Your Sweet Tooth May Need To Be Extracted
What Is Sugar, And Why Is It Dangerous To Your Health? Sugar is a sweet, crystal-like substance that is extracted from specific plants, like sugar cane, sugar beets and sweet corn.
Different forms of sugar can be created in a laboratory too.
Sugar is classified as a carbohydrate, and it provides fuel for your cells to produce energy.
Sugar is also the most commonly found simple carbohydrate in processed foods.
But there is more to sugar than meets the eye.
Why do humans love sweet foods? We are biased towards eating foods that are sweet because they are generally high in calories and we gravitated towards such foods when our diets relied solely on what we could forage for.
Calorie dense foods meant that our hunger could be curtailed for longer periods and that we'd therefore have sustained energy for longer periods too.
However, our technologically advanced food production methods have allowed us to extract all the sweetness from foods, without any of the nutrients or fiber, and furthermore, make these kinds of foods available everywhere, at very little cost.
On top of that, they have added flavorings and fats to make them very tasty.
So, we still have this desire for sweet foods, but now we have the option of eating those that aren't good for us, compared with the ones that nature supplied, such as fresh, ripe fruit.
Sweet foods are dangerously addictive The desire to eat foods that are sweetened with refined sugar, on a regular basis, is insidious.
Firstly, we're primed to like sweet foods, so it is a natural urge to pursue sweetness.
The more we eat them though, the more addicted we become.
Secondly, these foods do give you an instant energy lift, which feels great when you are tired and lack the energy to accomplish what you need to do.
Unfortunately, the energy lift is short-term, with unpleasant side effects.
Thirdly, it is very easy to get into the habit of eating these foods, as they are tasty, cheap and easy to find - in fact, one has to look for foods that don't have various forms of sugars in them! The story of refined sugar started hundreds of years ago...
Since ancient times mankind has tried to extract sweetness from sweet plants, originally by simply chewing sugar cane to extract the sweetness using our teeth.
Honey was the first form of extreme sweetness that mankind had at its disposal - but it couldn't be 'controlled' in the same way that sugar cane later came to be farmed.
The Indians discovered how to turn sugar cane juice into sugar crystals, around 350AD.
The Arabs turned this process into a large industry, establishing the first plantations and sugar mills.
The improvement of sugar cane presses as the decades went by, led to increased quantities of this product being produced.
Travel between continents led to sugar cane moving from the Indian continent, to Andaluca, Madeira, as well as the Canary Islands.
The Portuguese took it to Brazil, and by 1540, there were hundreds of sugar mills on that continent.
The Dutch took sugarcane to the Caribbean after 1625, and the colonization of the America's by the Europeans led to these islands becoming the world's largest supplier of sugar.
Slave labor in this area meant competition for lower sugar prices with the East began.
Larger sugar plantations became established in the Caribbean, which led to further price reductions, and this formally luxury product, became accessible to all members of society.
Further mechanization led to vast quantities of sugar being produced daily, satisfying a society that now needed sweetness on an ongoing basis.
Sugar and its aliases..
..
There are more than a hundred different substances that chemists have classified as sugars, which is probably why consumers can be fooled into thinking there's not much sugar in processed foods.
After all, if manufacturers add sugars with different names, people may not know exactly how much sugar is in an item.
Here are some examples of the different types of sugar that are used in foods today, but remember that any item found on a food label that ends in -ose, is a sugar of some sort.
Actually, the name 'glucose' is a derivative of the Greek word glukus, which means sweet.
However, these are not the only forms of sugar used in the food processing industry, as the list below indicates:
Furthermore, the consumption of the many commercially produced sweeteners have not been tested on humans for extended periods of time, so they may very well have long term effects that we are not yet aware of.
Some of the diseases that have been linked to excess refined sugar consumption are as follows:
Stable, even blood glucose levels therefore help to keep your energy levels and mood stable.
You won't put on weight either.
