Sugar, Not so Sweet!

The Truth about SugarThe Truth about Sugar

I had spent most of my life highly active and considered myself a fairly healthy eater. I had been vegetarian for a little while, exercised like a maniac, loved “weird” foods like tofu, hummus, nature burgers…..so I must say I was quite surprised to discover that I had a very high intake of sugar, even through those healthier years I described above. By the time it became physically necessary to adjust my food lifestyle, I had been eating a poor person, busy mom diet  -- white bread, pasta, pancakes, enriched flour products, fast food, pizza, subs, wings, fried food, frozen dinner food – burritos, enchiladas, pizza rolls, etc. I had also become the microwave queen. I wasn’t much of a sweet tooth, though, ever – so I really didn’t consider my dietary issues to be mostly sugar related. Shocker!!!!!!!! Sugar was my #1 dietary issue, followed closely by a  lengthy list of special chemicals I was surely consuming on a daily basis for most of my parenting life……so that meant my family was in the same boat as me and on the same path.

TIME TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!!!!

How did I know sugar was an issue? How much sugar is considered chronically excessive?

Sugar intake should be no more than 10% of total calories. To put that in perspective, that’s a 20oz bottle of soda. Now remember, we are not just talking sweets. The following also count as sugar:

White pasta, white bread, white rice, most jellies, most cereals, anything made with enriched flour, most peanut butters, chips, any high carb food, and most processed food. 

Side note: if you are overweight, sugar intake is considered excessive if it is more than 5% of your total calories. 

I caught a terrific episode of The Believer’s Voice of Victory with special guest speaker, Dr. Don Colbert one morning that revolutionized our diets and lives forever. In fact, I watched all 14 episodes by Dr. Colbert over and over. There were many items that caught my attention and cut me so deeply I was overwhelmingly compelled to make changes, but the information on sugar was by far the most impactful. 

After all the years of dieting and the latest, greatest weight –loss fads, it became truly confusing who to listen to. But once I learned what these “foods” or chemicals that I was consuming do to our bodies I really had to face the facts. It is what it is, and if I want to live long and live strong, I have to do my part. Healing always comes and Jesus is the healer, but stewardship of our bodies is our responsibility and personal choice. We can only abuse and neglect our bodies so long before our bodies begin to break down. 

So, what is such a big deal that I was willing to go to such lengths to pursue this new adventure?

Here are just a few items I learned that helped me over the hump and made me willing to sacrifice. 

1.      We’ve been deceived, sugar is ADDICTIVE. The more you eat, the more you “need”. Sugar actually depletes your body of an important mineral, zinc, which your body needs. With depleted zinc levels, food can seem to lose it’s taste and you require more sugar to give you the same satisfaction. 

2.    Sugar can impair your immune system. In fact I remember being truly struck when Dr. Colbert said that sugar literally feeds viral infections and cancers. Uh, scarey! – for this girl who lived quite an interesting lifestyle for many years and baked herself brown as baked beans every summer since she could remember. Oh, and what is the main ingredient in all the kiddie cough and cold medications out there? You guessed it!

3.    Sugar can lead to osteoporosis and other inflammatory issues and diseases.BINGO! All that back pain, joint pain and creaking in my shoulders, hips, and knees? Yep, the ingestion of sugar (mostly, for me, through pastas, white rice, cereal, chips, processed bread, enriched flour products, and pizza – I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth) had created an acidic environment in my body, in my blood which had dramatically increased joint and arthritic inflammation, bone loss, and broken teeth.

   

4.    Sugar can lead to type 2 diabetes and elevated cholesterol. Excess sugar triggers the release of insulin to the point where your body cells become insulin-resistant. Elevated insulin levels cause the liver to produce more cholesterol and triglycerides which cause more plaque development to form in the blood vessels which, over time, lead to all kinds of health problems. 

5.    Sugar can make you fat, period. Excess sugar consumption increases fat storage. The increase in blood insulin levels signals to the body o store more fat.  In fact, it is the leading cause of belly fat…I’m talking about the belly fat that is soooo hard to get rid of. Not the cute little pouch, that goes away with a few crunches, I’m talking about the belly fat that most Americans today carry with them…the belly fat I had and still am still working on! That same belly fat is what leads to plaque formation in the blood vessels which increases issues with blood and heart diseases. 

Here are a few other items to take note of regarding sugar intake:

The chronic inflammation caused by excess sugar intake promotes aging. Chronic inflammation suppresses the release of human growth hormone which affects many factors which influence our outer appearance. 

Sugar promotes glycation. Glycation is a processby which the sugar molecules in your blood look around for things to “hook” themselves to, such as protein and fat molecules producing toxins called AGEs which throw the aging process into fast forward. 

There is much more….but we just need a place to begin understanding the implication of diets excessively high in sugar.. As moms, we really need to understand this because of the precious lives we have been given stewardship over. I didn’t say it was easy, but once I was educated I was compelled because I didn’t want to pass this lifestyle onto my children and I wanted none of us to become statistics. I’m not saying eating however we wish means we don’t love our kids, I am just saying that we need to take responsibility for the health of our families as women of God because it is the right thing to do. It honors Him and it honors them. We all want what’s best for our children, it would be ludicrous to say otherwise…but once we are educated on any scheme the enemy has against them, we also need to take up our weapons and fight for them

So, together, let’s toss out the juice, KoolAid, and soda and replace it with filtered or spring water. Let’s toss the enriched flour and processed products and replace them with whole foods. Let’s educate ourselves and our families and begin a revolution of nutrition and health that open the doors for all of us to live long and live strong!