SUGAR
When we first started to add sweet tastes to our foods they were from fully natural sources and had not really been tampered with. However, these days the white crystalline substance we know of as sugar is an unnatural and heavily refined substance. It is almost unrecognisable from its natural state and it is produced by large-scale industrial processes (mostly from sugar cane or sugar beets).
It is made by refining it down to pure sucrose (sugar). Interestingly, the raw material that is extracted from the plant does have some vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and other beneficial nutrients. However, during the man-made processing, these are all stripped away to just leave the basic concentrated substance called sucrose.
The human body can't easily handle this unnatural substance. This is especially so in the rather large quantities that is now commonly eaten in today's society.
Sugar is addictive. Did you know that the average American now consumes approximately 115 lbs. of sugar per year. This is every man, woman and child on average. It is a staggering statistic. A few hundred years ago this product didn't exist and the human body did not come across sucrose in large quantities. One of the closest things humans encountered that was sweet, was nectar or honey.
The Sugar versus Drugs Controversy
Drugs and other narcotics bring absolute devastation to the lives they touch. This can be in the form of crime, violence, pain and the individual trauma and destruction that drugs will always cause to a person's body.
Even though the drug problem is widespread and growing, in most communities it still badly affects only a relatively small proportion of people in most societies. The effects for the people concerned though are usually catastrophic.
Due to the widespread use of excessive sugar in our diets, it has controversially been stated that excessive sugar use has just as much negative impact on people's lives, perhaps even more so, than harmful drugs.
Whilst we think this may have made headline news to create more publicity about the harmful effects of too much sugar, it may have some basis in truth if you look at the big picture.
Whilst the evidence of excessive sugar consumption is there for all to see, this is not as acute or life-destroying as the harm drugs can do. There is no need to sensationalise any facts about sugar - it is harmful when taken to excess. Unfortunately, sugar is very addictive and it helps foods taste nice. An interesting aspect of sugar is that even whilst it is causing harm to the body, your taste buds can actually become de-sensitized to the sweetness levels. In other words, you can need to add more and more sugar to start to believe something is sweet.
A quite surprising discovery over the last few decades is that most people underestimate how much sugar they consume in their drinks and foods. Many people can hardly survive without having to grab a Starbucks or similar coffee. Many mistakenly think they are seeking a caffeine fix. In fact, it can be the high amounts of sugar in these and similar drinks which people find addictive. The same goes for many soft drinks, cokes and colas etc.
Thankfully it is not too difficult to reduce the amounts of sugars we consume. Even though they are addictive, sugar is a lot easy to "come-off" than most hard drugs.
The large food companies should change
By the way, we shouldn't let the large food and drinks manufacturer's off the hook. They have been responsible for more harm to the health of society than even alcohol and cigarette manufacturers. They know that people like sugar and that it is rather addictive. They also know that sugar can be added to cheap, nutritionally poor ingredients and produce food that tastes better. The fact that this sweetened junk food plays havoc with our blood sugar levels, causes spikes and troughs in energy levels and still makes people crave more, is morally disgusting.
Whole generations of people have been affected and these companies should shoulder some of the blame. Some may say "It is a person's own fault" if they eat too much sugar and become obese. However, high sugar levels in many foods have been kept quiet and misleading marketing has made the problem even worse. For example, why in heaven's sake is it necessary to put over 10 teaspoons of sugar in a tin of baked beans? Why does a can of coke need a dozen or more teaspoons of sugar in it? It is all designed to make junk taste better and to be more addictive. More cravings equals more buying which equals more profit $$$$. (The damage to people's health is conveniently overlooked!)
What can I do about it?.....Just stop buying their junk. Mention it to friends. Get them to mention it to their friends. Only when consumers start to demand less sugar, and less fat for that matter, in their foods, will companies listen. We are in periods of dramatic change on this planet right now. Even large companies go bust every month. So make the greedy corporations listen by not giving them your financial support. If enough people do this then some of the more ethical companies will change and everyone will win.
We all like a little treat from time to time. It is a real pleasure and fun, but we don't need junk and hidden sugar at every meal time. Educate your family and before too long, healthy eating (with occasional treats) becomes a good habit.
Is Sugar More Harmful to Society than Drugs?
Here is why reports suggest that sugar does more damage than any other poison, drug or narcotic:
(1) It is considered a "food" and ingested in such massive quantities, and
(2) The damaging effects begin early, from the day a baby is born and is fed sugar in its formula. Even mothers milk is contaminated with it if the mother eats sugar, and
(3) Practically 95% of people are addicted to it to some degree or other.
Too Much Sugar is Eaten Today
Question: At what point does a substance that can be good for us, actually become harmful?
