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Do you "crave" sweets?

Are all sugars created equal? I like white sugar, why doesn't my body? Can I replace refined sugar with "natural" sweeteners? Are there herbal options? These and other questions may be going through your mind as you begin to read this. Sweetness and sugar have become hopelessly associated with euphoria and pleasure. Sugar causes our body systems to release feel-good endorphins; but it is not sugar or its derivatives your body wants: what it really is asking for are complex carbohydrates that are as whole as our mother's milk.

 Sugar can be of two types: simple and complex. Natural sugars are almost always complex carbohydrates and white or refined sugars simple carbohydrates. Our body's digestive enzymes break these two types down to glucose, a sugar the body uses for energy. The main difference between the two types of sugars is how fast each enters the bloodstream and how each affects insulin and blood sugar levels. The following is what happens when you eat a "refined" sugar treat:

 

PROBLEM	DESCRIPTION
Energy Rush	Simple sugars go almost directly into your blood-stream, giving you a temporary high.
Pancreas Panic	You may be feeling good, but your high blood sugar is causing your pancreas to scream "danger".
Rash Response	Your pancreas dumps large amounts of insulin into your blood-stream to bring your blood sugar levels down again.
Fast Crash	Blood sugar levels swing too low, too fast, leading to the sugar blues, those feelings of fatigue and irritability.
Round & Round	This energy crash sets you up to go for another sugar fix in order to bring your energy back up.
No Friend to the Earth	White sugar (a human invention) production is a notorious polluter and resource depleter. Sugar cane is a mineral hungry plant, known for depleting soils (as well as people). Cane farming also requires very large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Refined Sugars Disguises	1. Brown Sugar: Simply refined sugar that is sprayed with molasses to make it appear more "wholesome".  2. Turbinado Sugar: Just one step away from white sugar, made of 95% sucrose skipping the final refining process with little difference in nutrition.  3. High Fructose Corn Syrup: A cheap and plentiful sweetener used often in soft drinks, candy and baked goods.

 

HAZARD	THE LONG-TERM HAZARDS OF REFINED SUGAR
Naked Carbohydrate	Whole sugar cane is stripped of the minerals and nutritional elements a person needs to properly digest it to make refined sugar. Eating a naked carbohydrate then robs your body of its own vitamins and minerals for digestion. Over time, excessive consumption of refined sugars can lead to nutritional deficiencies and serious problems like osteoporosis and gum disease.
Digestive Distress	Your body cannot produce enough digestive enzymes without the right balance of minerals. But compensating for your sweet tooth with extra-healthy foods may be a losing battle because your body is no longer digesting or assimilating food as efficiently.
Mysterious Allergies	Food allergies are often caused by poor digestion. Refined white sugar can weaken your gastrointestinal tract and lead to a leaky gut syndrome, a phenomenon where your gut allows undigested food molecules to escape into your bloodstream. Your immune system gallantly tries to protect you by releasing strong chemicals like histamines, but this unfortunately causes inflammation (food allergy).
Permanent Panic!	Over time, a flood of white sugar will strain your pancreas, liver, and adrenal glands (the endocrine organs that helps regulate your blood sugar levels). Your body may respond in two ways:   1. Hypoglycemia: Symptoms include exhaustion, depression, irritability, vertigo, mental confusion, anxiety, headaches, and blurred vision - does this describe you? If your blood sugar levels dip too low, too fast, less oxygen flows to your brain and uncomfortable symptoms are created.  2. Diabetes: You may be more familiar with diabetes, or hyperglycemia, a disease that strikes when a damaged pancreas can no longer produce insulin to bring blood sugar levels down. A diabetic takes insulin daily (usually by injection) to ward off danger.
Other Links	Excessive sugar consumption has been linked to everything from frequent colds to serious diseases like cancer, heart disease, candida, Alzheimer's and Type II diabetes, the latter an insidious form of the disease that threatens to become a world-wide epidemic. In the last thirty years in the U.S., the incidence of Type II has increased 300%, striking nearly 50% of those over age 65. There are three ways to control or prevent Type II: a healthy diet, weight loss, and exercise.

 

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