Sweet Misery
Sugar. I know I keep going on about it, but it really is our worst enemy in our wellness journey. We have been led to believe in the last few decades by large food manufacturers that fat and calories are our enemies if we wish to have a fit and healthy body, and that we should focus on low calorie, low fat foods. THIS IS UTTER NONSENSE!
When manufacturers make their products low calorie and low fat, they usually have to add more sugar or use refined, cheap low-quality carbohydrates, which yes, may be lower in calories and fat, but regardless of that still make us fat because they spike insulin resulting in the body turning those sugars into fat.
SUGAR MAKES US FAT, FAT DOESN’T!
More and more research is emerging that proves that fat doesn’t make us fat. In fact there is little proof that the body turns fat into fat. There is however tons of evidence that the body turns sugar into fat.
Actually let me clarify that – if you eat lots of the wrong fats like hydrogenated vegetable fats, refined vegetable fats in processed foods and fake fats from foods like margarine, then it’s likely that you will get fat. That’s not just because of “fat” itself, it’s because you’d be eating the wrong types of fats and that those processed, unhealthy fats are being consumed in a package of processed unhealthy foods. Not only are those fats really bad for our bodies, but they are usually included with sugar and refined carbohydrates as well in a product that is being called food.
Healthy fats on the other hand feed our bodies with the building blocks they need for healthy skin, anti-inflammatory processes, neurotransmitter function, hormonal balance, effective digestion, increased immunity, balanced moods – the list goes on. And get this – the body finds healthy fat a much more efficient fuel than glucose. Our ancestors frequently went into a state of ketosis, whereby they didn’t eat for a few days, or just ate protein/fat foods without any carbohydrates, meaning their bodies would switch from glucose metabolism to ketone metabolism – using ketones as fuel.
I’ve gone off on a slight tangent here and there’s so much more to say on the subject of ketosis for health, but one of the main concepts of a ketogenic diet is the concept of eating a lot of healthy fat instead of carbohydrates. Many athletes are using a ketogenic diet as well as many high-profile health experts. So what I’m trying to get across to you is that fat doesn’t make you fat, sugar does. The right type of fat is crucial and beneficial to health.
SUGAR IS NOT BENEFICIAL TO HEALTH AT ALL.
REFINED CARBOHYDRATES ARE NOT BENEFICIAL TO HEALTH AT ALL.
And guess what? Most people are eating a diet high in both of these. Toast and jam for breakfast or a sugary cereal, sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner, a couple of snacks during the day such as a packet of crisps, chocolate bar or a pastry, a few coffees or teas with some sugar added, and maybe some wine or beer in the evening.
This is not how our ancestors ate. This is not a diet that our bodies can cope with. It’s a simple fact – sugar in all its forms upsets almost every process in our bodies. It makes us store fat, it creates imbalances of our gut flora, it dampens down the immune system, it creates mood swings, irritability and insomnia, it encourages cancer growth, it increases inflammation, it encourages pathogens to proliferate in the gut – such as Candida, it upsets our skin function, it upsets our hormonal balance. There isn’t a single function in our bodies that isn’t affected by sugar.
Natural carbohydrates of course are wonderful – that’s fresh fruits and vegetables mainly, maybe some natural sweeteners in small doses and a moderate amount of whole grains and pulses. Refined carbohydrates however should be seen as sugar and nothing else.
A bowl of white pasta is equivalent to two cups of white sugar. There’s no nutrition in white pasta, no fibre, nothing nourishing at all – it’s just a string of glucose molecules that break apart really quickly releasing a flood of glucose into the bloodstream. Same with white bread.
Everywhere you look you see refined carbohydrates marketed as suitable “foods”. When you see any refined carb you are looking at sugar and nothing else. So, if you feed your children white pasta for dinner you’re feeding them sugar. If you feed them white toast, you’re feeding them sugar.
SUGAR IS EVERYWHERE AND IT’S MAKING US SICK.
We have more diabetes than ever, even in children. We are more obese than ever, we have more cancer than ever, we have more heart disease than ever (and it’s now proven that insulin-resistance – not saturated fat – predisposes us to heart disease), more mood disorders than ever, more stress than ever… and this list goes on.
SUGAR and REFINED CARBOHYDRATES are responsible for pretty much all of our health issues simply because they take our bodies away from a state of balance and take us away from a natural, health-promoting diet.
I’ll leave you to contemplate all of this and I’ll take this opportunity to remind you that when you eliminate sugar you are not depriving yourself, but enhancing your health and supporting every single process in your body. Switch your thinking over to that and see how easy avoiding sugar becomes.
Article by Jo Rowkins, Nutritional Therapist at Awakening Health.