Answer: In simple terms - it depends on how much Quantity is consumed.
To try to explain this, here is an exaggerated illustration of what this means:
Most of us realise that the venom of a rattlesnake, a cobra, and other venomous insects can be deadly to the human body.
In fact, there are some snakes and spiders whose bites are so deadly they can cause death within a matter of seconds.
Nevertheless, even snake and spider venom, deadly as they are, can be used for therapeutic, medical purposes when used in very tiny quantities.
The same has occurred with many chemicals over the years including arsenic and mercury etc. This is because:
In small quantities, some chemicals act as a stimulant.
A slightly larger amount becomes a sedative.
But a larger quantity becomes a poison and can kill you.
So think about where sugar may fall on the above scale of good versus bad...
The History of Sugar
Sugar had been around in small quantities for several thousand years. However, it was practically unknown in ancient times and only formed an insignificant part of the average diet in the Classical civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome.
The Greeks (who had a word for nearly everything) did not even have a word for sugar. Even in medieval Europe, it was practically unknown and then it was only a rare delicacy in the royal courts.
During the last major Crusade that ended in 1204, some of the Christian Crusaders were introduced to sugar used by the Saracens.
The Moors when invading and colonizing the southern part of Spain grew sugar cane on Spanish soil and refined sugar.
When Spain drove out the Moors, it inherited some of the sugarcane plantations. It was during this time that Christendom took its first big bite of the forbidden fruit and liked it.
Then sugar plantations were created and its history became deeply and shamefully entwined with the slave trade...
Refined Sugar is an unnatural chemical like heroin
Why is it that sugar can be so devastating to our health?
One reason is that it is pure chemical and by extreme refining, it has been stripped of all the natural nutrients nutrition that it originally had.
In their natural state, most plants, vegetables and fruits have a wide range of nutritional ingredients. These can consist of enzymes, vitamins, minerals, calories, and countless other chemical compounds. The process of heavily refining natural foods, usually strips away the majority of the attached chemical compounds and nutrients. This is done to make a product seem more palatable or appetizing to humans. But it comes at a cost....Interestingly, heroin and sugar are arrived at by very similar processes of refinement.
In producing heroin, the opium is first extracted from the poppy. The opium is then refined into morphine.
The "mad" chemists then went to work on morphine and further refined it into heroin. At the time they proclaimed they had "discovered" a wonderful new pain-killer that was non-addictive. If only they knew...
Similarly, sugar is first pressed as a juice from the cane (or beet) and refined into molasses. Then it is refined into brown sugar, and finally into white crystals (with the chemical formula
). At this point, it is a rather harsh chemical which the body can find difficult to easily process and digest. If too much is eaten it can cause wild havoc to the energy systems and digestive processes of the body. Just a few teaspoons of sugar can cause insulin levels to change quite dramatically in the blood. This affects how the rest of our food gets digested and over time it can take its toll on our bodies. It even makes it easier for the body to hold onto its fat reserves. There is some complicated science on this subject, but one primal reason why obesity can develop from excessive sugar intake is that at a cellular level, the body senses its energy levels going up and down like a yo-yo. To try to stabilise this the body begins to store more of the fat it consumes as a kind of safety net. The sugar throws things into chaos and the body "plays it safe" and tries to store an alternative form of energy in the shape of fat.
The reason it is a big problem:- Sugar is addictive
A second reason that sugar is so harmful is that like heroin it is very addictive. Because it is so delectable and seductive to the taste, it is also habit forming.
Unfortunately many people start with sugar in baby formula, and so people not only develop a strong taste for sugar but an insatiable craving for it. So much so, that they never seem to get enough of this poison.
Because sugar supplies so many empty, non-nutritious calories, the body is never really satisfied. So the body never gets the basic all-round nutrition that it needs. So more sugar is craved and consumed!
Even more unfortunate is the fact that a great deal of sugar that people consume is hidden within the foods they eat. Manufacturers add sugar to the most surprising of foods. This makes it taste "nicer" but it often camouflages the fact that the food is often "empty".
Slow but insidious damage
A third reason is that the damage sugar does is slow and insidious. It can take years before it ruins your pancreas, your adrenal glands, or throws your whole endocrine system out of kilter. All of these contribute to a long list of damage.
Blood sugar levels get thrown into turmoil and energy levels can become rather chaotic. This in turn can bring about mood swings and even bring about diabetes type 2.
Many foods are loaded with hidden sugar
A fourth reason that sugar is so harmful to the world, is the incredible amounts of sugar that civilized nations consume.
Americans in particular are often told how they are the best fed and best nourished people on the face of the earth. If we are talking about processed junk food - this is true.
If you examine the "foods" in any supermarket more closely and start reading labels, you will find a surprising amount of foods that contain sugar - and not just a little bit!