Simple carbohydrates are found in, among many other foods, lollies /candies, doughnuts and crisps, which cannot support stable, even blood glucose levels.
Complex carbohydrates, like whole grains, legumes, and most vegetables and fruit, provide glucose in the form that the body recognizes.
Sugar in its many guises does not promote health.
The human body has not adapted to the overload of refined sugar that now forms part of the diet of most people.
There are ten teaspoons of sugar in each 2-ounce can of soda, and there are estimates of Americans consuming 171 cans of soda per person per year, so it is easy to see why researchers predict that the percentage of obese people in America will reach 41% by 2015.
With 1 in 2 adult male Australians, and 1 in 3 adult female Australians being classified as overweight or obese, Australia is on a similar trajectory.
And 1 in 5 Australian children are classified as being overweight or obese too.
Nancy Appleton, in her book, 'Suicide by Sugar,' states that 'Between 280 000 and 325 000 people die every year from obesity-related ailments.
' And one of the main causes of obesity is caused by the ongoing consumption of highly refined, sugar-laden processed foods.
However, you don't have to be overweight to suffer from diseases related to the over consumption of sugar.
Whether you have a weight problem or not, by avoiding refined sugar you can avoid many of the illnesses that originate from a tired, irritable, nutrient-deficient, over-sugared body.
Different forms of sugar can be created in a laboratory too.
Sugar is classified as a carbohydrate, and it provides fuel for your cells to produce energy.
Sugar is also the most commonly found simple carbohydrate in processed foods.
But there is more to sugar than meets the eye.
Why do humans love sweet foods? We are biased towards eating foods that are sweet because they are generally high in calories and we gravitated towards such foods when our diets relied solely on what we could forage for.
Calorie dense foods meant that our hunger could be curtailed for longer periods and that we'd therefore have sustained energy for longer periods too.
However, our technologically advanced food production methods have allowed us to extract all the sweetness from foods, without any of the nutrients or fiber, and furthermore, make these kinds of foods available everywhere, at very little cost.
On top of that, they have added flavorings and fats to make them very tasty.
So, we still have this desire for sweet foods, but now we have the option of eating those that aren't good for us, compared with the ones that nature supplied, such as fresh, ripe fruit.
Sweet foods are dangerously addictive The desire to eat foods that are sweetened with refined sugar, on a regular basis, is insidious.
Firstly, we're primed to like sweet foods, so it is a natural urge to pursue sweetness.
The more we eat them though, the more addicted we become.
Secondly, these foods do give you an instant energy lift, which feels great when you are tired and lack the energy to accomplish what you need to do.
Unfortunately, the energy lift is short-term, with unpleasant side effects.
Thirdly, it is very easy to get into the habit of eating these foods, as they are tasty, cheap and easy to find - in fact, one has to look for foods that don't have various forms of sugars in them! The story of refined sugar started hundreds of years ago...
Since ancient times mankind has tried to extract sweetness from sweet plants, originally by simply chewing sugar cane to extract the sweetness using our teeth.
Honey was the first form of extreme sweetness that mankind had at its disposal - but it couldn't be 'controlled' in the same way that sugar cane later came to be farmed.
The Indians discovered how to turn sugar cane juice into sugar crystals, around 350AD.
The Arabs turned this process into a large industry, establishing the first plantations and sugar mills.
The improvement of sugar cane presses as the decades went by, led to increased quantities of this product being produced.
Travel between continents led to sugar cane moving from the Indian continent, to Andaluca, Madeira, as well as the Canary Islands.
The Portuguese took it to Brazil, and by 1540, there were hundreds of sugar mills on that continent.
The Dutch took sugarcane to the Caribbean after 1625, and the colonization of the America's by the Europeans led to these islands becoming the world's largest supplier of sugar.
Slave labor in this area meant competition for lower sugar prices with the East began.
Larger sugar plantations became established in the Caribbean, which led to further price reductions, and this formally luxury product, became accessible to all members of society.
