What Is Refined Sugar, and How Is It Harmful to Your Health?

Is it possible that refined sugar is making you ill, miserable, and stupid?

A hidden and deceptive underworld of private sugar dealing, protected subsidization, and human disease lurks under the surface of its lovely appearance. The unsavory side of our connection with sugar includes modern-day enslavement, consumer fraud, and unethical business influence.

Sugar is extremely addicting, actively promoted to youngsters, and has been linked to almost all of today’s lifestyle problems. Attempts to alter our sugar addiction are hampered by billion-dollar companies that benefit from its drug-like effects. Fortunately, sweetness comes in a variety of forms, and there are powerful alternatives. Learn how to avoid sugar and enjoy some more harmless sweet treats.

What is Sugar?

For almost 6,000 years, people have extracted from sunlight the sweet-tasting and calorie-dense compounds generated by plants. Sugar cane was among the original and still the most common source of this highly coveted and sweet material. Unfortunately, current breakthroughs in manufacturing and refining methods, along with all-encompassing marketing, have transformed this delightful delicacy into a highly addictive poison that is practically killing us.

The most concerning problem is our perception and understanding of the amount to which sugar causes harm, which is kept far below the public’s radar of awareness due to appealing slogans, misleading research, and significant lobbying.

This [sugar] industry seems to be misusing modern scientific methods in order to stir up controversy and further its commercial interests at the cost of the public’s health. (2016) Annals of Internal Medicine

Unrefined vs Refined Sugar: What’s the Difference?

Technically, sugar is any sweet-tasting carbohydrate produced by plants that is frequently high in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and other useful ingredients such as fiber. This is a long cry from the processed, bleached, and super-concentrated crack-like white table sugar or high fructose corn syrup that is regularly added to 70% of the items in our shops today, even many that should never be sweet!

Food makers have given these added sugars a slew of various names, claiming that they improve shelf life, moisture retention, and customer acceptance. Sugar, according to the Food Science Industry, is added to enhance texture and flavor while increasing volume and preserving food. The major explanation, though, is rather evident if you understand how the human brain responds to the very concentrated sweetness given to everything from tomato sauce to infant food.

Sugar immediately activates brain circuits, resulting in a false pleasure that we soon get hooked to. Even slight sweetness makes us want more, yet we are never content. Because we can’t seem to trust food producers or even authorities to restrict our exposure to this hidden addiction, it’s important that the public equip itself with the neurological and biochemical understanding required to understand and avoid sugar-caused illness outbreaks.

Fact: Added sugar consumption causes high blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, all of which are associated to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Harvard Health Publishing (2017)

Not All Carbs Are the Same

Nature builds in blocks, much like LEGO. A few tiny units may be linked together in a variety of configurations to produce an incredible range of biological molecules with vastly varied characteristics. Plants are primary producers because they employ sunshine, water, and carbon dioxide as raw materials to create the fuel known as carbohydrates. Humans do not make their own fuel; instead, we either consume what plants produce or eat animals that have ingested plants that produce fuel.

Some carbs, such as the flesh of a ripe peach, are sweet, while others, such as potatoes, are savory. Some carbs are so complex that our bellies simply cannot digest them and they flow straight through us, such as fiber (which actually feeds the healthy bacteria in our guts!).

The Chemistry of Carbs

Carbohydrates have very specific naming practices, and learning what they are called can help you sort through the labyrinth of food labeling to comprehend what you are contemplating ingesting! The scientific names are taken from Latin, and the basic unit, saccharide, means “sweet sand.”

• When there is just one unit, it is referred to as a mono-saccharide.
• Join two together and it becomes a di-saccharide.
• We call it an oligo-saccharide when the number is between 3 and 9.
• The prefix poly is used when there are more than 10 saccharide units.

Our carbohydrate fuel sources are composed of three common monosaccharides:

• Glucose.
• Fructose.
• Galactose.

Each unit of sugar is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which are derived from the basic materials needed by plants in conjunction with sunshine to produce the naturally sweet substance. They are only slightly different arrangements of the components required for life, and when we digest them, we are simply breaking away the connections formed by the plants in order to release the energy from the sun. It was a pretty basic and intelligent process until people interfered with it, which was really astounding!

When you combine the building pieces, you obtain the next degree of complexity and more familiar names:

• The di-saccharide sucrose (glucose + fructose) is the sweet-tasting component in sugar cane.
• Glucose + Glucose is the disaccharide maltose, which is naturally present in fermented grains known as malt.
• Lactose is a di-saccharide composed of galactose and glucose that occurs naturally in milk.

There are more combinations that occur naturally or may be created in the laboratory, but these are the most prevalent. Have you noticed how they always finish in -ose? Another hint if you’re playing food label detective! If it ends in ose, it is a sugar, which is another Latin relic.

