makes sugar addicted people feel absolutely high. And when sugar is taken away, you get the same withdrawal signs and changes in brain chemistry. When you are addicted to sugar, you need more to feel better. And I don't just mean candy and cookies, also carbohydrates that are quickly converted to sugar, such as bagels, breads, croutons, rolls, cracker, cereals, and more!
Their rapid conversion to sugar causes a corresponding hike in insulin. High insulin prevents the breakdown of body fat. Excess sugar wreaks havoc on every organ in the body. Initially it's stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. When the liver's storage capacity gets maxed out, glycogen is expelled in the forms of fatty acids. These travel to every part of the body and lodge themselves into our fatty areas, the belly, hips, butt, breasts and thighs. After these areas are filled, the remaining fatty acids get dealt out to the major organs, including the heart and kidneys. Fat nestles there, releasing toxic chemicals that damage the arteries, blood vessels, and organs. Sugar also causes a sluggish metabolism and adds worthless calories. Sugar is quickly metabolized as fat and prevents the body from knowing it's full. This is why you can sit down with a box of cookies or chips and eat them until they're gone. And guess what else? It ages your skin and causes wrinkles. Eating sugar attacks collagen and elastin, that make your skin look young. Sugar actively ages you. Ditching sugar will make you look and feel years younger!
Refined sugar is technically sucrose, or common table sugar. The other sugars to be aware of include dextrose (corn sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), maltose (malt sugar), and lactose (milk sugar).
A quick tip before you go: A key to weight loss: 5 grams of sugar or less in foods does not
register in the body, meaning this amount does not cause insulin spikes
and drops. Also most fruits release
their sugar relatively slowly into the bloodstream, meaning that they
are less likely to disrupt the blood sugar balance. Although the sugars
in fruit juice are released more quickly because they are the
concentrated forms of fruit sugars like those in dried fruits, so they
do have the potential to impact blood sugar levels.
I hope this clears up any questions you have about sugar.
To stay healthy is to stay informed!
Have a great day! Amy
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reference: "This Is Why You're Fat (And How to Get Thin Forever)" book by Jackie Warner
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