With Valentine’s day right around the corner, I thought I’d revisit an old thought…
In my house, the month of October marks the kickoff of sugar season. Halloween, the first of several holidays directly tied to chocolate, sneaks up on me, grabs me by the hand and takes me down an ooey gooey, slippery slope, straight towards my annual race for the Reeses. Once the first bag of candy is opened, it’s all rugged terrain from there. There is no stopping me once the proverbial sugar whistle is blown and the “everything sweet this way” marathon has begun. One piece is simply not enough – I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t agree. Or do I?
The rest of the winter holidays maintain a close second to Halloween, with all the sugary treats they bring.
Coincidentally – this is also right around the same time of year I find myself (and my kids) at the local doc-in-the-box. I start getting sick – not just tummy sick – but really ill – every year – like clockwork. I have always thought I was just getting sick because of the change of season, or blaming it on the heat being turned on or the kids bringing gunk home from school. However, some new research may now provide answers to my ill-fated questions.
According to M.D. Cardiologist, Royce K. Bailey, there is a direct link between too much sugar and your immune system’s ability to stave off things like the common cold, pneumonia and bacterial infections.
There’s real, scientific danger associated with sugar and all of it’s counterfeit counterparts. Read on...
“Around the holidays people tend to eat more sugary foods and refined carbs, thus having a direct and negative effect on their immune system”, says Bailey. An increase in sugar is proven to boost the neurotransmitter serotonin –the feel good chemical – in our brains, making us feel happy. But the joy is short-lived and comes with a very high price tag. Short-term hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) negatively affects all major components of your immunity and lowers your body’s ability to fight off infections like staph and even bacterial pneumonia. Basically sugar blinds your immune system.
And it gets worse. Even cancer has a sweet tooth. One researcher providing this proof is Graig Thompson, President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Thompson explains that the fuel for cancer is blood sugar. “Insulin supplies cancer cells with nutrients (sugar) and signals them to grow and multiply. Some cancers develop mutations that increase the influence of insulin on the cell while other cells simply take advantage of the elevated levels of insulin present in the body.” Thompson believes that cell mutations occur when insulin drives cells to take up and metabolize sugar. These mutations turn precancerous cells into malignant tumors.
So here’s the crux of the matter: Sugar feeds cancer. It may not cause cancer, but research shows sugar overload can negatively affect your insulin levels which can wreak havoc on otherwise healthy cells, causing them to become big lumpy globs of nothing yummy.
Too much sugar also turns into a syrupy compound that coats organs and blood vessels and creates glass- like shards in our system – preventing us from fighting disease full on. Not a pretty picture. And to top it all off in a ice-cream sundae like manner – let’s not forget that sugar may cause heart disease, obesity, diabetes, stroke, the list goes on and on.
So to sugar or not to sugar? That my M&M loving friends, is the question. If you’ve been paying attention here, I’d venture to guess you might say NOT. So the only natural alternative would be to switch to exactly that – a sugar alternative. Think again.
Despite being approved by the FDA – sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame and sucralose have more in common with pesticides than they do with food. According to Dr. Marcell Pick OB/GYN NP; “the bonds holding the carbon and chlorine atoms together are more characteristic of a chlorocarbon than a salt and most pesticides are chlorocarbons.” Say What???
The manufacturers of Splenda conducted their own study that showed very high doses of sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands, enlarged livers and kidney disorders in rodents. Granted you’d need to fill an 18 foot U-Haul with the stuff, and then ingest it – but still. If you're taking in various forms of artificial sweeteners several times a day, every day for years and years, well, you do the math. A more recent study showed that sucralose significantly decreases beneficial gut flora. I personally would chose to stay away from any food product that had a toxicity information center devoted entirely to it alone and all of its side effects.
The Sucralose Toxicity Information Center logs side effects as, but not limited to; skin rashes/flushing, panic-like agitation, dizziness, numbness, diarrhea, swelling, muscle aches, headaches, intestinal cramping, bladder issues and stomach pain.
Oye veh. Don’t get me started on our old friends aspartame and saccharin. You see where I’m headed with this, right? Too much natural sugar = bad. Too much artificial sugar = bad. So what’s a sugaholic to do?
Well like The Little Engine That Could – Stevia is slowly but surely gaining steam as the next biggest, bravest, greenest sugar substitute on the planet. It’s been used in South America for over 400 years without ill effect. Stevia has also been favored in Japan for more than 20 years as the alternative sweetener of choice.
Stevia Rebaudiana is an herb in the Chrysanthemum family which grows wild in exotic locales like Paraguay and Brazil. The glycosides in its leaves account for its incredible sweetness. Stevia has just recently been approved by the FDA, been thoroughly tested in dozens of countries around the world and found to be completely non-toxic and 100% natural. Find it in it’s organic form and you’ve struck the sweetener lotto.
But wait, it gets better. There are no calories in Stevia. It will not raise your blood sugar levels and is 10-15 times sweeter than actual sugar which means you use much less of it (think new boots with extra money saved). You can use it in baking and cooking and it won’t increase your waistline, shrink your heart, clog your arteries or worse. Studies by Purdue University’s Dental Science Research Group have concluded that Stevioside is fluoride compatible and “significantly” inhibits the development of plaque. So this dream come true sweetener might actually help fight cavities.
Allow me to continue. Raw herbal Stevia contains nearly one hundred identified phytonutrients and volatile oils. When topically applied (in the liquid form) it can help soften skin, smooth out wrinkles, heal a cut and zap a zit.
So this wonder sweetener can help clean out my gut, whittle my waistline, prevent my gums from crudding over, smooth out my face AND sweeten my coffee? Sold.
While research shows that intake of chocolate can produce the same warm, fuzzy feelings as falling in love – I don’t buy it. My love of sugar just makes me feel dizzy, (not in a good way), bloated, irritable and ill. With Stevia on board I can delight in the holiday season – minus the fear - and with all the trimmings.
*Christine Botthof is not a doctor. All information in the above article has been highly researched after years of chronic illness brought on by what she now thinks may have been habitual sugar overload. #goodtimes