Complex Sugars

So there you have it: the fundamentals of the most prevalent sugars found in food. Longer poly- and oligo-saccharides have a more complicated structure and have a distinct function in plants and the human body. Oligo-saccharides are often present on the exterior of cells and are utilized to assist cells recognize and bind together; they also play a vital part in our immunological response.

Polysaccharides, like starch, are often employed for energy storage. Many plants store fuel to get through lengthy winters without sunlight by linking units of glucose together. These lengthy starch chains are more stable and are often found underground, such as potatoes, yams, and carrots. These are the delicious carbohydrates that are also added to meals to make us want to eat it more.

While they seem to be harmless, the body perceives them as sugar, and the links between glucose units are rapidly broken down in the mouth by an enzyme called amylase. Another method food makers increase added sugar without our knowledge is by using flavorful sugars.

 

Is Sugar Toxic?

There is a widespread and reasonable belief that if something is accessible for purchase, whether at a supermarket or elsewhere, it is safe. While modest quantities of sugar will not instantly kill you, a poisonous and deadly quantity of table sugar (sucrose) is surprisingly low.

Table sugar’s LD50 (the amount confirmed to be deadly for 50% of test animals, generally rats) is merely 30g per kg body weight. So, for a group of 200lb (90kg) ordinary individuals, taking 6lb (2.7kg) of sugar at once will kill half of them. The others will have less physical activity, gastrointestinal problems, heart disease, blindness, nerve damage, and renal damage.

It would take a superhuman effort to consume all of that sugar at once, but what if it was consumed over a longer period of time, such as a few months? Unfortunately, the long-term and continuous use of sugar is not controlled nor examined in terms of its safety. We are in the middle of the greatest, and perhaps most deadly, uncontrolled clinical research on the long-term effects of sugar on the body. The preliminary findings are in, and they are not promising. The typical American consumes 3 pounds of sugar every week. This is equivalent to consuming twice as much LD50 each month. People consume a fatal quantity of sugar twice a month; little surprise we are ill.

How Does Your Body Digest Sugar?

Now that you’ve learned about the numerous forms of sugar and their potential toxicity, you may learn about how they influence different organs, systems, and processes in the body. When you understand what is going on within, you can make educated decisions regarding your sugar intake.

Natural and refined sugars are processed quite differently by the body. Despite efforts by the sugar industry to convince us that a calorie is simply a calorie, the truth is very different. Your body is not a furnace; instead, it is a complicated biochemical system that processes and utilizes various fuels in very varied ways.

Scent Is the Gateway!

The first step of sugar metabolism begins long before they hit your mouth. The cephalic phase of digestion is an extraordinary mechanism that reacts to the sight, smell, and even sound of food. The prospect of eating something, or even smelling something delicious, triggers gastric secretions and metabolic chemicals that drive your appetite.

Supermarkets and food shops have cashed on this natural digestion reaction by pumping in artificial fragrances of things like freshly baked bread, milk chocolate, or cinnamon while you are shopping since they know it will make you hungry and so spend more money. It’s not actual bread you’re smelling baking; it’s highly clandestine and profitable food-scents created to fool your nose, brain, and hunger.

Biting Into Something Sugary

The lips and tongue are involved in the next step of metabolism, when humans experience sweetness and begin to break down lengthy polysaccharides into units of monosaccharides. Artificial (zero-calorie) sweet sensations induce the same reaction as consuming sweet carbs.

This study has dealt a severe blow to the food and weight-loss businesses, which extensively push non-caloric sweetness as beneficial to diabetes and weight reduction. The fact is that if your body thinks you’re consuming sugar, it has the same physiological reaction, therefore artificial sweeteners provide no advantage. In reality, some artificial sweeteners are neurotoxic, causing brain damage, while others can cause you to eat more!

Digestion and Absorption

Insulin is a critical metabolic hormone involved in the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, especially glucose. It is created in the pancreas and is in charge of assisting glucose into cells to supply energy. It also increases hunger and causes fat accumulation.

When humans lived nomadic and seasonal lives, depending on natural foods such as fruit for energy, insulin was critical to our survival. If we discovered some delicious ripe fruits to love, insulin secretion enhanced our desire, allowing us to consume as much as we could, gorging on the high energy food source. Insulin also causes fat formation, thus any excess energy was collected and stored in the body for long, dark winters without food.

This hunger response and storage mechanism worked effectively until lately, when we now live in a period of food plenty rather than scarcity; the food-winters never arrive, and we instead gorge, pack on the pounds, and wear out the body. The evolutionary impulse to consume energy-dense meals was so important that it was hard-wired into our brains to be enjoyable; this is why we are so readily hooked to sweets.

