Death by Sugar

Well, now that Christmas is over and most people have eaten way more sweets and unhealthy food than they should have...I figured it was a good time to do a post about the harmful effects of sugar.

I've been learning about this for years, but today I decided to google "harmful effects of sugar." You would not believe the overwhelming amount of information available on this topic!

Since I try to keep my posts somewhat concise, I won't list all the websites I read or shower you with all the explanations of why sugar is such a dangerous substance. But I will give you a very short list of some of its harmful effects.

(Nancy Appleton, PhD, clinical nutritionist, has a list of 146 reasons of 'how sugar is ruining your health' in her book "Lick the Sugar Habit.")

Sugar -
- Depresses the immune system
- Increases candida overgrowth
- Raises insulin levels
- Leads to diabetes
- Depletes the body's natural levels of Human Growth Hormone (necessary for many essential functions in the body)
- Damages the body's production of collagen (also necessary for many functions)
- Causes inflamation in the body
- Increases cholesterol
- Feeds cancer cells
- Can damage DNA

...Ok, if you're not sweating in fear yet, you should be.

Consider this statement:
"Because sugar is devoid of minerals, vitamins, fiber, and has such a deteriorating effect on the endocrine system, major researchers and major health organizations (American Dietetic Association and American Diabetic Association) agree that sugar consumption in America is one of the 3 major causes of degenerative disease."

Did you catch that? Americans are sugar-ing themselves to death!

Now, maybe you're thinking, "Well, I don't eat a lot of sweets."

That may be true, but if you eat anything from a box, can, package, etc. then you are probably consuming much more sugar than you can imagine.

The government's recommended daily limit for sugar intake is no more than 30 grams. Most brands of soda have more sugar than that in one can!

If you read every label of what you eat throughout the day and added up the total grams of sugar you're consuming, I'm sure you'd be shocked. And even if somehow you're within the recommended limit of 30 grams a day, that "small" amount is still doing damage.

So, my challenge to you today is ... say goodbye to sugar! Choose LIFE, not Death by Sugar.