(Note: Most of the materials in this posting came from Bo Sanchez article on sugar)
A) Sugar is everywhere
- Processed foods are usually laden with sugar. Most people are not aware that we are on a sugar rich diet.
- Huge amount of sugar in soft drinks, fruit drinks and other drinks. Sugar is hidden in hotdogs, bacon, sausages, luncheon meat, catsup, mayonnaise, spaghetti sauce. In salad dressing, peanut butter, crackers, pizza, bouillon cubes, smoked fish, a lot of fat –free products, jams and jellies, most chips, cough drops, breath mints and other over-the-counter drugs. Even infant milk formulas are laden with sugar.
- Eating process food with refined sugar is not the only problem. When we eat simple carbohydrates, like white bread, white rice, regular pasta or pansit, all these get converted to sugar.
B) Refined sugar has been processed so much, it has lost its vitamins and minerals. Losing as much as 64 food elements. All the potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphate, and sulfate are removed. And all the vitamins A, B, and D are destroyed. Refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no protein, no fats, and no enzymes. It does not contribute to your health because it has no nutritional value. And worst, it’s addictive.
C) 4 bad things that sugar does to your body
- Sugar can cause diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Refined sugar in food is absorbed quickly into the blood stream, causing the blood sugar to rise. It’s too quick, the body is forced to release a lot of insulin to lower the blood sugar. Eating processed food with refined sugar often will cause strain on the pancreas because it has to produce more insulin. Chronically high blood sugar can damage the kidneys, wreck the nervous system, weaken the cardiovascular system, and damage the retinas. All these are related to diabetes.
- Sugar affects the neurological processes. Kids today are fed by high sugar breakfasts, consisting of hot cakes with syrup, sugared orange juice, etc. No wonder kids are sleepy in school.
- Sugar slows down the immune system. Sugar affects how much Vit. C is absorbed and used by the body. Researchers in the 1970’s realized that Vit. C was needed by the body’s white blood cells, our immune system, in order to gobble up viruses and bacteria. The scientist Linus Pauling was the one who said that a high dose of Vit. C was needed by the white blood cells. When the blood sugar goes up because of the high amount of processed food in your diet, more glucose in the blood stream competes for entry into the cells. If you take in a lot of sugar in your food , your immune system falters and slows down.
- Sugar is addicting. Sugar is as habit forming as any narcotic.
D) Minimize simple carbohydrates.
Simple carbs (rice, bread, pasta or pansit) turns into sugar too. Complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and fruits, is recommended. If you eat rice, always choose the unpolished (brown) rice. If you eat bread or pasta, always choose the real whole-wheat multi grain kind. It has milder effect on blood sugar and insulin. It’s more chewy, and it needs getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you will love it.
E) Do you really need a dessert ? As much as possible avoid or minimize your dessert. Once in a while you may take dark chocolate bar, organic sugarless peanut butter, or native tsokolate — the original Tablea from Batangas, it has no synthetic chemicals in it.
F) Replace Refined Sugar. If you want to sweeten something, use these natural, healthy replacements: (But still in moderation)
- Real wild honey from the province (Note: real wild honey is delicious and does not attract ants and has a spirit on it).
- Cane juice squeezed from sugar cane placed in the refrigerator ready for use.
- Coconut sugar. This natural sugar comes from the sap of cut flower buds of coconut. It has lower Glycemic Index than cane sugar. Glycemic Index is a measure of how a food raises blood sugar. (But beware, it may be blended with regular sugar).
- Brown sugar— although this is much better than refined sugar, we should minimize the use of it.<
A word of advice: Always be careful on sweets and food with sugar, and many years from now you will be thankful you have made this decision.
May we all enjoy long term good health. God bless!