Insulin Resistance

The human body has an underlying intelligence that modern medicine is slowly learning about. When we consume an excessive amount of sugar, our bodies react. It begins to become resistant to insulin signals, indicating the onset of pre-diabetes. Insulin resistance makes a lot of sense if we believe that the body wants to be healthy and is not malfunctioning.

Consider the following exchange between you and your body:

Body: You are consuming much too much sugar, which we do not need; please stop.

You: Stop talking, I enjoy it; I’m going to eat more! [Says your hooked mind]

Body: All this sugar is causing harm, making your blood sticky; I can’t handle it.

You: I’ll eat and drink anything I want! [Drinking a liter of cola to go with a doughnut]

Body: That’s fantastic; disregard my counsel.right I’ll put a stop to it personally.[No longer responds to insulin]

You: What’s up, the doctor says I’m acquiring diabetes.

Body: I warned you; I had to take extraordinary measures to prevent your cells from overflowing with sugar!

Unfortunately, we can’t have this talk, yet it still happens. When we are bored, lonely, upset, celebrating, or just perusing the fridge, our bodies need only a little amount of carbs.

To control its own safety and prevent sugar excess, the body must alter its hormonal processes. Rather of reacting to the insulin signal and transferring glucose into the cell, it remains in the circulation and is excreted in the urine.

This has a number of adverse effects, and after a visit to the doctor and a few blood tests, patients are diagnosed with insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, or diabetes, depending on how long and how much the body has been suffering.

Doctors must adhere to pre-defined treatment procedures that are primarily influenced by pharmaceutical research while ignoring the essential and evident function of nutrition (doctors get just 20 hours of nutritional instruction).

So, after briefly discussing the impact of nutrition, physicians prescribe a medicine that forces your body to react to insulin when it does not want to. Patients with severe or poorly controlled diabetes are given insulin to inject, further complicating the situation. Diabetes medicines, which are very lucrative (worth $45 billion yearly), exacerbate the illness by inducing weight gain and increased insulin resistance. They do not address the true issue, which is sugar toxicity, a gradual sort of food poisoning.

Reversing Diabetes in a Different Way

Fortunately, forward-thinking physicians and the most recent scientific research have identified the fatal mistake in this reasoning, and intense dietary management regimens with clinically proven outcomes may treat diabetes in only a few months, if not weeks.

They also observed that when a sugar-addicted patient is asked to adjust their diet, the instant reaction is No way! However, if the medicine is progressively reduced and good fats are increased, the mind and body swiftly adjust and, as if by magic, the sickness disappears. In truth, diabetes is not a disease in the traditional sense; rather, you develop it.

Rapid and exciting advances are being made in the treatment of this dreadful and dangerous disorder that is ruining the lives of billions of people (in the United States, 9.4% of the population has diabetes and 26.3% is pre-diabetic, with many more insulin resistant and on the verge of becoming diabetes).

As doctors, governments, and the general public become more aware of pharma-propaganda (over $725 million in Direct to Consumer Advertising alone for diabetes in the United States) and extensive pharma-lobbying ($30 million annually in the United States), the truth about diabetes becomes clear: sugar is toxic, eating too much of it causes disease, and stopping eating it quickly restores health.

Unfortunately, most diabetic charities and formal advisory boards continue to advocate the profit-driven pharmaceutical paradigm, which is understandable given that their primary financing comes from corporate relationships with the pharmaceutical and food sectors.

The popular view of diabetes differs greatly from reality; the natural remedy of just avoiding sugar is not pushed since it is not lucrative. Instead, corporate greed motivates the food and pharmaceutical corporations to falsify data, buy off experts, and persuade regulators to discredit dietary therapy in order to keep the public ill and in the dark.

How Sugar Can Hurt Your Liver

The tragic sugar narrative has taken another terrible turn, and it has even hit the (pharmaceutically-sponsored) headlines. CBS, the only major news organization that does not include a pharmaceutical company board member, found that High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), a common component in many processed foods, considerably raises the risk of heart disease.

The high-quality research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed clear evidence that increased intake of added sugars increases the risk of cardiovascular death. The research, which was conducted in young people, established a mechanistic relationship between added sugars, such as HFCS, and cardiovascular risk. So we not only know that additional sugars are harmful based on the amount of individuals who get ill, but we also know why.

When sucrose, the most common kind of sugar, is consumed, it is swiftly broken down into glucose and fructose units. Excess glucose disrupts metabolism and causes the body to become insulin resistant. Excess fructose especially harms the liver and heart, as well as generating a slew of other hazardous illnesses and metabolic disruptions. Fructose intake is directly connected to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children as early as three years old. The liver damage mirrors years of alcoholic misuse, but it is caused by processed carbohydrates and may occur swiftly.

