A WORD ABOUT SUGARS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, and the GLYCEMIC INDEXAlmost all processed foods and beverages contain sugar of some kind. The impact of sugar is profound, both in its ability to pack an economic sweet punch that "sells" a product (unfairly engaging our sweet urges), and in its ability to bring the body to many points of physical breakdown and decay.
While sweetness is a natural characteristic of some natural foods, in our modern diet a sweet sensation is delivered to us in the form of processed sugars added to processed foods. It is the most common way we get added sugar in our diet.
We don't particularly need added sugars in our foods, any more than we need a drag of tobacco smoke or a hit of cocaine. We want the sweet sensations, and manufacturers are more than happy to provide them.
The sugars we do need are those that are found in complex carbohydrates. Complex carbs are beneficial mostly because they are whole foods (not pre-processed outside the body) which must be broken down in a natural way before being put to work in the body. Normal digestion provides the sugar-processing functions of the body the benefit of timing. The body releases sugar for the body parts to absorb and utilize as needed in a form that is fully compatible with the body and its functions. Not so with processed sugars, which are usually absorbed immediately into the blood stream, and which often set off a wide range of body responses that can get out of control and ultimately alter the way we feel.
We should know more about the sugars we need and don't need and how each affects the body and our health. An understanding of our true need versus our perceived need for sugar can go along way to assure progressive health. Processed sugar is not good for us, but is the ever-present problem that we battle early in life as we develop nutritionally-sound eating habits, and follows us through life to become the nemesis of every positive thing we do to reverse bad health later in life. Some sugars are good for us and are readily available for us in the form of many vegetables, fruits and nuts.
The term "sugar" describes more than just the granulated stuff in the special bowl on the kitchen countertop. Simple sugars, which have that familiar taste of sweet, are the ones with which we most commonly associate with the word sugar. But there are others. Most notably is the naturally occurring sugar glucose. Glucose is substance in the body that carries energy to parts needing a constant supply. Blood sugar is especially important to function of the brain.Sucrose and Fructose
Two "simple sugars," sucrose (white refined "table" sugar) and fructose (found naturally in fruit), are in most sweet processed foods and drinks. These sugars have a negative impact on diet and nutrition and are the source of major health problems. A diverse group of professional medical specialists, including doctors, dentists, and psychiatrists, know the unhealthy down side of sugar all too well.
Eventhough at the age of the earliest school children we are taught the association between large amounts of sugar and tooth decay, we are taught little about the other associations—sugar and obesity, sugar and heart disease, sugar and diabetes, and others—nor are we taught what can be done to prevent these from becoming serious problems.
A person concerned with his or her personal health must know more about the relationship of simple sugars to blood sugar (glucose), what the body does to regulate glucose levels, and what results can be expected from eating too many foods that increase rapidly the glucose content of the blood (high glycemic foods). These subjects are discussed further below.
Read more about glucose, sucrose, fructose and other carbohydrates in this article about How Food Works.
(Courtesy Howstuffworks.com)High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
While sucrose and fructose are most widely known to wreck havoc with our glucose levels and our health, many in the world of nutritional and health sciences believe the real villain of the sweeteners is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).In the world of manufacturing, HFCS is cheaper to process and deliver than sucrose or fructose. That is the primary reason manufacturers of food and beverage products include it in almost every processed food that smacks of sweetness. While it is comprised of sucrose and fructose, and is digested in a more natural way, it is not a naturally-occurring sugar. It is a corn-derived substance that is molecularly pulled apart then forced back together. To many who study such things, there is the observed possibility that HFCS, as a "foreign" substance in the body, creates many problems that an all-natural sweetener product wouldn't.The chief concern is the long-term affect on the liver. Added to such possible problems is an even more controversial factoid about this grain by-product. Genetically engineered corn is thought to be used (the actual facts of this are still a closely-guarded secret), and a genetically altered enzyme is known to be used, alarming many who believe ingesting anything genetically engineered is touting disaster.
Read more about high fructose corn syrup.
(Courtesy WestonAPrice.org)The Highs and Lows of Glycemic Levels
In the most fundamental terms, our need for sugar is only perceived, that is, we are made to feel we need sugar for our body. This is achieved in part through cravings. Craving is a mechanism of the body to assure the body has enough of something it needs to survive. In this case, the need is not so much of sugar, but of energy contained in the sugar.
