Disadvantages Of Using Refined Sugar In Diet

Heroin is produced by taking the juice of certain poppy varieties and refining it into opium, then morphine, and finally into heroin. Similarly, refined sugar is produced from taking the juice of sugar cane or beet and refining it into molasses, then brown sugar, and finally into white sugar. The beet was first hybridized (bred for sweetness) and processed into sugar by the Frenchman Benjamin Delessert in 1812. Napoleon awarded him the Legion of Honor and ordered beets to be planted everywhere in France in order to facilitate the ever-growing desire for refined sugar. Refined sugar is a drug that causes artificial highs, mood swings, depression, and energy crashes. In the sixteenth century, refined sugar was considered to be a recreational drug in the royal courts of Europe. It takes 1.1 kilograms (2.5 pounds) of sugar beets to create a mere 0.14 kilograms (5 ounces) of refined sugar. It is eight times as concentrated as flour. Refined sugar is essentially a concentrated, crystallized acid.

Refined sugar (chemically in the form of sucrose) is close in chemical composition to glucose, so it largely escapes processing by the liver. When one ingests it, the sucrose passes into the blood, where the glucose level has already been established in precise balance with oxygen. The blood sugar level is thus drastically increased.

Consuming refined sugar leaches precious minerals (chromium, zinc, sulfur, vanadium, calcium) from the body due to the demands it makes on insulin production and the blood sugar system. When refined sugar is ingested every day, especially by someone who is becoming more and more de-mineralized, it eventually produces an increasingly acidic condition with more alkaline minerals required from the bones to buffer or neutralize the situation. This eventually leads to spongy, weak bones.

Carbohydrates are metabolized with the help of B vitamins. More B vitamins are needed for those who take in a large amount of carbohydrates. Refined sugar has the habit of robbing the body of precious B vitamins, which help the body deal with stress. A lack of B vitamins can cause chapped lips and wrinkles.

Refined sugar is especially damaging to the skin because it attaches to collagen molecules in the skin, causing cross-linking, stiffness, and inflexibility. I have also seen these collagen-damaging effects in some people who eat excessive amounts of fruit (especially seedless fruit) and/or carrot juice (which is extremely high in sugar). Age and liver spots on the skin are created when sugar and collagen react repeatedly over time, causing what is known scientifically as a Browning reaction.

I am not suggesting that you should diminish or control your intake of refined sugar (sometimes called high-fructose corn syrup). I am suggesting that you should completely eliminate all refined sugar from your diet. Use honey, raw agave cactus nectar, yacon root syrup, stevia, dried figs, or other dried fruits as sweeteners in the initial stage of dietary transition which will help you in the long run.