The liver is mainly a detoxification organ, but it also plays an important function in converting many metabolic chemicals into other forms for storage or immediate use. If you envision your body as having two compartments, one for immediate fuel (glucose) and one for long-term storage (fat), the liver’s function is to convert the two fuels back and forth. When the fridge is empty (for example, if you haven’t eaten in 12 hours), the liver converts some fat into ketones, which are an alternate fuel source that both your body and brain can utilize. When the fridge is full (for example, after a large meal), the liver converts the extra glucose into fat.

Another storage container carries glycogen (a fast access glucose deposit) between the two forms of fuel. The capacity to switch back and forth between various fuel kinds means that we do not perish if we miss a few meals. The transition might be gradual. When athletes reach the wall, they feel this, but we can educate the body to be more metabolically fit and more suited to utilising our own fat stores.

Fructose cannot be utilized directly by the body; the only organ that can utilise or digest it is the liver. A 12oz (335 ml) glass of orange juice contains 31g of sugar, 50% of which is fructose, giving the liver 15.5g of fructose to digest. In comparison, a can of cola has 38.4g of sugars, 65% fructose (sweetened with Really High Fructose Corn Syrup), and 24.96g of fructose for the liver to process. The same quantity to drink, roughly twice as much work for the liver to metabolize the cola.

In an effort to fulfill its job and consume or store energy, the liver converts it all to fat, which is then dumped in the liver (thus fatty liver disease) and floats about the body with nowhere to go (being deposited around the heart and other risk zones).

Sweet Immorality

Manufacturers favor high fructose syrups because they are less expensive to manufacture (thanks in part to $1.28 billion in US government subsidies paid for with your tax dollars) and taste sweeter than conventional syrups.

The fructose-to-glucose ratio is actually worsening, and although legal limits are 55% fructose, in actuality, 65% fructose is more prevalent and lucrative; the sweeter the flavor, the more you take. When sugar-sweetened drinks account for 7% of the typical American family’s food budget (the single largest spend), it’s no surprise they’re producing serious health concerns.

Fortunately, trends in sugar-sweetened beverage intake are declining for both adults and children, but they remain the leading source of added sugars, particularly fructose.

Read the Sugar Research Advisory Services (SRAS) article on the terrible term given to sugar, notably fructose, for a good chuckle. Once you have the facts, it is simple to see through the falsehoods and determine who is funding the study. Their effort to manipulate public image sounds like a toddler with chocolate cake on their face claiming you that they did not eat the cake!

Fact: The sugar industry (today worth more than $100 billion per year) has a sordid past and is based on unscrupulous methods. The 1794 Sugar Act leveraged the addictive substance’s potential to raise taxes to pay the war. Sugar was the white gold that powered slavery, and modern-day slavery (bound labor) still exists on sugar plantations across the globe.

Sugar and “Lifestyle Diseases”

While the most serious, and often immediate, problems produced by sugar are related to its effect on our metabolism, there are other reasons to avoid long-term exposure to what is essentially a poison. There is a growing number of so-called lifestyle disorders that, at their core, include sugar. More specifically, the high-strength extremely concentrated refined and processed sugars that fuel industrial profits. For two fundamental reasons, renaming this sad class of disorders greed diseases would be more accurate.

1. Food manufacturers want to boost profits in whatever manner they can, regardless of the repercussions.
2. Sugar confuses your thinking and makes you desire more (and more, and more!)

Is it really a lifestyle illness when individuals are misinformed about the dangers of additional sugars or the addiction that keeps them eating?

Cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, dementia, obesity, depression, anxiety, and even arthritis may all be linked back to a diet that is detrimental to human health: high in sugar, loaded with chemicals, and lacking in true nutrients.

While people are blamed for not exercising enough or making poor decisions, the true perpetrators are basically drug traffickers with billions in earnings and a mastery of the marketing required to keep an infinite supply of hooked clients.

How Sugar Changes Your Brain and Behavior

Sugar triggers brain areas that encourage us to perform something in exchange for a pleasant feeling, a process known as the reward response. Both sex and food trigger the major reward response because they are essential to our existence. Unfortunately, it is extremely simple to get addicted to this inner pleasure, especially when the chemical causing it is much more concentrated than what is found in nature, such as pornography or confectionery.

Sugar’s overwhelming sweetness has been discovered to be physically more addictive than cocaine, even in those who are hooked to opioids. This abnormal sugar reaction is due to the fact that our brains developed in situations where sugar was scarce, resulting in a relative hypersensitivity to sweetness. Sugar, like other drugs, activates dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for our incentive to do an activity in exchange for a reward. This pleasure-driven route is readily overstimulated, and it crosses over into other narcotic addictions, making sugar the genuine gateway drug.

