Refined sugar gets called "white death" for a reason: It's one of the worst things we can do for our immune system, weight and total health. Are you addicted to it?

“If it's white, it's killing you,” has become the rallying cry of many holistic doctors when it comes to the dangerous impact of sugar on health. It may be overly simplistic, but the statement does sum up the situation when it comes to sugar and its impact.

Not all sugars are unhealthy; certain sugars have minimal or no negative impact and remarkable health benefits. But refined white sugar, the table sugar that most people use every day, is harmful, even in small amounts.

White sugar suppresses the immune system

It has been shown to decrease the vitality and number of white blood cells, the body's immune response to invaders. Sugar also depresses the body's energy field and makes your blood more acidic, both of which result in vulnerability to toxins, bacteria and viruses. Sugar feeds bacteria like candida and yeast infections.

Refined sugar is an extremely high glycemic food; it hits your bloodstream hard and can have severe impact on blood sugar, insulin levels, digestive enzyme count, weight, and the pancreas.

The health dangers which ingesting sugar on an habitual basis creates are certain. Simple sugars have been observed to aggravate asthma, move mood swings, provoke personality changes, nourish nervous disorders, deliver diabetes, hurry heart disease, grow gallstones, hasten hypertension, and add arthritis.

Because sugar is devoid of minerals, vitamins, fibre, and has such a deteriorating effect on the endocrine system, major researchers and major health organisations agree that sugar consumption is one of the three major causes of degenerative diseases.

Refined sugar is in almost everything and can be very difficult to avoid unless you are preparing all your own food from scratch. It creeps into sauces, salad dressing's, preparations of meat and other products - whether they taste sweet or not.

It appears under many different names: Glucose-fructose, fructose, fruit sugar, corn syrup, glucose syrup and beet sugar are all heavily processed sugars which can be dangerous to our health.

It has been suggested that the way the human brain and body process sugar - especially excess sugar - constitutes an addictive pattern, making sugar the most common addiction in most parts of the world.

Brown sugar and demerara sugar are sometimes suggested as natural alternatives to white sugar. However, demerara and brown sugar are virtually the same as white sugar - the only difference is that some of the molasses has been recombined with the refined sugar after processing. These sugars have a glycemic index almost as high as that of white table sugar.

Another option is the relatively recent advent of other forms of "unrefined cane sugar." These are better than refined white sugar by a long shot, since they don't contain all the regular chemicals that are used in sugar processing; however, they still have a high glycemic rating and hit the body very hard, so they are best avoided for the most part. Molasses is the only sugar product which has a relatively low glycemic index. It is also high in minerals, including iron and calcium. Of all the sugars that we can choose, molasses is probably the best option in extracts from sugar cane - the darker, the better. Even with molasses, though, I recommend caution and moderation.



Source: Victoria Anisman-Reiner/The Mirror