We all know sugar is detrimental to our health, and watching Damon Gameau’s “The Sugar Film” on SBS this week, certainly reinforced this fact. When we think of addictions, we think of alcohol, cigarettes, even coffee but rarely do we think of sugar. Research has shown sugar can be as addictive to lab rats as crack cocaine or heroin!! Many think of sugar as a necessary food, however it contains no nutrients which protect the body from disease. In fact, we now know sugar is the cause of many major diseases – Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, Liver Failure, Pancreatic Cancer, Kidney Disease, High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Cognitive Decline, Gout the list goes on and on.
As was indicated in The Sugar Film, sugar consumption can cause a total imbalance in our bodies which often means struggling to get up in the morning, suffering from a foggy brain, headaches, digestive problems and mood swings including depression. I’ve often written about the negative effects of an over acidic body. Sugar contributes majorly to an over acidic body, leaching vitamins and minerals from the body. Refined sugar has also been found to have a negative effect on the liver, kidneys and pancreas as these organs try to detox the sugar out of the body. Even our immune system is negatively affected by sugar.
Sadly, sugar can also affect children’s intellectual development which is a huge concern especially when many children seem to consume so much sugar. Even when parents think they are choosing a healthy option, quite often these so called healthy options can be very deceiving.
So how do we come off the sugar? Going cold turkey for many is not easy. As we saw in The Sugar Film, withdrawals can often be dreadful, to the point that many will return to their sugar habit. In fact, you could suffer from sugar cravings for some time. This is where taking the mineral supplement Chromium can be very helpful. Chromium helps to balance blood sugar and works particularly well for people suffering from sugar cravings. We’ve had many customers over the years, comment that they couldn’t believe how easily they were able to give up sugar after taking Chromium. I remember one lady told me she couldn’t get by without eating a packet of lollies after dinner every night. After taking Chromium the need for that sugar hit completely disappeared.
I often tell the story about my son Nick, who as a child was obsessed with sugar. Although as a family we ate a very healthy diet, I would often find him rustling through the pantry looking any food that would satisfy his need for sugar. I soon became aware we really needed to get this under control and once again after taking a Chromium supplement this compulsive need for sugar ceased.
I would also suggest taking a liver tonic. As was mentioned on The Sugar Story, when consuming high amounts of sugar daily, you can quite often suffer from a fatty liver. A liver tonic will also assist the liver to detox the sugar from the body.
The next and most important step is to become a label reader. The nutritional panel on packaged foods will tell you how much sugar is contained in a serving. Just because it is promoted as a ‘healthy’ food, doesn’t mean it is. For example, a berry muffin contains approx 8 teaspoons of sugar, a 200g tub of low fat yoghurt contains 6 teaspoons of sugar. Muesli bars are another so called health snack which can contain more sugar than a chocolate bar. Many breakfast cereals, breads, crackers, sauces, dips – even commercial peanut butter may contain refined sugars.
For more information on kicking the sugar habit call into see Bev and the team at Go Vita, your Health Shop in North St, Batemans Bay or phone on 44729737. Don’t forget to tune into Bev and Marianne every Wednesday at 12.15pm on 2EC on Go Get Healthy.
This article is provided for information purposes only - all comments and enquiries are to be directed to Go Vita Batemans Bay