In order to minimize excessive stimulation, the brain down-regulates the response to dopamine, requiring more to get the same pleasure impact. Drug and alcohol abusers who steadily increase the quantity they take suffer the same impulse to consume more over time. As the brain recalibrates, the pleasurable feeling fades, and the medication is ultimately required merely to feel normal. Addiction to any drug alters the physical architecture of the brain, reducing the pleasure experience and drive to achieve anything. When the drug is withdrawn, withdrawal symptoms occur, and we endure pain (the polar opposite of pleasure) until we receive our dose.

Dopamine dysregulation is linked to serious depressive illnesses and anxiety modulation. As a result, it should come as no surprise that these disorders have reached epidemic proportions, affecting 20% of the US population and being the main cause of disability.

Natural sources of pleasure (such as social activities) fade in comparison to the neurological effect of sweet drugs and manufactured dopamine hits (such as Facebook). Most individuals have had their moods medicated with food (ice cream and Netflix, anyone?) The same is true for depressed and anxious persons, further complicating the dysregulation. Consuming two cans of Coke or six doughnuts (67g of sugar) every day raises your risk of depression by 23%.

We experience sugar’s highs and lows very quickly; check in with how you feel (what your emotional state is) two hours after ingesting a large dosage of refined sugars. You may be shocked at how rapidly sugar lowers mood and motivation.

Why Do We Eat So Much Sugar?

Because we are mostly unaware of the motivational pathways that drive our behavior, the conscious brain supports our behaviors by justifying (reverse engineering) using incorrect reasoning and concealing disparities with reality. This is why we may disregard health warnings on cigarettes, gain weight, and misuse alcohol without becoming alarmed. The brain conceals the addiction from our conscious awareness, and we continue to engage in damaging or risky conduct. Motivational and reward circuits are so firmly embedded in the brain that they take precedence over other conscious decisions.

Sugars added to our meals are perilous because of the brain’s capacity to creatively build reality. We convince ourselves that we just eat the occasional cake, Coke, or cookie. We believe it is only an occasional indulgence, a little pleasure that is not harmful. But, in truth, this is not a decision at all: it is an innate impulse similar to sneezing or rubbing an itch.

Adding sugar to meals alters our behavior. It is beyond our control until we become rigid and reprogram the brain to recognize natural sources of sweetness.

Marketing and the use of flavor-enhancing additives added to all processed foods exacerbate the situation. To help sell dangerous goods, the tobacco industry used emotional marketing. They concentrated on sentiments rather than facts, which we need under our consciousness. Consider the tagline “taste the rainbow” (Skittles), which employs vivid colors to make the sweets appear like berries. The varied hues fool the brain into believing it is a variety of nutritious bio-flavonoids. Or, once you pop, you can’t stop (Pringles), which seems to brag about its addictive qualities.

Commercially available cookies now have many of the same addictive qualities as crystal meth. This is because they include extremely appealing and lucrative components, which are often sugar or salt. These are not your grandmother’s salt and sugar; they are sophisticated concoctions designed by culinary experts to be seductive. They are psychoactive substances that fit the criteria of a stimulant. The Guardian’s Kima Cargill (2017)

Sugar Damage and Disease

Sugar is harmful to the whole body. Damage and sickness are more visible in certain organs, such as the pancreas, whereas other organs and cells simply age before their time. Sugar is sticky and binds to proteins in the blood (as assessed by a HbA1c test frequently performed by your doctor), causing extra stress for other cells. When sugar is digested and utilized as a fuel, it causes oxidative stress, similar to the sooty smoke created when wet wood is burned in a fire. The reactive oxygen species that promote inflammation age the body and harm the skin. Smokers and sugar addicts, in particular, experience early skin aging. Internally, the situation is far worse. Sugar-induced inflammation makes it more difficult for your body to recognize and heal genuine problems.

Changes in gut flora caused by high sugar may induce bloating right away and, in the long term, limit your capacity to absorb nutrients and create the neurotransmitters required to feel joyful (namely serotonin). Excess sugar is very damaging to nerves, particularly those in the eyes. Diabetes is preceded by eyesight loss, ulceration, discomfort, numbness, and other indications of impaired nerve function. Sugar inhibits the capacity of nerves to convey impulses and enhances pain perception.

Excess sugar in the brain causes harm that goes beyond the neurological, neurotransmitter, and signaling circuits that it disrupts. Alzheimer’s disease has been dubbed “Type 3 diabetes” because the patterns of brain deterioration resemble those found in diabetic individuals with inadequate blood sugar control. Excess sugar intake increases the risk of dementia and stroke (blood clot on the brain).

