About white sugar, Aspartame, other concentrated sweeteners and health
Cause and prevention of diseases
In Sugar We Trust
This page is important stop for all of You who are addicted to sugar, honey, or any other concentrated sweetener.
For all of You who eat sugar every day in all kind of food, from bread to Coca Cola, from ice-cream to ketchup, from hot-dog to cakes, jams, candies, sausages, yogurts ...
And for all of You who are having problems like colds, flu, food allergies, high cholesterol, candida, cancer, diabetes, fatty degeneration, degenerative diseases, depression, dizziness, crying spells, aggression, insomnia, weakness, skin problems, heart and circulatory diseases...
Let's first say what is white sugar.
White sugar is refined sucrose (simple sugar), C12H22O11 , produced by multiple chemical processing of the juice of the sugar cane or sugar beet and by removal of all fiber , protein and minerals , which amount to 90 percent of the natural plant.
( P.S. I do not want to be misunderstood. I will explain that concentrated sweeteners are bad for your health. BUT, that does not mean that you should use artificial sweeteners like aspartame (nutra sweet), xilitol, sorbitoll, or any other artificial sweeteners. ALL artificial sweeteners are worse for your health then natural sweeteners, so think about it! )
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This page is not only about white sugar. It is also about brown/ raw/ turbinado sugar, molasses, syrups, and other concentrated sweeteners like : dextrose (glucose) , fructose, galactose, maltose, lactose, dextrin, dextrains, and honey. Our body digests and absorbs these concentrated sources of sugars rapidly, and quickly turns them into saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. If we do not burn off the fat through activity, it will start accumulating under our skin,in our lever in our arteries and other organs.
One thing is common characteristic for all those sweeteners: they are concentrated and composed of simple sugars (monosaccharide and disaccharide). Simple sugars are also called rapid sugars because they do not need digestion and are absorbed rapidly in our bloodstream.
After being absorbed in our bloodstream, they rise blood glucose levels too high. This condition is called hyperglycemia, and is one of the symptoms of diabetes. If or pancreas function as it should, it will produce enough insulin to remove excess glucose from our bloodstream with amazing efficiency.
But huge production of insulin can not be stopped in the same moment as sugar stop coming in the bloodstream. To much insulin will then cause too rapid fall of glucose level in the blood. That is called hypoglycemia, and symptoms may include depression, dizziness, crying spells, aggression, insomnia, weakness, and even loss of consciousness.
When blood glucose falls too low, our adrenal glands will mobilize the body's stores of glycogen (starch like carbohydrate , many glucose molecules hooked end to end in a chain,stored in liver and muscle) and will also stimulate the synthesis of glucose from proteins and other substances present in our body.
A diet rich in sugars will catch our pancreas and adrenal glands in a biochemical see-saw, overworking them. It could weaken pancreas and result in diabetes. Cardiovascular complications that follow excess glucose or fats kill many diabetics. If our body is unable to use all of the extra fats and cholesterol produced from sugars,it must dump the additional load. Fats can be deposited in the cells of our liver, heart, arteries, fat tissues, kidneys, muscles, and other organs. That is beginning of fatty degeneration.
One of the aspects of fatty degeneration is deposition of visible fat in places where it is not normally found in healthy people. Fatty degeneration includes atherosclerosis, fatty liver and kidneys, some tumors, obesity and some forms of diabetes.
Sugars inhibit the function of our immune system, and increase diseases caused by poor immune function, such as colds, flu, AIDS, allergies, infections, ...
Sugars increase our body's production of adrenaline by four times, which puts the body into a state of 'fight or flight' stress, without anything to fight or flee from , except the consumption of sugar. This stress reaction increases the production of both cholesterol and cortisone. Cortisone inhibits immune function.
Sugars lack the vitamins and minerals required for their own metabolism. To be metabolized, sugars must draw on our body's stores of these nutrients. The more sugars you eat, the more vitamins and minerals you need.
It can leach B, C, D vitamins, and those minerals:
calcium, phosphorous, iron, selenium, zinc, chromium, vanadium, tin, boron, bismuth, rear earth elements etc. from our teeth, bones, and tissues.
As these are depleted, our body becomes less able to carry out other functions that require minerals and vitamins to be present: to metabolize fats and cholesterol; to convert cholesterol into bile acids for removal from our body through the stool; or to burn-off excess fats as heat or increased activity. As a result , our cholesterol level rises; our metabolic rate goes down; fats burn more slowly; gall stones are crystallizing in or liver; we feel less like exercising, and our weight is increasing. We have already started walking our way to cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
As you see , sugar is where it all starts, I mean disease.
Sugar causes irritation and weakening of the mucous membranes of the body and robs the teeth, bones and blood of a great percentage of their minerals. Inflammatory diseases of the breathing and digestive organs result from the use of brown and white sugar.
If , after reading those facts you feel to stop eating sugar , we are recommending next alternatives:
dry fruit, fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice, resins, apple syrup, rice malt, barley malt.
But, do not just replace sugar with malt, or apple syrup. It is also important to generally decrease consumption of concentrated sweeteners. Eat more fresh fruit and compote.
The easiest way of decreasing consumption of sugar is by decreasing consumption of meat.
There is a balance between meat consumption and sugar.
If you eat meat, you need sugar, and visa versa. Serious trouble can happen if the balance is off which is easy since sugar is addictive, like a drug. If you are a vegetarian and eat mostly carbohydrates, the effect of extra sugar is heightened.
One of the major drawbacks is that sugar raises the insulin level, which inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. Not something you want to happen if you want to avoid sickness.
According to Kathleen DesMaisons in her book Potatoes Not Prozac sugar sensitive people , those who have a more volatile reaction to the substance, usually have low levels of serotonin and low levels of beta endorphins.