Further mechanization led to vast quantities of sugar being produced daily, satisfying a society that now needed sweetness on an ongoing basis.
Sugar and its aliases..
..
There are more than a hundred different substances that chemists have classified as sugars, which is probably why consumers can be fooled into thinking there's not much sugar in processed foods.
After all, if manufacturers add sugars with different names, people may not know exactly how much sugar is in an item.
Here are some examples of the different types of sugar that are used in foods today, but remember that any item found on a food label that ends in -ose, is a sugar of some sort.
Actually, the name 'glucose' is a derivative of the Greek word glukus, which means sweet.
However, these are not the only forms of sugar used in the food processing industry, as the list below indicates:
- Sucrose, also called table sugar, is broken down in the body by an enzyme called sucrase.
This enzyme splits glucose and fructose apart - which is what sucrose is made up of - and they are then absorbed as individual sugars.
The result of this is that blood glucose levels rise and the hormone insulin is released from the pancreas, to enable the muscles, kidneys, liver and fat cells (and brain) to take up glucose from the blood to use as energy. - Fructose has been known as the 'fruit' sugar, as it's found in fruit, but it can be manufactured from corn, beet and sugarcane too.
And a derivative of fructose, called High Fructose Corn Syrup is a dangerous sweetener, as it has insidious effects in the body.
When fruit is consumed, this fructose is broken down in the company of fibre, enzymes and other nutrients, which makes it a healthy choice.
However, too much very sweet fruit, such as bananas, pineapple and sweet melons will provide too much fructose and isn't conducive to great health if you do it regularly. - Glucose is called a simple sugar, and is required by the body to produce energy.
In its natural form, it is produced when you eat complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains.
However, it can also be produced commercially from corn and wheat, but then generally also contains fructose. - Lactose is found naturally in milk, and is made up of two sugars, glucose and galactose.
- Dextrose is simply another form of glucose, and is often used in food production.
- Maltose is produced when amylase, an enzyme, breaks down the starch, which is a form of glucose, in different cereals, such as barley.
- Sorbitol, mannitol and maltitol are sugar alcohols, and are produced by changing the chemical structure of glucose.
They are all used as sugar substitutes.
Sorbitol is used because it provides less energy than carbohydrates do, so is used in diet foods.
Mannitol can have a laxative effect in large doses.
Maltitol is used as a sugar substitute because it has a very sweet taste, but provides less energy in the form of calories.
It can also have a laxative effect.
Erythritol, although also a sugar alcohol, does not cause a laxative effect unless consumed in unnaturally large quantities. - Glycerol is a sweetener that is produced as a by-product of the soap making industry, although it can also be produced as a by-product of the oil refining process.
It is naturally sweet, and also attracts moisture, so is useful in baked goods. - Xylitol is a sweetener derived from birch trees, plums and berries and is a healthier alternative to table sugar if from these sources.
However, it can also be produced from corn.
It has a laxative effect if taken in large quantities, and is used as a sugar replacement because it has less calories than table sugar, or sucrose. - Highly refined carbohydrates like white bread, crackers, cookies, pasta, many breakfast cereals, white rice and even white potatoes get converted by the body, into glucose, very quickly, and lead to the same problems that refined sugar leads to.
Refined carbohydrates are therefore not great food choices either. - Stevia is a herb that has been used traditionally for hundreds of years as a sweetener.
Many people choose to use it as a healthier alternative to artificial sweeteners.
It is not available worldwide, as some countries have banned its use, although more countries are slowly accepting its use.
It is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, has a negligible effect on blood glucose, and may therefore be useful for occasional sweet treats.
However, if your aim is to curb your sweet tooth, it makes no sense to eat lots of foods sweetened with this herb.
- Simple carbohydrates, like sugar, and its many aliases, get converted into glucose very quickly.
