Sugar is a sweet, crystalline carbohydrate typically extracted from sugar cane and sugar beets. It is a non-nutritive empty calorie that robs the body of vitamins and minerals. Refined sugars have many different names, such as granulated (table) sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, raw sugar, turbinado sugar, and malt. Even much commercial fructose is really pure refined sugar.

Many people believe that sugar is only bad for you when ingested in enormous amounts, when actually "normal" amounts are damaging to the body.

Here is a partial list of physical conditions caused or exacerbated by sugar in the diet.

overweight
heart disease

--raised blood triglycerides
--sticky blood platelets
duodenal ulcers
--increased stomach acidity
hypoglycemia
diabetes
hyperactivity
kidney enlargement
liver enlargement
increase in uric acid in blood
cancer
hindered breakdown of dietary protein
cavities
--calcium leached from teeth

weakened immune system
PMS
yeast overgrowth
dependency

Refined sugar consumption is often at the root of these lesser physical symptoms:

intense sleepiness not caused by lack of sleep
muscle fatigue
lethargy
pallor
coated tongue and persistent thirstiness
bad breath
heartburn/sour stomach
excessive and/or foul-smelling intestinal gas
flu-like symptoms
--upset stomach
--body ache
--feeling run-down

Sugar is addicting. The more you get, the more you want! Some would say it is more addicting than heroin. It used to be only the rich could afford the luxury of sugar, but by 1840 the sugar pushers were handing out free samples. Now, the sugar industries have the largest advertising in the world. Less than 10 years ago the average American consumed something like 153 pounds of sugar a year, with a whopping 24% of their calories coming from sugar. No doubt today the figures would be even more astounding. Many wonderful people are hooked on the stuff, and those who attempt to quit the sugar habit find they have quite a struggle on their hands. Going off sugar, like quitting most drugs, invites withdrawal symptoms. The most common are headaches, chills, and body aches. Sugar, like alcohol, is intoxicating. It creates an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain. Mental and emotional disorders are often linked to sugar in the diet.

Below are some of the mental/emotional symptoms that may be linked to eating refined sugar:

irritability
manic-depressive tendencies
chronic or frequent bouts of depression
difficulty concentrating
forgetfulness or absentmindedness
lack of motivation
increasing undependability
loss of enthusiasm for plans and projects
inconsistency in thoughts and actions
situational personality changes
irrational thoughts
emotional outbursts
eating disorders

When sugar is eliminated from the diet, all foods start to taste better. Taste buds become more sensitive to the natural sweetness of foods. Soon, sugar cravings begin to dwindle and control over ones eating becomes easier and easier. Bodies start feeling better, calmer, and sleep improves.

Recommended Reading: Sugar Blues, by William Dufty

When I first began switching from a sick to a healthy way of eating, I had such a horrendous addiction to sweets that I falsely thought I couldn抰 handle any type of sweet, whether sweetened with refined or unrefined sweeteners. After a while, however, I began to experiment in the kitchen, first with honey, then with molasses and barley malt syrup, and then I discovered my first dry natural sweetener, maple syrup granules. I found that when I ate goodies sweetened with these natural sweeteners, I didn抰 get the overwhelming cravings that white refined sugar always produced, I was able to stay in control of my food instead of it controlling me, and I could think clearly and didn抰 get the sugar "crash." What a blessing that discovery was!

But as in all things, too much of anything is not good for you. Even natural sweets are best consumed sparingly, or you could be headed for trouble once again. Any sweet, regardless of what it is sweetened with, is a concentrated source of sugar. That means a high ratio of calories to quantity of food compared to other foods, which could lead to unwanted weight gain. Also, humans seem highly susceptible to a sweet tooth, which can lead to increasingly frequent indulgence. An abundance of sweets in the diet deadens the tastebuds to the natural good taste of other kinds of foods, like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, making the healthy way of eating less and less appealing (regular ingestion of overly-salted food produces the same effect).