Many, many foods are loaded with it - from cereals, to soups, to ketchup, to hotdogs.
Even flue-cured tobacco can contain as much as 20% sugar by weight. Some cereals are as much as 50% sugar.
A Partial List of Possible Damage
Just what damage can too much sugar do to the human body?
The list is endless...
When we talk about sugar, we are including bad nutrition as a whole, since anyone who indulges in too much sugar tends to also have bad dietary habits. Here's the partial list:
Sugar is by far the leading cause of dental deterioration - cavities in teeth, bleeding gums, failure of bone structure, and loss of teeth.
Sugar is the main cause of diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.
It is either a significant or contributory cause of heart disease, arteriosclerosis, mental illness, depression, senility, hypertension, cancer.
It has an extremely harmful effect in unbalancing the endocrine system and injuring its component glands such as the adrenal glands, pancreas and liver, causing the blood sugar level to fluctuate widely. It has a number of other extremely damaging effects on the human body.
Some of the other effects of sugar on the body are:
Increases overgrowth of candida yeast organism
Increases chronic fatigue
Can trigger binge eating in those with bulimia
Increases PMS symptoms
Increases hyperactivity in about 50% of children
Increases tooth decay
Increases anxiety and irritability
Can increase or intensify symptoms of anxiety and panic in susceptible women
Can make it difficult to lose weight because of constantly high insulin levels, which causes the body to store excess carbs as fat.
There are a number of books available on the subject, but perhaps one of the most interesting ones is "Sugar Blues" by William Dufty. It is available in most Health Food stores.
So cut down on how much sugar you eat!
Sugars That Heal
There are a number of sugars that can actually end infections without even destroying the germs that trigger them:
1. FOS
FOS is a concentrated chain of fructooligosaccharides composed of carbohydrates found naturally in fruits, vegetables and grains. FOS has been a popular supplement in Japan for years and is becoming increasingly respected in the Western Hemisphere for its "prebiotic" effects. Prebiotics serve as intestinal nutrients for the probiotic beneficial bacteria that naturally populate the gut, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. FOS thus promotes the ability of these bacteria to support proper digestion.
Among those who may particularly benefit from FOS's healthful effects on intestinal bacteria are people who have used antibiotics (antibiotics can seriously disrupt the balance of intestinal bacteria), people who have eaten a poor diet for several months or years, visitors to foreign countries where "travelers' diarrhea" is a risk, and those who face constant stress.
Japanese research has demonstrated that supplemental FOS is digested only to a small extent in the upper gastro-intestinal tract. FOS passes virtually unchanged to the colon, where it is fermented and used as a fuel by beneficial bacteria. Both beneficial and potentially detrimental organisms inhabit our lower gastro-intestinal tracts, but fortunately, many pathogenic and putrefactive bacteria cannot break the bonds that hold FOS together. According to the research, FOS can help promote up to a ten-fold increase in the populations of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. As a result, the intestinal environment becomes increasingly uninhabitable for potentially harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli, clostridia, Veillonella and Klebsiella. As the detrimental bacteria die off, the beneficial bacteria of the colon are allowed to grow and proliferate, establishing a beneficial intestinal balance to exert their health-promoting effects.
In addition to aiding digestion, FOS may also benefit diabetics by preventing swings in blood sugar. By helping to eliminate or prevent the formation of toxic compounds in the intestines, blood and lymph, FOS may assist the liver in its effort to keep the body toxin-free. FOS has already been shown to support cardiovascular functions by lowering blood pressure and reducing blood fats and total cholesterol levels. FOS's naturally induced ability to increase resistance to infection may be especially helpful for people at increased risk of bacterial infections. FOS also supports the production of various vitamins and minerals. Animal studies suggest that FOS may help prevent anemia and loss of bone density by promoting absorption of iron and calcium in the intestines.
FOS is a mildly sweet, white, sugar-like powder that can be taken in tablet/capsule form. Very high dosages may cause intestinal gas in some people.
2. Xylitol Curbs Tooth Decay
Xylitol is a sugar alternative that looks and tastes like real sugar but contains less than 40% of the calories. Xylitol is a natural carbohydrate that is found in fibrous plants and vegetables, including birch and other hardwood trees, berries, almond hulls and corncobs. The human body produces small amounts (5- 15 grams per day) during normal metabolism. It has been approved for use as a sugar substitute in over 35 countries.
Xylitol has been shown in studies to reduce plaque and cavities up to 80% by neutralizing plaque acids and inhibiting the growth of Streptococcus mutant, the plaque-producing bacteria most responsible for causing cavities (dental caries) . Xylitol stimulates remineralization of tooth enamel. It has also been known to boost the immune system, and in children, Xylitol specifically inhibits the growth of Streptococcus pneumonia bacteria, reducing ear and sinus infections in clinical trials by 40%.