The level of beta endorphins have a direct impact on a person’s self esteem, tolerance for pain, sense of connectiveness and to the ability to take personal responsibility for action. It follows that with higher levels of beta endorphins the disease management process would be easier.
When blood sugar spikes it signals the adrenal glands to release more adrenaline. This leads to adrenal fatigue and in turn makes blood sugar ups and downs ever more pronounced. Note this, for many of us have adrenals already fatigued from overeating of sugar.
According to William Duffy in "Sugar Blues" the difference between sugar addiction and narcotic addiction is largely one of degree. Here are some suggestions to make the withdrawal easier:
- As you are reducing the amount of sugar also reduce the amount of meat you are eating
- Eat a bit of ginger before meals
-Taking Colloidal minerals that contain trace minerals Chromium and Vanadium would solve problem of craving for Sugar and sweets !
- Craving for Sugar and sweets is a symptom of Chromium and Vanadium deficiency.
- Don’t eat any concentrated sweetener for breakfast
- Eat your breakfast as late as possible and start with fruit
- Make pause between fruit and other food
- Never eat fruit together with a rest of food
- Make treats like cookies sweetened with rice syrup (a honey like sweetener made from cultured rice) or barley malt
- Get to know some new foods that have a subtle sweet taste from natural sugars. Try manna bread (tastes like a muffin but is made only from sprouted grains) or oatmilk.
- Get to know more about the sugar/depression/energy connection. Read Food and Healing, Sugar Blues, or Potatoes Not Prozac
More about sugar :
Sugars are classified as either simple or complex carbohydrates. Refined sugars such as white, brown, and turbinado sugars, and the unrefined simple sugars, such as fruit sweeteners and concentrated fruit juices, are all simple carbohydrates. The grain syrups: barley malt and brown rice syrup, contain complex carbohydrates besides some simple sugars.
Complex carbohydrates are a string of simple sugars (glucose) strung together that must be broken back down into simple sugars before they can be absorbed into the bloodstream; whereas simple sugars can go directly into the bloodstream.
An influx of sugar into the blood stream upsets the body's blood sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood sugar at a safe and constant level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so when you eat sweets high in sugar and fat, you're making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease. Complex carbohydrates tend to be absorbed more slowly, lessening the impact on blood sugar levels.
Refined sugars have been stripped of the vitamins, minerals, and fiber that were originally present before processing. White sugar is 99.9 percent sucrose, and brown and turbinado are 96 percent sucrose. Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses and/or caramel coloring added. Turbinado sugar, also called raw sugar, is slightly less refined and contains a trace amount of a few minerals.
Consequently, consuming large amounts of refined sugars places an extra burden on the body to supply the nutrients, specifically the B vitamins, chromium, magnesium, and zinc, needed to convert glucose (blood sugar) into energy. According to USDA biochemist Richard Anderson, refined sugar may also impair the absorption of trace minerals like copper and chromium present in some of the other foods we have eaten.
Refined simple sugars also have an impact on brain chemistry. They raise serotonin levels, which can leave you feeling drowsy. However, the unrefined simple fruit sweeteners have less impact on brain chemistry because they are high in the sugar fructose, which does not affect serotonin levels.
Choosing natural sweeteners rich in complex carbohydrates and reading labels before buying a product will help you reduce your consumption of refined sugar. Natural sweeteners retain most of their vitamins and minerals, and many contain complex carbohydrates. Below is a list and brief description of some of the natural sweeteners available.
Natural sweetener |
% complex carbohydrates in dry matter (good ones) |
% simple sugars in dry matter (bad ones) |
|
40 % complex carbohydrates (starch) |
57 % maltose |
|
33 % complex carbohydrates (starch) |
66 % maltose |
|
33 % or more complex carbohydrates |
66 % maltose, fructose, glucose, and sucrose |
|
1 % complex carbohydrates |
90 - 96 % simple sugars, fructose, glucose, and sucrose |
|
1 % complex carbohydrates |
96 % sucrose |
|
0 % complex carbohydrates |
96 % simple sugars, fructose, glucose, and sucrose |
|
0 % complex carbohydrates |
96 % sucrose |
|
0 % complex carbohydrates |
96 % sucrose |
by Don Buscher, MSN
The granulated brown rice and cane juice sweeteners are roughly equal in sweetness to refined white, brown, or turbinado sugar and can be substituted on a cup for cup basis without changing t anything else in the recipe.
When you substitute a liquid sweetener for a dry one or vice versa, you will have to adjust the recipe to end up with the right batter consistency. The chart (below) will help you modify your recipes when using natural sweeteners.
| SWEETENER SUBSTITUTIONS | |
| To replace 1 cup dry sweetener with 1 cup liquid sweetener: | reduce another liquid by 1/3 cup or add 4-5 tablespoons flour. |
| To replace 1 cup dry sweetener with 3/4 cup honey: | reduce another liquid by 1/4 cup or add 1/3 cup flour. |
| To replace 1 cup liquid sweetener with 1 cup dry sweetener: | add 1/3 cup water. |
| To replace 1 cup liquid sweetener with 3/4 cup honey: | add 1/4 cup water. |
| Note: When using thick liquid sweeteners, heat the jar in hot water for five minutes to make pouring easier and spray measuring cups with vegetable spray to prevent sticking. | |
Facts about White sugar consumption
The average American consumes an astounding two pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, ketchup, mayonnaise, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora of microwave meals.
Adults purchase over 50% of all chocolate sold in USA.
An average American consume 147 pounds of sweeteners each year.
Monoglycerides used in some ice creams are a possible cancer causing agent in test animals.
Related books: Sugar & Aspartame
