Monday 12 April 2010

The evil sweet stuff..................

...............Seventy Eight ways sugar can ruin your life.

I make no apologies for to days blog being really hard hitting. Sugar in all its forms is detrimental to our health. We all eat too much of it, whether we are aware of it or not. Its hidden in so many foods, from ketchup to white bread so if you're eating processed foods you're overdoing it on the sugar!

We don't NEED added sugar at all for energy or health, apart form natural sugars found in fruits, vegetables and grains but we are eating so much that each person is reckoned to consume roughly his or her own body weight in sugar each year , and 100 years ago we ate only about 10 pounds each year! (Source Erika Whites Beat Candida Cookbook).

So here goes the 78 ways sugar can ruin your life(by the way this was a recent post on the Metabolic Typing forum - thanks guys) :

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.
2. Sugar can upset the body's mineral balance.
3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity,anxiety,and crankiness in children.
4. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
5. Sugar can adversely affect children's school results.
6. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
7. Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infections.
8. Sugar can cause kidney damage.
9. Sugar can reduce helpful HDL cholesterol.
10.Sugar can promote an elevation of LDL cholesterol.
11.Sugar can lead to chromium deficiency.
12.Sugar can cause copper deficiency.
13.Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
14.Sugar may lead to cancer of the breast,ovaries,prostate and rectum.
15.Sugar can cause colon cancer, with an increased risk in women.
16.Sugar can be a risk factor in gall bladder cancer.
17.Sugar can increase fasting levels of blood glucose.
18.Sugar can weaken eyesight.
19.Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which can narrow blood vessels.
20.Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
21.Sugar can produce an acidic stomach.
22.Sugar can raise adrenaline levels.
23.Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
24.Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and grey hair.
25.Sugar can lead to alcoholism (alcohol = sugar)
26.Sugar can promote teeth decay.
27.Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity.
28.High intakes of sugar increases the risk of Chrohns disease and ulcerative colitis.
29.Sugar can cause a raw and inflamed intestinal tract in persons with gastric or duodenal ulcers.
30.Sugar can cause arthritis.
31.Sugar can cause asthma.
32.Sugar can lead to the formation of gallstones.
33.Sugar can cause candidiasis (yeast infection) - and this can manifest itself in hundreds of different symptoms from sinusitis to brain fog.
34. Sugar can lead to formation of kidney stones.
35. Sugar can cause ischemic heart disease.
36.Sugar can cause appendicitis.
37.Sugar can exacerbate the symptoms of MS.
38. Sugar can indirectly cause haemorrhoid's.
39.Sugar can cause varicose veins.
40.Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraception users.
41.Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
42.Sugar contributes to osteoporosis.
43.Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.
44.Sugar can cause a decreased glucose intolerance.
45.Sugar can decrease growth hormone.
46.Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
47.Sugar increases total cholesterol(think of cholesterol as the body's band aid/plaster, its covering something else up)
48.Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure.
49.Sugar change the structure of protein causing interfere with protein absorption.
50.Sugar causes food allergies.
51.Sugar contributes to diabetes.
52.Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
53.Sugar can contribute to eczema.
54.Sugar can cause CV disease.
55.Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.
56.Sugar can cause cataracts.
57.Sugar can cause emphysema.
58.Sugar can cause arteriosclerosis.
59.Sugar can cause free radical formation in the bloodstream.
60.Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function.
61.Sugar can cause loss of tissue elasticity and function.
62.Sugar can cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver.
63.Sugar can increase the amount of fat in the liver.
64.Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
65.Sugar can overstress the pancreas, causing damage.
66.Sugar can increase the body's overall fluid retention.
67.Sugar can cause constipation.
68.Sugar can cause nearsightedness.
69.Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
70.Sugar can cause hypertension.
71.Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
72.Sugar can cause an increase in delta,alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the minds ability to think clearly - brain fog (see candida)
73.Sugar can cause depression (remember alcohol = sugar)
74.Sugar can increase insulin responses in those consuming high sugar diets compare to low sugar diets.
75.Sugar increases bacterial fermentation in the colon.
76.Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.
77.Sugar can increase blood platelet adhesiveness, which increases risk of blood clots.
78.Sugar increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

There you go, what a horrendously scary list from one food, hey?. The trouble for most of us is that sugar tastes good, better than good, and its hugely addictive which is why its added to so many processed foods. It makes you want,desire,need more.It gives you a quick burst of energy, which in todays busy, busy lifestyles is a must isn't it?

