Take a seat. This is a sugar
related science lesson for all you non-believers, and those of you whose
lackluster attention in grade nine science class has led to some ignorance on
this topic.
Most people think that sugar is bad
for you. Well in truth, it is.
In its refined state, the most
common form of sugar retailed in North America.. oh heck, let's be honest here... worldwide, it has absolutely NO
nutritional value WHATSOEVER! Refined sugar is in everything. Take a look around your kitchen and try to find ten
products that don't contain refined sugar. I bet most people can't find five.
It's in your bread, breakfast cereal, crackers, and yes it's hiding in your
junk food. Sugar, to some, is like a drug. You eat it, you love it, you want
more!
What exactly is sugar? Well, in its
most pure form, it is the juice of the sugar cane or sugar beet plants. A
plant- that can't be so bad right? Well in it's raw form, and of course in
moderation, it's not THAT horrible. But everything good goes out the door during
the refining process: the enzymes, fibre, vitamins and minerals are all essentially washed away.
So what is the sugar refining
process you ask. First, the sugar cane is pressed to remove all the natural
sweet sugar syrup. The sugar is then washed and passed through filters to
remove any non-sugar bits and to remove the natural brown colour. Essentially all that remains is the pure, concentrated carbohydrates which the human body has a hard time digesting without the presence of the now depleted proteins, vitamins and minerals. Once
all those good properties are stripped away, the sugar is dried and packed ready for
your enjoyment. Oh and just so you know, sugar filters are sometimes made of
charred animal bones!
So refined sugar is really just a useless, simple, incomplete carbohydrate. YUCK! Incomplete carbohydrate metabolism often results in the formation of a 'toxic metabolite' such as pyruvic acid and abnormal sugars that contain five carbon atoms. Pyruvic acid has a tendency to hang around and accumulate in your brain and nervous system and the abnormal sugars in the red blood cells. These toxic metabolites essentially mess around with how your healthy red blood cells metabolize oxygen. This means they cannot get enough oxygen to survive and function normally. Don't forget red blood cells carry that most valuable oxygen throughout your whole body. In time, some of the cells will inevitably die. This can and WILL interfere with the function of any part of the body reliant on oxygen (a.k.a all of you) and is the beginning of degenerative diseases. So in essence refined sugar can be linked to an array of medical problems
like hypoglycemia, mental and emotional disorders, increase of uric acid in the
blood, and an increase of neurotransmitters in the brain. But lets not scare
ourselves too much... Yet.
Do you ever wonder how sugar works
is pound-packing, butt enlarging, thigh popping magic? Or why you seem to need a new bra another cup size larger after christmas? When you consume refined
sugar only an extremely small amount is fully metabolized. The rest is stored
in the liver in the form of glucose (glycogen). Since the liver has a very limited capacity, a daily intake of refined sugar (above the required amount of natural sugar) soon makes the liver blow up up up like a balloon. But even your liver knows when enough is too much. When the liver is filled to its maximum capacity, the excess glycogen is returned to the blood stream in the form of fatty acids. These are taken to every part of the body and stored in the most inactive areas: your belly, your butt, your boobs and your thighs. No if's and's or.. Butts!!
High fructose corn syrup is just as
bad. Manufacturers love to use it.. in EVERYTHING: yogurt, juice, beer, cookies,
candy... the list goes on. It's unbelievably cheap to produce and it's processed even more
than sugar, therefore more concentrated, and as a result, even sweeter than sugar. By extension, food manufacturing companies can produce all the fructose corn syrup they like and they need to use less of it to make your sweets sweet! It's a money grab really. Pennies to produce and yet a 2 Lt bottle of Pepsi or Coke sells for over TWO DOLLARS! Imagine the profits there!
So all that doesn't mean that if
you eat refined sugar, your gonna die a horribly painful, mentally altered,
butt enlarged death, but you should probably look into alternatives. NATURAL
alternatives. Not the commercially touted artificial sweeteners you probably
have in your pantry or you grandparents carry around religiously.
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS ARE THE
DEVIL! This means diet soda, sugar-free foods and basically anything with
Nutra-Sweet, Equal, Sugar Twin, and I'm sure there are more I don't know of. I've actually recently discovered I have a severe allergy to sodium cyclamate ( Sugar Twin) and a lesser allergy to oh yes wait for it.. Aspartame.
Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by scientist James M. Schlatter at the G. D Searle Company ( since purchased by Monsanto). In 1970 Aspartame was put before
the FDA for approval. DENIED... EIGHT TIMES! The G.D Searle Company tried again in 1973. But. alas, the FDA's researchers found it to be dangerous
and it's use in foods should not be permitted. But somehow, in 1974, the G.D Searle Company got it approved for use in dry food. The following year, the FDA got a bunch of
science geeks together to do some more research and found that Searle's Company's research and testing methods weren't up to par and the results varied greatly
and were inaccurate as well as slightly manipulated. So just before Aspartame
actually made it into dry foods, the request was denied again. A few more years
of trying later, in 1981 actually, when a new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hull
Hayes was appointed, Aspartame was approved for use in dry foods. In 1983,
Aspartame made it's way into a multitude of drinks. That same year Arthur Hayes was forced to
leave the FDA amid charges of impropriety and, oh yeah accepting gratuities
from FDA-regulated companies... A.K.A he was taking bribes! Anyway, another
lump of years later in 1996, Aspartame had it's final victory, having all
restrictions lifted for use in, well anything (despite the 90-some proven
symptoms resulting from ingesting it). Aspartame can be linked to problems such
as memory loss, nerve cell damage, Alzheimer's, bloating, nervous symptom
disorders, hair loss (look out ladies and gents), joint pain, mental confusion, and many
more I'm sure I've forgotten due to ingesting this crap.
So how is it that one little
product such as Aspartame can do this much damage? Well chemically aspartame is
made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen atoms. Here's the kicker. It's
part methyl-alcohol compound, when digested in the stomach converts into a
methyl aldehyde, better known as Formaldehyde. We used that stuff to preserve
dead piglets in grade 10 science, we didn't have it in our tea at lunch!
Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin. Equal, also contains an ingredient called
phenylalanine which, yes, does occur naturally in the brain, but increased
levels can result in seizures, depression and schizophrenia. Nutra-sweet really is the
devil too. It contains saccharine, a coal-tar compound. Saccharine in its basic substance form is benzoic sulfilimine which has effectively no food energy and is much sweeter than sucrose. Yummy!
Now for my favorite bash of the
evening. Splenda (commercial name for sucralose). It is true that the Splenda
molecule is comprised of sucrose (sugar) — except that three of the hydroxyl
groups in the molecule have been replaced by three chlorine atoms. Chlorinated
sugar! Delicious! Chlorine is a powerful oxidant and is used in bleaching and
disinfectants. As a common disinfectant, chlorine compounds are used in swimming
pools to keep them clean when little kids, the elderly, or the just plain lazy individuals decide to use it as their personal
lavatory. In the upper atmosphere, chlorine based molecules have been
implicated in the destruction of the ozone layer. Do you really want that in
your morning cup of java or pot of tea? Sucralose, by the FDA's definition is 98% pure. What
they won't tell you is that the other 2% is comprised of small amounts of heavy
metals. No, not ACDC or Alice Cooper lol...Mainly methanol and arsenic. Hey, your food my be potentially
poisonous, but it's low in calories!
Clearly refined sugar and
artificial sweeteners are bad for us. But just in case you still don't see
that, here's one last reason why. Our bodies do a delicate balancing act
everyday- it's our pH balance (pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of
a solution in our bodies) and everything we put into our body has it's own pH
balance. When our bodies digest food, an acid or alkaline "ash" is
left behind, depending on the foods' mineral content. And guess what? Refined
sugar and artificial sweeteners are highly acidic! When our bodies get too
acidic, we are prone to more illness, i.e the flu, colds, skin problems,
allergies, headaches, and those are the minor maladies we notice right away.
Severe thyroid gland damage, liver damage, or adrenal gland damage can occur
over time, and unless you can see your insides, good luck noticing those before
it's too late. When there is too much acid in our body, it will begin
neutralizing its self, taking alkalizing minerals from reserves. If reserves
are low, our body takes minerals from our bones and muscles which could lead to
osteoporosis. And if that doesn't freak you out, consider this: it's been
proven that cancer cells thrive in acidic environments!
I believe that sugar or unnatural
alternatives are unavoidable where all commercially prepared food is concerned.
But purchasing organic products that use unrefined sugars are the best. And
remember moderation is the key. You may not see the harm in one can of Coke a
day, but that is still a lot of sugar. Try one can a week.