Refined sugars enter the bloodstream very rapidly, causing and contributing to health problems and creating the ideal conditions for the development of an addiction. Many people consider sugar a legal, but deadly drug. Just like opium is processed from the seeds of a poppy plant, sugar is also refined from plants: sugar cane and beets. Natural sweeteners tend to enter the bloodstream more slowly and are less apt to cause insulin related problems.

Natural sweeteners also tend to be much less sweet than refined sugars, reducing the likelihood of a sweet-habit developing and causing less injury to the integrity of the sense of taste.

Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (NutraSweet) and saccharin have a long list of negative side effects. Saccharin has long been known to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing), yet the FDA has ruled that until a suitable replacement is found, it can remain on the market with only a piddly little health warning on product labels. Aspartame, an excitotoxin, has had more complaints noted against it than all other artificial sweeteners in history combined. And aspartame has been studied such a short time there is bound to surface more and more unsettling evidence to prove it is unsafe for human consumption.

Choose natural sweets for your own health and for the health of your precious children. Children depend on us to show by example the healthy way to live. Most habits are well established early in life. I have successfully raised my two boys from birth (now 5 and 7 years of age) on whole grains, seeds and nuts, fruits, vegetables, nonfat/low-fat dairy products, a bit of lean meat, soy, and natural sweets.

Stevioside
Natural Sweeteners
Healthier Sweetener Resource List
Aspartame (NutraSweet) Toxicity Info Center
Refined Sugar: The Sweetest Poison of All

Lick the Sugar Habit--Appleton
Synopsis: In this eye-opening book, Dr. Appleton shows how sugar upsets the body chemistry and devastates the immune system--leading to a host of diseases. Included in the book are self-tests to discover sugarholic tendencies and tests for food allergies, 19 simple techniques to banish sugar cravings, and three detailed, low-sugar food plans to ease into a low-sugar life.

Potatoes Not Prozac--DesMaisons

Potatoes Not Prozac: A Natural Seven-Step Dietary Plan to Control Your Cravings and Lose Weight--DesMaisons, Pert (paperback) Customer Comment (rating=*****): If you have struggled with food, mood and attitude, inner strength, will power, the ability to focus and follow through -- what you need is this book, 7 simple steps (to learn how to eat to support your brain chemistry) and a simple potato.

Sugar Blues--Dufty
Customer Review (rating=*****): "Try to Quit if You Think It's Not a Drug! I read Sugar Blues years ago, and became a right-wingist, eliminating all sugar. Over the years, sugar crept back in. Now I'm doing it again because of (1) moodiness, (2) always being bloated, (3) loss of "real appetite". Sugar in EVERYTHING (even soups and vegetables) makes it very hard to stop totally but what I remember most about William Duffy's comments were the similarity to cocaine use when sugar was first introduced -- the first sugar users brought it to parties and it was a great specialty. That hit home."

Sugar Busters!: Cut Sugar to Trim Fat--Steward, Bethea, Andrews
Customer Comment (rating=*****): The best thing since sliced WHOLE WHEAT BREAD!!! This book really makes nutritional sense. I have been battling excess pounds since I quit smoking 4 years ago. I believe I have found the solution in this book. No weighing, measuring, counting - THIS IS HEAVEN. I take my hat off to these gentlemen for taking the time to explain it to me in layman's terms and making cooking fun again. I have shared my new found information with co-workers, who are running out to get their own copies. Thanks again for a job well done.

Recommended Cookbooks

The Bread Machine Cookbook IV : Whole Grains & Natural Sugars-- German

Cooking With Honey : The Natural Way to Health and Better Eating --Paddlewheel Press

The 'I Can't Believe This Has No Sugar' Cookbook--Buhr

Joy With Honey : More Than 200 Delicious Recipes That Make the Most of Nature's Own Sweetener--Mech

Just Naturally Sweet : Recipes Utilizing Honey, Molasses, Sorghum, and Maple Syrup, No Refined Sugar--Mitchell

The Maple Syrup Cookbook--Haedrich

Naturally Sweet Desserts : The Sugar-Free Dessert Cookbook--Weber

Sugar-Free Cookbook : Sweet Foods but No Sugar--Horsley

Sweet & Natural Baking : Sugar-Free, Flavorful Desserts from Mani's Bakery--Niall

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