Sugar is cocaine of foods and kills more people than all the drugs combined. But it’s regulated and considered safe by the food industry and toxicity of High fructose corn syrup
In 1975, William Dufty wrote a book about toxicity of refined sugar called ‘sugar blues’. In his book Dufty talks about Dr William Coda Martin’s work about toxicity of refined sugar and how refined sugar has been depleted from its life forces, vitamins and minerals.
In his book, William Dufty writes that "what is left consists of pure, refined carbohydrates. The body cannot utilize this refined starch and carbohydrate unless the depleted proteins, vitamins and minerals are present. Nature supplies these elements in each plant in quantities sufficient to metabolize the carbohydrate in that particular plant. There is no excess for other added carbohydrates. Incomplete carbohydrate metabolism results in the formation of 'toxic metabolite' such as pyruvic acid and abnormal sugars containing five carbon atoms. Pyruvic acid accumulates in the brain and nervous system and the abnormal sugars in the red blood cells. These toxic metabolites interfere with the respiration of the cells. They cannot get sufficient oxygen to survive and function normally. In time, some of the cells die. This interferes with the function of a part of the body and is the beginning of degenerative disease”.
Over the last few years, many food experts and nutritionists have called refined sugar ‘lethal’ and ‘toxic to human’s health. Refined sugar lacks essential nutrients that exist in sugar beet or cane sugar; it also depletes body from precious minerals and vitamins that body needs for digestion and detoxification.
When sugar is taken every day, more and more minerals are required (deep within the body), to keep the acid-alkaline balance in the blood. In fact, bone and teeth decay begin to happen as more calcium is taken from the bones.
Excessive amount of sugar is stored in liver in form of glucose (glycogen), but since liver capacity is limited, the excess is returned into the blood in form of fatty acids and is stored in different parts of the body like belly, breasts and thighs.
When the body reaches its limit in storing fatty acids in belly, breasts and thighs, other active organs in the body including heart and kidneys start to accumulate fat and begin to slow down, while other organs in the body including brain and central nervous system start to deteriorate.
A study published in 2007 shows that sugar is more addictive than cocaine:
A 2007 research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that 94% of rats that were given two options to choose between water sweetened with saccharin (calorie-free sweetener used in most low-fat or non-fat products like dairy and sodas) and intravenous cocaine (a highly addictive and harmful substance), choose the sweet taste of the artificial sweetener. The study findings showed that the preference of rats to choose saccharin was not related to its unnatural ability to have no calories, since the same result happened when rats were given sucrose (a natural sugar) instead of saccharin.
“Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals. We speculate that the addictive potential of intense sweetness results from an inborn hypersensitivity to sweet tastants. In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction” says Magalie Lenoir, the leading author of the study.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and artificial sweeteners are even more harmful than refined sugar:
As harmful and as addictive as refined sugar is, the food industry has been using cheaper and more harmful forms of sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup in almost all processed foods including bread, peanut butter, ham, hot dogs, pork or sausages, deep fried foods such as fried potato or rice, canned fruits, sodas (your favorite Coca-Cola and Pepsi), juices (like orange juice), dairy (milk, cheese and yogurt), commercial soups, fish sticks, salad dressings, soy milks, chocolate milks, eggnog, English muffins, tacos, gravy (usually made with corn starch), most of ice creams, American whiskey, gin, beer, ale and wine, crackers, pancake syrups, instant coffees, powdered sugar, jams, candies, sauces like catch up, baking powder and even some toothpastes.
As if refined sugar wasn’t bad enough, the food industry has come up with cheaper and more toxic sweeteners like HFCS to keep the food prices down and increase their profit.
A few decades ago, refined sugar was produced from different food sources or a mixture of them and after foods like grapes or barley were heated, toxic Sulfur dioxide was added (as bleaching agent) to keep the color of the final product white.
But as time went by, the food industry became more expert in keeping the food prices down by adding more and more harmful additives, pesticides and chemicals or genetically modifying foods.
More harmful and more additive than refined sugar that you used to eat 10 years ago is high fructose corn syrup:
In 1970s, the corn industry passed a subsidy bill through Congress to subsidize corn with your tax dollars. Within few years, the US was producing a lot more corn than the public consumption, so the corn industry decided to exploit the subsidy law, in order to keep billions of dollars of subsidy that they received every year. They found a new way to convert corn into corn syrup and keep the final product which is high fructose corn syrup for almost 12 years. Every year, almost eight billion dollars of your tax dollars are spent on GMO corn subsidy and the politicians in the Congress get so much money from the corn/aggriculture lobby that they ignore the law passed decades ago even though it is no longer needed to subsidize the industry.
In the process of making High fructose corn syrup, corn is heated in high temperatures (almost so overly heated that there no nutrients left in the final product) and toxic Chloralkai (that contains mercury) is added to corn syrup.