This glucose promptly finds its way into your blood stream, and your pancreas is given a message to secrete insulin.
Insulin is an important hormone that helps to keep your blood glucose levels balanced, by moving the glucose in your blood stream, into your cells, where they are used for producing energy.
Insulin tries to get high blood glucose levels down quickly, because high levels are toxic to the body. - So, although you do get a quick energy fix when you eat foods that contain simple carbohydrates, you end up feeling tired, irritable and even depressed soon afterwards, because your blood glucose levels then dip down again, after insulin has moved the glucose into your cells.
- Unfortunately, the bad news doesn't stop there.
When there is too much glucose inside your cells, the body has another mechanism to help protect it from too much glucose.
The cells then initiate a signal that tells the excess glucose to change into fat.
As if adding insult to injury, the excess glucose also makes it hard for the cells to use the glucose they contain to produce energy.
So, excess glucose gets turned into fat, and makes it harder for the body to use the glucose present to produce energy.
So it gets easier and easier to get fat. - If this is the vicious cycle your body is stuck in, blood glucose levels will plummet regularly, leaving you feeling tired, irritable and miserable, leading to further sugar binges, as you try to get your blood glucose levels up, to make yourself feel 'normal' again.
- Sugar also requires minerals and enzymes for digestion, which it removes from the body, leaving you without important nutrients and enzymes to keep your body working optimally.
This leads to an imbalance and deficiency in specific nutrients, which leads to sub optimal health and over time, serious illness. - On top of the ongoing lack of nutrients being supplied to your body, the lack of fiber in these processed foods leads to constipation, which has its own set of problems.
- Sugar also damages collagen, which is how it helps to form wrinkles - something that no one wants more of!
Furthermore, the consumption of the many commercially produced sweeteners have not been tested on humans for extended periods of time, so they may very well have long term effects that we are not yet aware of.
Some of the diseases that have been linked to excess refined sugar consumption are as follows:
- Adrenal exhaustion
- Allergies
- Anxiety
- Arthritis
- Behavioral challenges
- Cancer
- CVD
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Digestive difficulties
- Digestive difficulties
- Endocrine related disorders
- Fatigue
- Focus and concentration difficulties
- Gallstones
- High LDL and low HDL levels
- Hypertension
- Hypoglycemia
- Immune dysfunction
- Insomnia
- Kidney stones
- Mental illness
- Muscle pain
- Obesity
- Oedema
- Osteoporosis
- Premature aging
- Skin problems
- Tooth decay
- Vision problems
- Yeast infections, like Candida
Stable, even blood glucose levels therefore help to keep your energy levels and mood stable.
You won't put on weight either.
Simple carbohydrates are found in, among many other foods, lollies /candies, doughnuts and crisps, which cannot support stable, even blood glucose levels.
Complex carbohydrates, like whole grains, legumes, and most vegetables and fruit, provide glucose in the form that the body recognizes.
Sugar in its many guises does not promote health.
The human body has not adapted to the overload of refined sugar that now forms part of the diet of most people.
There are ten teaspoons of sugar in each 2-ounce can of soda, and there are estimates of Americans consuming 171 cans of soda per person per year, so it is easy to see why researchers predict that the percentage of obese people in America will reach 41% by 2015.
With 1 in 2 adult male Australians, and 1 in 3 adult female Australians being classified as overweight or obese, Australia is on a similar trajectory.
And 1 in 5 Australian children are classified as being overweight or obese too.
Nancy Appleton, in her book, 'Suicide by Sugar,' states that 'Between 280 000 and 325 000 people die every year from obesity-related ailments.
' And one of the main causes of obesity is caused by the ongoing consumption of highly refined, sugar-laden processed foods.
However, you don't have to be overweight to suffer from diseases related to the over consumption of sugar.
Whether you have a weight problem or not, by avoiding refined sugar you can avoid many of the illnesses that originate from a tired, irritable, nutrient-deficient, over-sugared body.
