Sugar – The Silent Killer

Sugar – The Silent Killer – STOP eating or drinking it.


Weight loss is not easy, especially since the delicious-tasting foods we eat are full of sugar. But the truth is, there are more than 70 reasons why you should be afraid – very afraid – of sugar. It is one of the most deadly substances you can eat, and yet it tastes so good! None of us is perfect in our eating habits, but if we know the truth about a food, we can make better choices about when we eat it and how much we are willing to ingest.

Here is the bottom line. Sugar turns into FAT and fat, when it surrounds our organs, is very dangerous to many aspects of our health. Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch (so that candy bar you just ate is worse for you than a piece of bread –  That is why I call sugar the Silent Killer. We don’t know it is killing us until our weight is so out of control that we start to get a variety of ailments.

Here are some of the things that sugar can do to you. In general, it can:

· suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.

· cause a loss of tissue elasticity and function

· weaken eyesight

· cause premature aging

· lead to alcoholism.

If that isn’t enough, sugar contributes to:

· obesity, tooth decay and periodontal disease,

· arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, gallstones,

· appendicitis, hemorrhoids, yeast infections,

· osteoporosis, lethargy in children, food allergies,

· skin disease, cardiovascular disease, premature aging of skin,

· cataracts, nearsightedness, emphysema, Parkinson’s disease,

· liver disease, kidney stones, headaches and migraines,

· depression, gout, Alzheimer’s, dizziness, polio risk,

· epileptic seizures, high blood pressure, hypoglycemia

· gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, lowered Vitamin E levels

· toxemia in pregnancy

· ……and worse, yet, sugar can actually impair the structure of your DNA and SUGAR IS ADDICTIVE.

Is this enough evidence of the danger in using too much sugar? No? Here is more on what sugar can do to the normal functioning of your body. Sugar can:

· Limit your body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium

· produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.

· change the way proteins act in your body.

· impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.

· lower the ability of enzymes to function, compromise the lining of your capillaries and make your tendons more brittle.

· can affect your ability to think clearly, cause hormonal imbalances and increase free radicals and oxidative stress.

It’s bad enough what sugar can do to YOUR body, but here is what it can do to your children:

· Cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.

· Given to premature babies, sugar can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.

· Sugar may induce cell death. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior.

· Sugar dehydrates newborns.

· It can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders.

· In pregnant adolescents, sugar can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.

· Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Killing Off the Silent Killer - What You Can Do About Your Sugar Intake.

Now that you can see what sugar does to your body, doesn’t it make sense to limit your intake? The USDA recommends limiting added sugars to 40 grams or 10 teaspoons a day for a 2,000 calorie diet.

Here are four steps to eliminating sugars from your Diet:

Step 1 – Dump those sodas: A good start to get sugar out of your system is by getting rid of ALL sodas. If you drink sodas, you might as well start drinking syrup. After all, soft drinks have 40 grams of sugar per 12 ounces.  Also don’t be fooled by the synonyms for sugar like sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, honey and molasses. They are all SUGAR. Drink water instead.

Step 2 - Read labels: Sugar is ADDICTIVE and makes things taste better. Manufacturers put sugar in anything and I mean ANYTHING! Would you put sugar in your soup? Or sugar on your salad? Well look at the labels and you will find sugar in canned soups and salad dressings. No wonder we can’t avoid sugar. It is everywhere in our foods.

Step 3 – Reduce your desserts: I know, this one is hard, but once you do this, it will be easier to totally eliminate all added sugars from your diet.

Step 4 – Watch those fruit drinks: Be aware of fruit drinks or fruit juices you buy. Most of them have almost no real juice in them - less than 5 % - so all you are actually getting is flavored sugar water. Again, drink water or pure juices.

Note: Fruits and Vegetables also have sugars in them, but those are not considered added free sugars, so don’t worry about them. Most fruits have a lot of other beneficial ingredients that will override the effects of the sugars in them.