Why Sugar is toxic to the body

I thought that I would start posting a few articles on sugar... here is a good one to star with:

WHY SUGAR IS TOXIC TO THE BODY

In 1957, Dr William Coda Martin tried to answer the question: When is a food a food and when is it a poison? His working definition of "poison" was: "Medically: Any substance applied to the body, ingested or developed within the body, which causes or may cause disease. Physically: Any substance which inhibits the activity of a catalyst which is a minor substance, chemical or enzyme that activates a reaction."

 The dictionary gives an even broader definition for "poison": "to exert a harmful influence on, or to pervert".

Dr Martin classified refined sugar as a poison because it has been depleted of its life forces, vitamins and minerals. 

"What is left consists of pure, refined carbohydrates. The body cannot utilize this refined starch and carbohydrate unless the depleted proteins, vitamins and minerals are present. Nature supplies these elements in each plant in quantities sufficient to metabolize the carbohydrate in that particular plant... Incomplete carbohydrate metabolism results in the formation of 'toxic metabolite' such as pyruvic acid... Pyruvic acid accumulates in the brain and nervous system and the abnormal sugars in the red blood cells. These toxic metabolites interfere with the respiration of the cells. They cannot get sufficient oxygen to survive and function normally. In time, some of the cells die. This interferes with the function of a part of the body and is the beginning of degenerative disease."

There is more to this article!  Click on this link to read the rest:

http://www.alternativehealth.co.nz/articles/sugar.htm

More interesting articles to come...

Tom

Oh No, Mayo!

Hi, Sweet friends!

Reading the labels does make the trip to the grocery store take a little longer, but maybe it's better for us than reading the magazines at the check out. Although, unlike the breaking news in senstational headlines, noteworthy additions to our food are not in big letters across the front of the label, but hidden where we may not catch them.

We found out this week that mayonaise contains sugar. Maybe you all knew this, but I sure didn't. We were going to make our own tartar sauce (because the one from the store contains corn syrup) when we discovered that the mayonaise we were about to use contains sugar, too.

It might be going too far to worry about every single ingredient in every food we eat, but for a month without sugar, I really wanted to avoid all of those added sweeteners. And, for the months after this, if I am going to have sugar, I would really rather have it in cookies or ice cream :)

Hope you are all doing well,
M

happy hour

Hi,

Happy Friday!

Some of us find that it's easier to avoid sugar pit falls at home, where we can control what comes into the house. For others, it is easier during the week, when we are busy at work. Sometimes, though, people at work bring in some kind of treat to "help the day go by" a little faster. This almost always has sugar in it. Today at the office, it had both sugar and alcohol. That might help the day really fly by!

It would have been interesting to have a taste, but it feels like the tired, hungry, detoxing period that seems to start off a month without sugar is going away and being replaced by that nice even energy level a no-sugar diet can bring, so I don't want to mess with that.

I hope had a great week without sugar and are ready for more!

The Return of Carpet Tongue

It has returned.  Carpet tongue.

I woke up this morning to to find a medium-thick coating on my tongue.  Accompanying this texture was the yucky taste.  Making my way to the bathroom mirror and sticking my tongue out at myself I viewed it - my own homemade shag rug.

My body starts to detox after a few days without sugar.  The tongue is one of the avenues of releasing junk from the intestinal tract.   For most people, there is a whitish coating on the tongue.  

If you happen to be one of those "lucky" people that wakes up one morn with a coated tongue consider this as a positive sign to keep up the good work.  

The first thing to do is to rinse your mouth out and brush your teeth.  You may also gently clean your tongue with a tongue scraper.  Using mouthwash will kill the bacteria, that coating is teaming with bacteria.

Eventually the coated tongue phenomenon will decrease and go away.  When that happens you have done a pretty good job of removing some deeper toxins from within.  

Day 3!

Hi, 

We hope everyone had a great start to their new year!  It's nearly the end of day 3 - what we found to be one of the hardest days in the first month without sugar - so, if you had a rough day, you will find it gets easier after this.  

For those of you starting with us after a long weekend of New Year's celebration, we are looking forward to having you join us on Monday.  It's a good time for a fresh start, and it will be a great, healthy start without all the sugar.

Just like the last month without sugar, everyone has their own plan to knock the sugar out of their diet, so you can let us know what you are doing.  We are skipping all the "unnatural" things like anything made with sugar or containing processed sugars or corn syrup (we have been checking labels - this stuff is in a lot of places you would not expect it).  We are also generally staying away from things like fruit juices, which have a high, although natural, sugar content.

Hope the first days are not too difficult - we'll keep posting, and please keep us posted, too.

M & T 

Happy New Year, goodbye sugar!

Happy New Year to all!  Michelle and I have just risen and we are getting ready to eat breakfast.  

What to have this morning?...   Well, I like to expand my diet in the month without sugar, that is I eat more things and better things instead of just thinking about cutting out the sugary items.  I like to have steak and eggs in the morning instead of cereal.  Another staple is oatmeal with walnuts or almonds and/or a little cinnamon on top.  Michelle will bake lots of homemade bread this month ( using just a touch of molasses instead of sugar) and we'll have toast with cream cheese on it.  I'll fry up bacon more often and have black tea with real cream or a glass of whole milk!

In the month without sugar eat better than ever.  Eat more sirloin steak, eat more salmon, use real cream in your tea and coffee.  Have cheese and crackers more often.  Drink more wine.  Enjoy!

Talk to you all some more later today or tomorrow,

Tom