Sugar- The Big Sweet White Lie

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With such a focus on the organic food movement, I find it so surprising that so many people, even seemingly well-informed, health conscious people, are so uninformed about the disastrous health effects of sugar.

I'll be the first to admit it, I'd been a sugar addict most of my life! This vice runs strong in my family and I struggle with it at times… Make no mistake about this; sugar is an addiction you'd do well to break your family of sooner than later.

Refined sugar is a derivative of sugar cane or sugar beets that is stripped of all fiber, enzymes and vitamins. From there, the resulting product is chemically processed which alters the sugar and leaves behind chemical by-products. The resulting form is rendered so toxic and unnatural to the body that the immune system must work overtime just to process it. Unnatural levels of insulin produced by this processing throws immunity, among other bodily functions off balance. It's estimated that, the amount of sugar found in just one candy bar can lower the body's immune defenses by 40% in as short as half an hour! Among a host of other serious consequences of habitual sugar consumption, research has also linked white sugar use to serious conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Cancer and ADHD.

I was going to write more of a research article for this blog, citing a few more of the ill effects sugar has on our system each time we consume it, but I stumbled on this simple yet comprehensive article listing 141 more reasons you should not eat sugar along with supporting research cited at the end! Check it out!

Other forms of sugar such as honey, fructose, maple syrup, agave syrup and molasses in their pure forms cause a similar insulin spike but studies suggest that it is to a smaller, less dramatic degree than white sugar, not causing the severe imbalance in the body when used in moderation. Additionally these sugars in their raw forms do not contain the by-products of chemical processing and they actually do have nutritional value (of varying degrees, depending on type and form of the sweetener).

Highly processed forms of these however can be just as dangerous as refined sugar, and are added to a large portion of processed foods, think high fructose corn syrup and maltose. Once I started looking, I realized that dangerous processed sugar was added to about everything I ate in one form or another. This fact alone prompted me to stop eating processed foods too… Well not so much that fact alone. I had quit sugar for one month entirely and had never felt or looked healthier. To start eating processed foods again would mean to start eating bad sugars again and to me it just wasn't worth it! Most processed foods aren't very healthy for you anyway, sugar or no sugar.

What about artificial sweeteners, you ask? Ugh, please don't do it! So many reasons that these chemical sweeteners are just plain TERRIBLE for your health but that's a whole other blog post!

I mean, of course it's great to eat organic, and eat from the 5 food groups, etc, etc, etc. BUT, just realize that just because the bar is "granola" and the label says "organic" does not a virtuous food make! Even worse is when the tub is "ice cream" and the label says "sugar free" but again, another post, another day…

There are just some foods that are not even a good idea in moderation. By just cutting out the refined sugar in your family's diet you can be eating that much healthier today with positive health consequences immediately noticeable! Sugar withdrawals will be tough at first, especially for the kids. Try to keep a lot of dried fruit and trail mixes (no sugar added of course) and fresh fruit in the house at first, as a quick, healthy fix of good sugars. Once you get the ball rolling you'll wonder how you ever lived otherwise.

On her first birthday my daughter got her first taste of refined sugar. I had baked a flourless chocolate cake just to see how she'd react to the whole birthday experience. The only dark chocolate bar I could find in a pinch had some white sugar, and for the rest of the recipe I substituted sugar for equal parts honey… Not exactly a picture of healthy eating but what can I say??? Well, me and the hubby enjoyed the cake anyway. Baby took one bite then threw it off her highchair, and proceeded to eat the garnish of berries! OK, so it was probably a really rich cake for a baby but it still made me happy inside! I know it's idealistic to think that I can keep a toddler away from sugar forever but according to a theory of Dr Sears' if you can just keep the kiddies fed optimally for at least the first 3 years of life they will not develop a craving for unhealthy foods. So far, so good here, so perhaps that bit of info will inspire hope in you as well!