Although, for many years now, scientific studies and research have linked HFCS to wide range of diseases including obesity, liver disease, inflammation, hypertension, diabetes, brain damage and immune system disorder, FDA calls high Fructose Corn Syrup GRAS (Generally regarded As Safe—whatever it means) and an average teenager consumes 34 teaspoons of toxic high fructose corn syrup a day.
HFCS can also cause Leptin dysfunction (the hormone that tells your body you are full), Metabolic syndrome, elevated triglycerides, liver disease, hyperinsulinemia, chronic fatigue, dyslipidemia, pancreatitis, fetal Insulin resistance and sugar craving.
Every year, the junk food industry uses more toxic forms of sugar to hook your kids on their toxic products:
Just like Tobacco industry, the food industry knows that if they get your kids hooked on their toxic products when they’re young, they have them as a customer for life.
In fact, the tobacco industry is now getting ideas from the food industry, by adding chemicals to cigarettes in order to increase the burn rate and hence make smokers start another cigarette while nacotine content of each cigarette has been increase compared to even 10 years ago. As a matter of fact, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking, while smoking tabacco leaves without added harmful chemical and increase nacotine content is much safer and much less harmful.
The story of tobacco industry goes back to 100 years ago, when the British used to kidnap and ship kids as slaves from Africa to America. The slave owners forced these kids to work in tobacco fields that belonged to British American Tobacco plc (also known as BAT). The slaves used to dry the leaves of the tobacco plant under the sun and then roll them into cigars or cigarettes.
However, as the time went by, the tobacco industry started adding more and more toxic substances and chemicals into cigarettes to make them more effective and addictive. Today, there are up to 4,000 chemicals and pesticides inside cigarettes and toxic chemicals like ammonia (commonly used as fertilizer and in cleaning products) are commonly added to cigarettes to make nicotine up to 35 times more absorbed and hence addictive. Find more about Toxic pesticides and chemicals in cigarettes and how 90% of tobaccos in US are GMO.
The food industry is not any different than tobacco industry - the nicotine of their food is sugar. So, they come up with more addictive and cheaper forms of sugar to make their consumers hooked on their products.
Why do you think the tendency to eat lollypop, chocolate (with milk and sugar) or cheetos that you used to eat when you were a child has a profound power on your brain? In fact, if you never had junk foods when you were a child, you are much less likely to grow up and end up eating junk foods.
So, is sugar bad for the body?
Well, absolutely NOT. In fact, our brain lives on sugar and every cell and every organ in our body uses sugar for energy. However, these days, sugar is used everywhere, even inside your favorite yogurt, flavored water, chili cheese burger sauce or salad dressing. The fact is that sugar can be healthy or toxic, depending where it comes from. Here are a few types of sugar:
- Organic Raw cane sugar or beets—Healthy
- Refined sugar made from different food sources (Food industry uses bleaching agent like Sulfur dioxide)—Toxic
- Brown Rice Syrup – Not healthy
- High fructose corn syrup made from GMO corn – Extremely Toxic
- Real Raw organic honey made from honeybees (warning: up to 75% of honey in the grocery store is not real honey, either pollen is removed or it contains HFSC/refined sugar)—Super Healthy (superfood)
- Real maple syrup from maple trees (warning: most maple syrups are not real and have HFCS or refined sugar)—Healthy
- Freshly squeezed fruit juice (like oranges, pineapple, coconut or apples) – (not the ones that are sitting in a container and have toxic additives or preservatives) – Healthy
- Artificial sweeteners (that have no calories like aspartame or saccharine) – Extremely Toxic
- Agave (from agave plant) –Healthy
Does exercising help to burn excessive sugar and fat?
The answer is yes, but that doesn’t mean you should eat unhealthy sugar in forms of refined sugar, HFCS or aspartame. Here are the four facts about exercising:
- Exercising is not much about burning calories right away. In fact, if you walk or run on Treadmill for an hour, on average, you can only burn 500-600 calories which you can easily replace it by drinking a fruit juice or eating your favorite candy bar. However, exercising helps to increase your metabolism and make your body feel relaxed, so your body can start burning fat,( not just right away), but for almost 6 hours after the workout, depending on metabolism.
- A study published in the American College of Sports Medicine shows that exercising can prevent diabetes, gestational diabetes, and other diabetes-related complications. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=42[volume]+AND+2282[page]+AND+2010[pdat]&cmd=detailssearch
- When we feel stressed, our brain sends a signal to our body that there is something wrong. This signal triggers the adrenaline glands that release adrenaline(also known as epinephrine) and cortisol. The combination of adrenaline and cortisol will turn the fat cells into a fat storing machine. When we are stressed out, our blood is full of cortisol and epinephrine triggered by the brain and that makes our body to look for foods high in sugar and fat. Exercising can reduce stress hormone known as cortisol and help your body to relax and burn fat.
- Exercising detoxes and cleanses the body from harmful substances, toxins and heavy metals and improves liver insulin sensitivity, so your liver can start burning fat a lot better.
Resources:
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/sugar-problem/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1931610/
