In fact, the dangers of refined sugar are one of the things that pretty much all health practitioners, western doctors, diet systems, and real food advocates all agree on.
Run far, far away.
Fed Up is a film that I'm sure you've heard about, and although I've never seen it (it's on the list), I've heard great things about it. I know it goes into some detail about the dangerous addiction levels of sugar, and about how companies don't seem to care that consumers do not want this added to everything they eat.
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| Brain activity of rats on sugar and cocaine, without the labels they could be interchangable! |
The image above should concern you. I know when I saw it I stood up, walked to my kitchen, and tossed all the condiments in my refrigerator that had sugar or corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup anywhere in the ingredient list. Yes, all of them. The ketchup, BBQ sauce, jam, pancake syrup--GONE!
What concerns me is that when people struggle with changing their diet, it feels like we have no will power or desire to make a change in our life. It makes me want to scream because it's not entirely your fault.
You are addicted to a mind altering substance that effects your brain the same way as cocaine. People get medical intervention and rehabilitation to recover from cocaine when they quit. The withdrawal symptoms are intense. They can be unbearable. Relapses are terrifyingly common.
It is also scary because refined sugars are added to so much food we eat, and the food industry doesn't seem to care, despite the never ending proof that sugar is dangerous.
Other than the fact that it is addicting, why is sugar so terrible?
Well, one reasons is because refined sugar (usually from sugar beets) is just empty calories that spike your blood sugar. Empty calories are a sure path to unnecessary weight gain and fatigue (since your body uses energy to deal with the sugar but doesn't receive anything for it's effort). Un ending blood sugar spikes put you at risk for insulin resistance which in turn, puts you at risk for diabetes.
Because your body uses energy and minerals and nutrients to deal with the sugar in your system via insulin, you can also become deficient in lots of necessary nutrients that your body should be able to use to do things like make your skin naturally glow so you don't need makeup or fight off that virus that is going around. Instead, it's just perpetually dealing with sugar and your brain isn't any help because it thinks it's on drugs. (Because it pretty much is).
It's like a bank that is constantly has withdrawals made without any deposits; eventually you will run out of what your body actually needs because you just keep depleting it by eating sugar.
Additctive. Causes weight gain. Contributes to diabetes. Depletes you of necessary nutrients.
Now, go throw away your ketchup.