Sugar also attacks the thyroid gland, which regulates crucial metabolic, digestive, and cardiovascular processes. Thyroid disorders are frequent among diabetics, and the number of non-diabetics suffering from under and hyperactive thyroid is growing (12% of persons in the United States will acquire a thyroid problem in their lifetime).

Sugar has a double whammy effect on the immune system. To begin, oxidative stress induces systemic low-grade inflammation (inflammation without damage), making true problems difficult to identify. Second, owing to structural similarities, glucose competes with Vitamin C, which is required to reduce oxidative stress and put out the fire of inflammation. This competitive inhibition is so severe that a few spoons of sugar may temporarily disable important immune antioxidant capabilities. The combination of inflammation and inhibition effectively limits the body’s capacity to heal the damage caused by sugar, exacerbating the situation and enabling toxins to build up.

Could Sugar Promote Cancer?

Sugar’s last, and maybe most deadly, effect is that it promotes the development of malignant cells by causing metabolic abnormalities. This may come as a surprise, given that many cancer organizations encourage sugary bake sales to earn donations, but it is old news in the scientific world.

Cancer cells depend on a fundamentally distinct system of energy metabolism to support their vast growth and multiplication, scientists found in the 1920s. Normal cells take in and then oxidize glucose in a two-step process to release energy; cancer cells can only complete the first stage, therefore they must ferment glucose to fulfill their energy requirements. The fermentation process and enhanced glucose absorption reported in cancer cells is known as The Warburg Effect, and it has been researched extensively for over 90 years.

Because of our current eating habits, the newly discovered autophagy immune response, which scavenges damaged cells and cell structures, is quiet. It is only activated when the body is low in both protein and carbs after 12-16 hours without meals. Cancerous cells’ metabolic alterations generate lactic acid buildup, preventing immune cells from recognizing and eliminating tumors. The rapid absorption of glucose is a metabolic characteristic of cancer cells, and significant breakthroughs in cancer dietary therapy have reached the pre-clinical stage.

The ketogenic diet (high-fat, low-carb) drives cells to utilise fat processed by the liver for fuel rather than glucose. Because cancer cells depend on glucose (and other proteins) for energy, it stands to reason that depriving them of glucose changes their development and growth. Early animal studies support individual experiments in proving that the ketogenic diet actively inhibits cancer cell development and decreases inflammation, assisting the immune system in locating and combating cancer.

Both the ketogenic diet and pharmacological blood glucose restriction decreased the formation of squamous cell carcinoma tumors in mice with lung cancer. Dr. Jung-Whan, University of Texas Professor of Biological Sciences (2019)

Dietary changes to assist conventional chemotherapy are also gaining favor, as emerging information shows that when the body completely rests (from digestion and metabolic activities), the immune system works more efficiently. Cancer cells are far more vulnerable to nutrition restriction than normal cells, making them more susceptible to chemo-toxic medicines. Fasting for a short period of time reduces inflammation and increases autophagy (the scavenging of damaged proteins), both of which promote immunological efficiency.

Longer, protracted fasts are also gaining popularity for their capacity to alleviate a broad range of health issues by boosting our natural rejuvenation processes and lowering oxidative stress and inflammation in the body. It seems that the most urgent contemporary ailments of the body and mind are exacerbated or even caused by an excess of food, notably sugar. Fasting for longer periods of time allows the body to rebuild itself and concentrate on healing rather than digesting. Time-based dietary limitations, such as intermittent fasting (IF), limit meals to 6- to 10-hour periods and provide major health advantages; the body swiftly adjusts to a new state of higher metabolic fitness and immunological response.

Testing for Sugar-Related Health Problems

Excess sugars from your recent meal, as well as your glucose history over the past two to three months, may be detected by medical testing of your blood and urine. The HbA1c test measures sugar-induced physical damage to red blood cells. Because red blood cells remain in circulation for around three months, they serve as a gauge of longer-term dietary habits, so you can’t fool the test by eating just salads the week before! Sugar in the blood promotes glycosylation, or stickiness, of certain proteins in this vital oxygen-transporting mechanism, causing it to function less efficiently.

When there is an instant surplus of sugar, blood glucose levels rise, and the excess is excreted via the kidney. Urine test strips may be used to quantify the excess, or pocket-sized blood glucose devices can tell you how much glucose is in your blood right away.

During urine, glucose is expelled in the form of dL. Diabetes mellitus is a Latin medical name that meaning “sweet urine,” and frequent visits to the bathroom and sweet fruity tasting urine might be an early warning indication that blood glucose control is faulty.dL). When we eat, our bodies produce insulin to reduce blood glucose levels. These functions are disrupted in diabetics, owing to insulin resistance and blood sugar levels. When blood glucose levels rise over 160-180 mgL (70-130 mg)Normal fasting blood glucose levels should be between 3.9 and 7.1 mmol/L.

