We LOVE our sweets!
If you’you have ever tried removing all refined sugar from your diet – it is very difficult to do because Americans are addicted to sugar. That’s right – it’s an addiction, and to our bodies, it is a drug. Americans consume an average of 120 pounds of sugar in a year per person, compared to 5 lbs a year in the early 1900’s. These sugars are hidden in virtually every boxed food, cereal and cracker. Sugar withdrawal comes with the classic detox symptoms – headache, mood swings, shakes, gastro-intestinal trouble, fatigue , irritability. If you have decided to cut sugar out- It takes about a week for cravings to subside. And you should not indulge in ANY sugar during this time – as it will trigger cravings again.
A 15-year study released a couple of years ago for the Journal of the American Heart Association Internal Medicine concluded that people who consumed more than a quarter of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die than those who restricted their intake to less than 10 percent of total calories, regardless of age, sex, level of activity and body-mass index.
“The new paradigm hypothesizes that…too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick,” writes Laura A. Schmidt, PhD, of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California at San Francisco.
According to Nancy Appleton, PhD, there are 143 plus ways sugar can ruin your health. Some of the known risks are diabetes, cardiovascular disease (it’s not fat that clogs arteries- rather inflammation from simple carbs), dementia, liver cirrhosis, ADHD/ADD depression and immune system suppression. Consuming sugar increases your nutrient need and puts you at risk for nutritional deficiencies and organ failure.
Did you know that blood sugar levels of 120mg/dl reduce your immune function by up to 75%? A blood sugar level of 120 is not too uncommon. For those without diabetes, blood sugar levels between 70 and 139 after eating is normal. That means that MANY people could end up with a 75% decrease in their immune function just by eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner!Pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and yeast, such as Candida, feed off sugar.The more sugar you eat, the more inviting you make your gut for these “bad guys.” Worse still, it takes the body a LONG time just to get rid of the sugar in the immune system. Your body usually absorbs the glucose into your muscles within a few hours, but it takes longer to purge the glucose from the phagocytes (the good bacteria your body sends to eat the pathogens). For as long as 4 to 6 hours after eating sugar, your immune system will still be recovering. Sugar and the immune system are enemies. Alcohol and antibiotic use leads to increase in gut yeast, which leads you to crave carbs Overgrowth of yeast (candida) and the ensuing “leaky gut” can lead to
- irritability,
- fatigue,
- weight loss resistance,
- depression,
- feelings of loneliness,
- skin rashes,
- indigestion, etc.
Here is a list of Simple Sugars(contain no fiber) to avoid :
White and brown sugar
Honey (raw and processed)
Molasses
Cane sugar
Many artificial sugars
Fruit Drinks
Natural fruit juices (without fiber/skin)
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the maximum amount of added sugars you should eat in a day are : Men: 150 calories per day (36 grams or 9 teaspoons). Women: 100 calories per day (20 grams or 6 teaspoons), Children: no more than 12 grams (3 teaspoons). A can of coke has close to 10 teaspoons . One cup of Fruit Loops cereal has 3.75 teaspoons of sugar/14 grams. My advice is no more than 5-15 grams of sugar /day, especially if you’re trying to lose weight or change your health. So READ LABELS and as a rule of thumb- do not eat anything that has more than 10 grams/sugar per serving. Here are some other names for sugar: corn syrup, fructose, malt, barley malt, maltodextrin, dextrose, brown rice syrup, sugar cane, maple. Stevia and xylitol are acceptable as long as you don’t depend on them.
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Resources:
wellwisdom.com
Nancyappleton.com
dailyburn.com
DrPompa.com
You can reach me at drmaryann@leychiropractic.com
www.leychiropractic.com
410.628.9355
Facebook.com/achievewellness
TO YOUR HEALTH,
Dr MaryAnn
