Sweet Misery
words by iona
I am a firm believer that it is sugar which is largely responsible for the obesity epidemic overtaking the western world, and so I want to fill you in on a few facts about this highly addictive ‘drug’ called sugar.
Sugar not burned up by our bodies as energy is initially stored in water as glycogen in our muscles and tissues and this can make us look and feel bloated. When you cut sugar from your diet, you are stopping this glycogen storage process and after about a week, you will virtually deflate and de-puff.
Sugar, be it natural sugar found in fruits and starchy vegetables or refined processed sugar added to processed foods will turn into fat if it isn’t burned off. This means that as long as you keep eating it - unless you are running a marathon each day - your body is storing it as more and more fat.
A can of soft drink has approximately 11 teaspoons of sugar. A glass of fruit juice can contain just as much. When we ‘juice’ fruit, we remove all of the wonderful fibre and get left pretty much with just the water and sugar content and so I advise my clients who like to ‘juice’ to eat their fruit and juice (some of) their vegetables.
All bread contains sugar, some ‘healthy’ whole meal varieties have more than one teaspoon per slice, and the toxic enemy of all healthy people – white bread contains considerably more than that.
Sugar has such a negative effect on our bodies that I have experienced the ‘hangover’ from hell after eating too much sugar and not even touching alcohol!!
All of the pain, none of the fun –is it really worth it?
As if that wasn’t bad enough, research by top New York skin scientist Dr Daniel Maes has shown the premature ageing effects that sugar has on the skin, called Glycation. It indicates that an excess of sugar in the body has been shown to damage the structure of the collagen fibres in the skin, making them hard and brittle, causing premature sagging and wrinkling – eeeeek!
I’m afraid that in my case vanity prevails, and every time I find myself hovering around the lolly isle the fear of premature ageing – and a huge Botox bill – has me quickly moving on!
We all need some sugar for a nutritionally balanced diet
Choose Wisely!