When we fast, our bodies employ a process known as gluconeogenesis to produce glucose from protein. A healthy individual who consumes appropriate protein and fat storage does not need to consume any glucose or sugar since the body can produce its own and the brain can utilize the alternative fat-based fuel ketones. This is the primary mechanism by which the keto diet works; no glucose equals no desire and no insulin (and it excludes nearly all processed foods! ), resulting in simple and quick weight reduction.

So, when people question how much sugar we should consume, the answer is simple: none! The decision to sweeten anything by adding sugar is a matter of taste (addiction?) and is only required to please the mind, not the body. Fruits and vegetables include high-quality plant-based carbohydrates that offer diversity, nutrition, and energy to our diet, but sugar is unnecessary.

Main Symptoms of Excess Sugars

While weight gain and obesity are two apparent indications of high sugar, as the fuel surplus is converted to fat, many individuals also suffer additional warning signs. Brain fog and exhaustion are frequent symptoms of a high-sugar diet, a combination of inflammation and poor nutritional density (common in sugar-containing meals) that adds to impaired cognitive capacity, memory loss, and confusion due to our inability to think properly. When we consume too much sugar, our bodies get exhausted faster, which is known as the post-prandial slump (falling asleep after a large meal). After we eat, blood and hence energy are redirected away from the brain and toward the digestive processes.

When a meal contains a lot of sugar, this natural diversion of resources is exacerbated: blood glucose levels and insulin levels rise and fall quickly, as on an uncontrollable roller coaster. Because the sugar rush wears off rapidly (due to the body panicking to cope with the toxicity), blood sugar lowers too quickly and we feel sleepy, and many grab for coffee and sugar to compensate a few hours later. Complex carbs, such as starchy vegetables, are digested considerably more slowly and give a more gradual and consistent release of fuel. If you put rocket fuel in your automobile, you’d expect it to drive super-fast but also run out of gasoline before you get at your destination.

Other symptoms of sugar overload, sugar detox, and sugar withdrawal include heart palpitations, cold sweats, dizziness, rashes, and anxiousness, all of which are caused by the broad range of physiological disruptions created by sugar consumption. Fortunately, these symptoms disappear as you progressively lower your intake of sugar and chemical-laden processed meals. Sugar, which is often misdiagnosed as a cause of heart attacks, may be making you feel fatigued, irritable, sad, and confused. Retrain your brain and body to enjoy the mild natural sweetness of fruits (rather than fruit drinks), and your symptoms will go quickly.

Politics and Progress

The evidence that sugar is truly destroying our health is overwhelming, so why is it still permitted? Unfortunately, it all boils down to the enormous revenues at stake, along with the glacial pace of converting scientific findings into public health action (which takes an average of 17 years). The public is virtually left to its own devices when it comes to understanding the 100 distinct designations for sugar that are commonly used on product labels.

Fortunately, several nations, like the United States, are introducing their own standards, labeling, and taxing systems to attempt to mitigate the negative impact sugar has on our health and happiness. The World Health Organization recommends a Sugar Tax on soft drinks since they supply the most sugar of any source. Mexico imposed a 1 peso per liter sugar tax on soft drinks with added sugar (a 10% consumer price increase), which cut sales by roughly 8% in the first year, and the $2.6 billion tax collected is being re-invested in initiatives such as school water fountains.

San Francisco was the first state to establish a sugar warning label bill for outdoor advertising boards in 2015. Naturally, the American Beverage Association attempted to obstruct implementation and even sued lawmakers for lost earnings. Fortunately, common reason and science prevailed, and Federal Judges agreed that the warnings were true and truthful, and that sugary beverages are a substantial source of calories that lead to health concerns. In 2017, the industry moved to the court of appeals, which agreed with them, saying that the duty to warn the public hampered lobbyists’ rights to commercial freedom of expression! Five states have proposed warning label legislation, but none has yet been approved. According to Harvard School of Public Health research, visual representations of the harm sugar causes (from diabetes to tooth decay) lowered purchasing by more than 14%, whereas text warnings had no effect.

Sweet Solutions: Getting Over the Sugar Problem

The good news is that, despite its harmful nature, sugar’s influence is reversible if you stop consuming it. When you eliminate refined sweets from your diet, your body has an amazing capacity to heal itself, and your brain will retrain itself to enjoy natural sweetness. That essentially means no more processed foods, no more sugar, and no more pop, sodas, or other commercial beverages, including bottled fruit juices. Unless it is prepared from fruit and you saw the fruit being juiced, it should be avoided. This strict zero-tolerance strategy is required for a one-month sugar detox to allow your brain and sense of taste to recalibrate and re-set your metabolic hormones.