In addition, Xylitol has been shown to improve breath odor, retard loss of tooth enamel, reduce infections in the mouth and nasopharynx, and relieve dry mouth. It is safe for diabetic and hypoglycemics. Xylitol does not encourage growth of yeast, including candida albicans. In contrast to ordinary sugar, xylitol increases the absorption of B-vitamins and calcium.
Xylitol enjoys wide acceptance in Japan, Finland, and the Scandinavian countries. In the Soviet Union it has been used for decades as a sweetener for diabetics, and in Germany in solutions for intravenous feeding. Numerous clinical and field studies performed over the past 30 years have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of xylitol as a healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. Xylitol is recommended and used by dentists, periodontists and nearly all other medical and dental professionals worldwide.
Xylitol is added to chewing gum, gumdrops and hard candy, mints, toothpastes and mouthwashes. Recent studies at the Dental Schools of Michigan and Indiana Universities have tested the effect of xylitol/sorbitol blends in chewing gum and mints on plaque. They showed a significant decrease in plaque accumulation. In the United States, xylitol is approved as a direct food additive for use in foods for special dietary uses. It can be purchased in bulk form from health food stores and many online stores.
3. D-Mannose for Bladder/Kidney Infections
D-Mannose is considered to be a simple sugar, like glucose. It is naturally found in cranberry and pineapple juice. When D-Mannose is ingested into the body, most of it is rapidly absorbed through the stomach and upper gastro- intestinal tract before reaching the intestines. The result is that almost all of the sugar is emptied into the urine through the kidneys, and only a very small amount of D-Mannose is actually metabolized by the body. Although it may not be obvious at first, but the fact that the body treats D-Mannose essentially as a waste product turns out to have very positive implications for people suffering form urinary disorders, such as bladder infection.
Escherichia Coli (or E. Coli) is the normal bacterium found in every intestinal tract as part of the natural microbe population therein. When E. Coli bacteria find their way into the urinary tract, they may infect the urinary bladder. This is quite common. In fact, 80-90% of all bladder infections (cystitis) can be attributed to E. Coli entering the urinary tract, a problem 50 times more widespread among women than among men. Provided there exists a predisposing weakness of the immune system, E. Coli bacteria present in the vagina are able to migrate into the urethra and onward to the bladder, which is why many women end up with a bladder infection every time they have intercourse. Unless the immune system destroys them, E. Coli bacteria have the ability to attach themselves like glue to the inner walls of the urinary tract and bladder.
A bladder or urinary tract infection may be indicated by incontinence, burning sensation upon urination, sensation of urgency to urinate without the ability to void completely, reddish or cloudy urine, foul smelling urine, lower abdominal pain, and frequent urination.
If left untreated, a bladder infection may lead to a kidney infection when bacteria continue to migrate up the ureters to the kidneys. In such case, there will be additional symptoms such as burning sensation during urination, frequent urination, increased urgency to urinate, lower back pain, chills, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
D-Mannose has a unique chemical structure that causes it to adhere to E. Coli bacteria even more tenaciously than E. coli adhere to human cells. Normal urination, therefore, with a sufficient level of D-Mannose present in the urine, becomes a simple and effective treatment for the above conditions. As remarkable as it sounds, E. Coli cells coated by D-Mannose in the urine become unglued and get flushed right out of the body.
The first-time use of antibiotics in the treatment of bladder or kidney infection almost always leads to repeat infections. Although these deadly drugs successfully kill the unwanted microorganisms, they also destroy the beneficial flora responsible for keeping any infectious bacteria at bay. Essentially, the immune system depends on these “friendly” microbes to protect the body against being decomposed while still living. Use of antibiotics has caused many women to end up having yeast infections, which indicates that this protective mechanism has already been broken.
D-Mannose has no anti-fungal properties. It does not kill bacteria, friendly or unfriendly. D-Mannose simply helps to remove misplaced E. coli from inside of the urinary tract by the natural process of urination. Apart from having no side effects and being of virtually no burden to the digestive system, it also tastes good.
Interstitial Cystitis (IC) is a chronic bladder disorder that mimics the symptoms of an ordinary urinary tract infection (UTI). Normal therapeutic dosage is 1/2 tsp. daily for chronic sufferers of ICs and UTIs, or weekly for preventative measures (see Product Information ).
In addition to the use of D-Mannose, UTI sufferers require thorough cleansing of the large intestine, liver bile ducts and kidneys, and an adjustment of diet and lifestyle as advocated in this book. Taking SSKI iodide may also be beneficial.