Sugar - Friend or Foe?

I hate to break it to you, but sugar is not just empty calories.  Refined sugar provides nothing beneficial - ZERO fiber, minerals, vitamins, protein, or enzymes.  In fact, our body must BORROW vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize sugar.  When you regularly consume processed sugar, no amount of supplementation can keep up with the losses you will suffer as you become more and more depleted in nutrients. Signs of depletion begin with ‘warnings’, your body whispering to you that things are not quite right.  If we don’t heed the whispers, the warnings become louder, eventually shouting at us with full blown chronic illness.  To help put this into perspective, it takes 56 molecules of magnesium to metabolize 1 molecule of sugar. YIKES!! Signs of magnesium deficiency include headaches, migraines, constipation, IBS, insomnia, muscle cramps, twitches, poor memory, anxiety, fatigue, elevated blood pressure... Symptoms increase as the deficiency grows and our cells lack the nutrients needed to function optimally.

Every moment of the day and night, our bodies are performing complex processes while we are blissfully unaware.  As an example, when we eat carbohydrates, they are broken down into glucose molecules. This prompts our pancreas to secrete insulin which shuttles glucose into our cells. Our body works very hard to keep a tight rein on the amount of glucose floating around our bloodstream at any time. Glucose that is not needed in the moment is stored in our muscles and liver. Once these storage areas are full, the excess glucose is converted to FAT and stored away in our fat cells.  If we are continually fueling ourselves, we never reach a point where the stored energy is needed, and the cycle continues with fat storage slowly increasing over time. Stubborn belly bulge anyone?! Interestingly, fat is metabolically active and has been shown to release molecules that increase inflammation throughout our bodies.  Increased inflammation can lead to chronic illness. So, the key takeaway here is that one of the best ways to reduce your risk of developing inflammatory conditions is by minimizing your intake of sugary foods and sugary drinks!

Sugar in all forms impacts the immune system in many ways.  Consider your white blood cells... these are the army in your immune system that fight against infections, bacteria, and viruses. This army is partly fueled by vitamin C. There is an impostor with a very similar chemical structure. If this impostor is floating around, it can sneak into the white blood cells and take up the space that rightfully belongs to vitamin C, weakening the army.  Who is this fraud infiltrating the army of white blood cells and weakening our immune system? You guessed it – glucose. 75 grams of sugar has been shown to weaken your immune system for 5 hours! (that's a caramel macchiato and a muffin) With all the seasonal illnesses floating around, you might want to do your immune system a favour, reconsider that “treat”, if we’re still calling it that...and mindfully curb your sugar consumption.