For some individuals, detoxing from sugar causes withdrawal symptoms as the addicted brain craves its fix. Don’t worry about it. You will attempt to mislead yourself into postponing the detox, and your mind, like a real addict, will come up with reasons why it would be better to start tomorrow, next week, next year, or never! If you can persevere for 3 to 4 weeks and just say NO, you will see a significant and immediate improvement in your attitude, energy, motivation, and relationship with food.

If you are a serious sugar addict, gradually lowering the amount may be preferable; going cold turkey may cause symptoms comparable to alcohol withdrawal, such as shakiness, anxiety, and heart palpitations. If you have diabetes, you may require medical assistance to alter your prescription. When you eliminate anything, a vacuum is created, so prepare to replace the sugar with something else that you consider a delight, which might be food or something else. Plan alternative methods to have pleasure in life, such as hobbies, social circles, or even a shopping spree, to keep your mind focused and naturally enhance dopamine levels.

Raw food cakes (made from fruit and nuts) are a surprise pleasant option since they are high in satisfying and delectable healthy fats. It doesn’t take long to regain a more natural liking for sweetness, and after only four days, you’ll notice that fruit tastes sweeter. Plan how to replace soda drinks with alternatives such as fizzy water flavored with lemon or lime, or a few drops of food-grade essential oil available in a wide variety of fragrances, many of which have medicinal characteristics. Simply place frozen fruit in a blender with coconut cream or dairy cream, process until smooth, and in 5 minutes you have amazing, nutritious, delectable ice cream.

Despite what the labels state, pure sugar-free food is rare to be found in stores. Sugar is frequently sneaked in someplace under a different name. Inulin is probably the sole exception here; it is a kind of fiber that tastes sweet and will pass directly through your stomach, sometimes extremely fast (warning!). Sugar-free dark chocolate with inulin is often offered in bigger retailers.

Avoid even natural sweets like honey or maple syrup when detoxifying to give your body and brain the greatest opportunity to totally reset. After the first month, gently reintroduce sweet natural items to see how different they taste. The first month will seem unpleasant, just like quitting any addiction or smoking, but it will be well worth it in the long term for your health, mood, and ability to manage eating. eliminating sugar from your diet has the unintended consequence of eliminating manufactured foods from your diet, which are empty of nutrients and loaded with toxins. You may enjoy naturally sweet foods, filled with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, after you’ve reestablished a natural sense for sweetness and detoxed from the drug:

Soak dates in hot water to form a delicious spreadable paste that is as sweet as sugar but filled with fiber.

Manuka honey or honey Honey is high in nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, and it is also antibacterial.

Puree fresh or dried fruit, combine it, eat it with something creamy, or create your own jam; it’s tasty and healthful.

The genuine maple syrup, derived from maple trees, is more costly than the phony maple-flavored corn syrup!

Stevia is a leaf that happens to be sweet; an acquired taste that some people loathe.

Monk This Chinese mystery fruit, like stevia, tastes sweet yet has no sugar. It may be tough to get.

Chocolate date sauce combines dates, chocolate powder, and coconut oil; delicious!

It simply takes a few new go-to goodies, such as raw cakes, handmade delights, and even sweet sauces, to revive your respect and enthusiasm for desserts. It takes some study, preparation, and work, but that is the price you pay for good health. When something is inexpensive, rapid, and mass-produced, it is usually always harmful.

Take your time, prepare it yourself, and you’ll be rewarded with nutrients and a sweet feeling of accomplishment! Your brain will naturally reward you with dopamine for being creative and successful in a culinary quest!

Personal Choice

The purpose of this post is to reveal the reality about our hidden sugar addiction and how deadly it is for practically every organ and important system in the body. You may pick how much, if any, of this hazardous medicine, which has changed the nature of our connection with food, provided you are kept aware about its activity. Unfortunately, most people are misinformed as a result of the techniques and influence of large companies that strive to keep us hooked.

There is just one choice if you are serious about safeguarding your long-term health or the health of your children. You cannot regulate your sugar consumption (much as an addict cannot moderate their heroin use!) It just does not operate that way. Sugar has such a tremendous influence on the brain and the regulatory mechanisms that govern motivation and mood that it is all or nothing. However, if you are bold enough to go through a month-long detox, you will be rewarded soon. In only a few days, many report less anxiety and improved moods, as well as newfound independence from eating.

We are in the middle of a contemporary health crisis, and no therapy will reverse the flow of disease caused by sugar. Your own strength and will to leave are the only solutions. Join the millions of other health-conscious individuals who have chosen to prioritize long-term heath above immediate delight. Share this post with everyone who needs to know the reality about our hidden sugar addiction. Let us know in the comments whether you’re ready to abandon the illusion and take active action. Congratulations on your delicious achievement.