Sugar. How sweet it is!…Is it really?
Saturday, March 14th, 2009We’ve become junkies. We reach for it in happy times, in depressing times, at all times. Not only in the form of those shimmering white crystals, but also in the chemically engineered equivalents in sweets, drinks and desserts designed to bring that comfortable warm, relaxing glow at the end of a meal, dunking in our coffee, enhancing our soft drinks, a midday or after school energy boost, snacks that replace real food, and that stress releasing melt of alcohol/sugar at the end of the work day. Reaching for it is so matter-of-fact that most of us never give a thought to the fact that we’ve become sugar addicts, addicted to the ‘pure’ form and all additives containing all the scientifically engineered chemical forms that we and our children cannot live without. But the most insidious effect on us, besides the well known publicized physical calamities of obesity, ADD, diabetes…, is on our psyche, our mental state, our inability to cope with life’s twists and turns whether self made or not. Our dependence on it makes us victims of the worst side effects, the diseases of unhappiness and depression. It’s a vicious cycle: physical disease = depression/depression = physical disease. That cycle has to be broken.
Refined sugar is responsible for creating an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain. Mental and emotional disorders are now linked to sugar consumption. Hence, “Sugar Blues”. How do you usually ‘stop’ it? Reach for more sugar. And so we have the 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM coffee/tea breaks with caffeine, a perfect partner for sugar also in the soft drinks that your kids have with their sugar fix – uppers and downers harmoniously together ‘to get you going’. In one form or another it is in just about every processed food and drink that is manufactured. Put this in perspective. We are hooked and have become numb, used to having our ‘down’ times, taking mood elevators to numb us even more so we can ‘cope’. That’s not coping; it’s drugging which brings even more depression.
Refined sugar is a refined carbohydrate which is extremely hazardous to your health. It enters the bloodstream very rapidly creating an ideal environment for developing addictions. It’s a fast energy booster and mood elevator, an addictive drug often compared to other heavily addictive substances like heroine and opium. It should also be included in the DEA’s ‘most wanted’ list. Natural sweeteners and sugars, on the other hand, are more complex and enter the bloodstream slowly. They’re not chemically refined and are closer to whole foods, containing their own nutrients that feed the body; they don’t rob or deplete it.
Simple to say: “Stop eating sugar.” So tough to do. I know. When I was about (more…)