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Sugar
Excessive sugar can suppress the immune system, inhibit liver function,
and cause energy loss, depression and obesity. You may be aware that
sugar lacks vitamins, minerals and fiber, but do you know that your
body actually depletes its own store of minerals and co-enzymes in
order to metabolize it? Its not just a matter of missing out
on some important nutrients, you are actually burning up the nutrients.
Maybe thats why the most reported symptom in this country is
lack of energy.
The fact that sugar is a pure carbohydrate is not good news to the
20 million Americans who suffer from carbohydrate sensitivity, according
to researchers at Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.. Daily
over-consumption of sugar can cause the pancreas to become over stimulated
and produce too much insulin, leading to chronic hypoglycemia. As
insulin causes the blood sugar to drop too much, you again crave sugar.
Sugar primarily affects your brain and nervous system. Sixty percent
of the glucose from sugar is utilized by the brain, and fluctuations
of blood sugar can cause any number of the following side effects:
depression, anxiety, irritability, crankiness, headaches, uncontrolled
emotions, poor memory and poor concentration. It also has been linked
to confusion, dizziness, indecisiveness, hyperactivity in children,
nightmares, increased aggressiveness, anti-social behavior, suicidal
tendencies and mental illness.
By over stimulating the production of insulin by the pancreas, sugar
causes low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. It makes the alkaline digestive
juices acidic and upsets the normal alkaline balance in the gastrointestinal
tract.
Sugar is a major contributor to intestinal cancer, peptic ulcers,
appendicitis, cholecystitis or inflammation of the gall bladder, and
hemorrhoids. Sugar interferes with the absorption of calcium, magnesium,
chromium, and other minerals.
Hypoglycemia, or hyperinsulin, is defined as low blood sugar. Normally,
the pancreas produces the exact amount of insulin necessary to maintain
a small but stable supply of sugar in the blood. With hypoglycemia,
the pancreas becomes overactive and over responsive to sugar, resulting
in an over production of insulin.
Insulin helps us to burn sugar and to recycle reserve sugar supplies
when the body needs them. Always maintaining the bodys insulin
level within a specified range is critical. For example, if a diabetic,
who has high blood sugar, takes even a small insulin overdose, the
blood sugar bottoms out too quickly. The result is insulin shock,
which can be so severe it was once used with electric shock as treatment
for mental illness. This is the state that hypoglycemics live with
on a daily basis.
The brain and eyes use only glucose, a sugar, for fuel. Other organs
can substitute fats and amino acids if necessary. Since the central
nervous system does not store glucose, it is totally dependent an
glucose from the bloodstream. It is also the first to be affected
by any deviation, whether high or low, from normal blood sugar levels.
When these levels are low, the brain does not receive enough energy
to function properly. It does not react well to starvation.
According to H.E.L.P., The Institute for Body Chemistry in Bryn Mawr,
Pennsylvania, there are an estimated 50 to 75 million Americans with
low blood sugar tendencies. These are individuals whose body chemistries
cannot handle sugar, fruits, starchy foods, alcohol, and stimulants
like caffeine or nicotine. In a society where all these are considered
a normal diet, this condition is often overlooked. |