Like many people, you may think you are addicted to
carbohydrates, such as bread, cakes, cookies, just because
you like eating them. However, truthfully, you may be
addicted to sugar - the sugar in these carbohydrates.
For example, eating a donut loaded with sugar will cause a
blood sugar spike in your bloodstream, giving you the
"feeling good" experience that might make you want to reach
out for yet another donut. The explanation is simple: your
sudden blood sugar spike giving you that "feeling good"
sensation is almost immediately followed by a blood sugar
drop that drives the craving to experience that sensation
again.
Sugar triggers the release of opiates (addictive
substances) from your brain, causing a magnetic effect on
you, which may be the beginning of sugar addiction. Food
manufacturers have found out that adding fat in food will
further enhance the effect of food seduction on a consumer.
In other words, fat and sugar complement each other in
increasing your food addiction, making you want to consume
more, and that is why sugar and fat are main ingredients in
most processed foods.
Consumers are often misled into thinking that carbohydrates
make them fat. No, good carbohydrates, such as bread,
pasta, and rice do not make you fat. For one thing, healthy
carbohydrates, being modest in calories, may fill you up
before you can eat more. For another, even if you do
overeat occasionally, those extra calories are most likely
stored as glycogen for your energy use, or dissipated
during exercise or any vigorous physical activity.
It is the sugar which is often added to carbohydrates -
such as jam in bread, sugar coating in a donut - that makes
you fat. Remember, sugar is concentrated calories. A
20-ounce soda may have 250 calories of sugar. On the other
hand, a cup of rice has fewer calories than a cup of soda.
Drinking a cup of soda will not assuage your hunger, while
eating a cup of brown rice may fill you up.
Sugar is addictive. Sugar is one of the common toxic foods.
In addition to causing blood sugar imbalance as previously
mentioned, too much sugar may also overburden your
pancreas, rendering it incapable of clearing sugar from you
blood efficiently, and thus potentially leading to
diabetes.
Too much sugar may cause anxiety, irritability, nervous
tension, and even depression due to depletion of your
body's B-complex vitamins, especially for women progressing
to menopause.
Too much sugar may suppress your immune system and upset
your body's mineral balance, making it more acidic, which
is the underlying cause of many diseases.
Sugar is hidden in most commercial processed foods and
drinks, such as salad dressing, ketchup, mixed sweet
drinks, and sodas, among others. Sugar may come in many
different forms: corn syrup (made from cornstarch, composed
mainly of glucose), high fructose corn syrup
(HFCS)(modified form of corn syrup with increased level of
fructose), and aspartame (a low-calorie artificial
sweetener).
Look at all food and drink labels before you consume them.
Also, avoid all sugar traps that may look "healthy" to you.
Organic brown sugar, made from cane sugar, is only slightly
better than white table sugar. The word "organic" is not
synonymous with "healthy."
Unrefined brown sugar is no more than white sugar dyed with
molasses. It is still highly processed. Do not be misled by
the term "unrefined." Brown sugar is mostly sucrose.
Honey is no more than "expensive" sugar with little
nutritional value. That liquid honey does not spoil is due
to its high sugar concentration, which kills bacteria by
plasmolysis, and this fact may often give people the
impression that honey is good because it does not spoil
easily. However, honey is still sugar. Costing more does
not make it any better or healthier.
White table sugar is the worst form of sugar because it is
highly processed with zero nutritional value.
A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) survey
revealed that the average American consumes the equivalent
of 160 pounds of sugar a year - that is something like over
50 heaped teaspoons of sugar per person per day. If this is
not too much, then what is?
Sugar addiction is mainly due to the standard American diet
(SAD), which is high in protein, dairy, and salt.
If you have an insatiable sugar craving, your body system
is most probably toxic, if not already unhealthy. To stop
sugar addiction, you must consume more healthy
carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, and rice, instead of
meat and animal products. The reason is that your body
needs fiber so that you will eat less, and decreased intake
of salt and fat will also eliminate the sugar addiction.
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Stephen Lau is a researcher, writing medical research for
doctors and scientists. His publications include "NO
MIRACLE CURES" a book on healing and wellness. He has also
created several websites on health and healing, including
the following:
http://www.longevityforyou.com
http://www.rethinkyourdepression.com
