the big three: alcohol, caffeine, and sugarsupply (adding to our total caloric load) AT ALL for human survival
and optimal functioning. And these two unnecessary calorie sweet-
eners are added to most refined foods and drinks which we consume
large quantities of in this country. This does affect our collective
health significantly and adversely.
Bottom line: If you just eat whole, unprocessed foods (real
foods!), you cut out the unnecessary calories from these added
calorie sweeteners or sugars. You also cut out the stress to the or-
gans that have to process these added sugars (adrenals, liver, and
pancreas). These extra sugar calories are just not necessary—
period! Excess sugar equals excess calories and inflammation,
which are both very harmful to our health. It is so simple. Just eat
whole foods (vegetables, fruit, beans, raw nuts and seeds, and
whole grains) and you don’t have to read a label or worry about
added sugars.
Sugar’s Job: Get into the Cell and be “Burned”
Sugar’s role is to be burned as energy in the cell. If that happens
efficiently, without a glitch, life works well. If insulin, the doorman
of the cell, can’t unlock or open the door for any reason, known
or unknown, sugar can’t get into the cell, and bad things start to
happen.
On the outside of the cell, if sugar in the bloodstream starts to
elevate, an excess of blood sugar can cause a variety of long-term
ill effects to the body, slowly damaging blood vessels, nerves, eyes,
and kidneys, and actually increase the aging process. With the rise
in blood sugar, insulin keeps being secreted by the pancreas to try
to open the door of the cell to get sugar into the cell to be burned
as energy.
If the sugar is a simple sugar, it generally gets absorbed rap-
idly, causing the pancreas to respond quickly, which it does very
well. There is quick demand for insulin. If, over time, this process
challenges those cells in the pancreas enough, they start to wear
out and fail to produce insulin adequately. The person might even-
tually develop insulin-dependent diabetes (meaning they have to