The primal concern is to assure there is plenty of energy available in the blood stream for normal cellular function. To achieve normal levels of energy, our body keeps a balanced amount of glucose in our system at all times. But, sometimes the system is begins to over-react to sugar levels because of an all-natural misunderstanding brought on by what we place in our mouths.Glucose and glycemic are related terms. Glycemic indicates a substance possesses glucose or glucose properties, and the speed in which the substance makes the glucose available can be measured. The slower the availablility, the better.
Foods that raise glucose in the blood quickly are called high glycemic foods. Few fruits and almost no vegetables are high glycemic foods. But, all white potatoes and most refined grain foods are high glycemic foods, especially "enriched" white bread.
Foods that don't raise glucose so quickly are in the low glycemic foods category. Low glycemic fruits are apples, pears, apricots and peaches. Of the normally high-glycemic grains, whole grain foods are the lowest. And almost all vegetables, very low in tasty simple sugars, are low glycemic (obviously why we didn't like them as kids!)
Our bodies can crave the delightful zing of sugar for other reasons that should raise concerns. A persistent craving could be a signal that a nutrient is missing in our system. Candidiases (a yeast that begins to grow unchecked in the absence of naturally occurring bacteria that would normally keep its growth limited) needs sugar more than we do, so it triggers in us a craving. A Candidia-caused craving would be accompanied by several other symptoms. Read more about candidiaGlucose and Insulin
So how does something so sweet and fulfilling create such a problem? Simple sugar, like sucrose, which is absorbed immediately into the blood stream (in the mouth), causes over-stimulation of the body's mandate to balance glucose in the blood, thus causing a reactionary attempt to negate the affects of the sudden perceived abundance of sugar.
Through the process of creating refined sugar, sucrose is stripped out of the plant it comes from, fiber and other elements of the plant that would normally slow the absorption process down are left behind. There is nothing to keep it from blasting right into the blood stream.
Within seconds, the flood of sucrose raises glucose levels very high. Insulin, a hormone of the pancreas, is immediately dumped into the system to prevent over-saturation of glucose in the blood. As the insulin does its job throughout the blood stream, there is an eventual slump in energy, because the blood is cleared of too much of the energy-producing glucose.
The low glucose level sets off an opposite reaction. Another hormone is released from the pancreas that, among other things, results in a signal to raise the glucose back to proper levels. We interpret the signal (the craving) to mean we should eat something sweet. Now we have some important choices to make that will impact greatly the way we will experience the next few hours.
If we choose to eat the wrong foods, we can be on a sugary roller coaster ride all day long. Some results of this ride over a period of time are weight gain, chronic mental fatigue, increased blood pressure, and possibly the onset of diabetes.But, by choosing our foods and snacks to combat the swing, we will slow the process down, prevent the highs and lows of glucose imbalance from occurring, and maintain consistent levels of energy—making us alert and efficient, and giving us a sense of good health!
The "right and wrong" choices of this sugar subject has a lot to do with understanding which foods are the "high and low" foods of the glycemic index, as was mentioned above. The best way to get the picture is to look at a chart of common foods and where they are placed on the list. The link below provides such a chart.
View a Glycemic Index
(Courtesy Shakeoffthesugar.com)Sugar and Your Body pH
There is yet another issue to consider when pondering the impact sugar has on your health: acidity. The pH balance of your body is vital to good health. But sugar tends to make the body more acidic, which is the required environment for all disease and degeneration to take place.
Read more about balancing your total body pH.Sugar Control in Practice
To be healthy you must cut back (or eradicate from your diet) all soft drinks, sugared juices (not 100% juice), pre-packaged, freshly baked or deep fried sweets (doughnuts), and most packaged cereals. These products are simply not good for you, and in the case of most of them, sugar isn't the only problem they present.
Become a label reader if you aren't already one. Because of the prevalence of cheap high fructose corn syrup, you have to keep an eye on food labels to make sure you aren't slipped a hit of that sweetener.
Refined grains and grain products (breads, rolls, pastries, etc.), and all white potatoes are also foods to watch, because each of these contain high levels of starch, which are eventually converted into high levels of glucose, resulting in the same wide energy swing that a lunch of jelly sandwiches and orange soda might produce!