The Metabolic Typing diet has alot of success with helping to wean people off sugar. It helped me, although I still have the occasional relapse (see previous blog on Easter eggs)I eat a fraction of what I used to years ago. I don't eat processed foods, other than dark chocolate, and most of what I eat is raw and contains minimal sugar. I've also cut my alcohol intake down as the body sees any form of alcohol as sugar.

Sugar has caused me to have many of the above list of health problems, and it is only in the last few years that I've traced them (with some help) ALL back to sugar.

I'd like to help you to get your sugar addiction under control rather than it controlling you. Contact me for a free consultation on how I can help you to clean up your diet.

RX

Saturday 10 April 2010

Chocolate Eggs

My children were given alot, and I mean ALOT, of chocolate last week by well meaning friends and relatives to celebrate Easter. And of course being children they just want to eat it all at once and the 'pester power' starts to annoy pretty quickly I'm sure you'll agree!

Well, as we were on holiday, on a boat, and at times there was little to do we all (apart from Chris who was navigating the Norfolk broads) ate too much of this chocolate. It started off as my 80/20 rule but turned more into a 60/40 rule, and it wasn't even Green and Blacks!

I enjoyed it immensely for the first day, but on day two my tummy started 'talking' to me. It was communicating very strongly that it didn't like this alien invasion, and was reacting defensively against it. Won't go into too much detail as some of you may be squeamish but it wasn't pleasant. It serves me right, I know. It was totally self inflicted and I'm not complaining. It actually served as a rather useful experiment.

I love it when my body communicates with me because it means I'm in tune with it, and I can react before things get out of hand. It's taken me years to get to this position; I like it but it's still a steep learning curve.

Indigestion is just one of the ways your body communicates to let you know that all is not right inside. And if you take Rennie's, or some other over the counter indigestion tablet, all you're doing is masking the symptoms. They're still there and they are there for a reason. It's the cause you need to work on finding.

The digestive system is very important in detoxification of the body, if its not working you'll get symptoms such as acne, constant fatigue, indigestion, depression, body odour, bad breath, headaches, allergies, skin breakouts, hyperactivity.... the list is endless. It means the toxins inside you are being 'backed up' and have no where to go until your digestion can work efficiently again.

If we constantly eat junk, processed, food with no nutrients contained in it. Drink sugary fizzy drinks that cause tooth decay and blood sugar highs, or even worse diet drinks full of artificial sweeteners.If we don't exercise enough, don't get enough quality sleep and don't learn to let the stresses of life 'go' somehow, we are asking for very unhealthy insides.

To help keep your digestive system healthy you have to eat right - for your body. We are all different, and some of us suit foods that would not suit others. Metabolic Typing allows you to discover what type of body you have to work with, and how best you can do just that. No calorie controls or measuring, just working with a list of foods especially for you, and listening to your bodys reactions and making amends accordingly.

Obviously this list of foods is what I call 'clean' food. Food that has recently lived, whether it be fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, eggs, or whole grains, and good, clean, pure water too. Simple foods made up of one ingredient, not twenty and ten of which are unpronounceable (is that a word John?!). Foods that can pass through your body in the way they should, IE the body takes the nutrients out to utilise, and any waste is eliminated, swiftly.

If you're not eliminating swiftly, IE several times daily you are constipated; some of the foods you are eating are not working for you. Not rocket science, but you would not believe the millions of pounds spent on laxatives in this country. Again this is merely pushing the 'problem' under the carpet, allowing toxins to build up and show up in other ways; health problems. Whilst they may seem minor IE, body odour or recurring tiredness or headaches they should be addressed, and soon before they multiply.

The Metabolic Typing test takes an hour of your life to do. Its pain free, relatively inexpensive but I can guarantee it will change the way you view food, for the better, for life.

If you're happy to continue living with one, some, or many 'symptoms' of an unhealthy digestive system you probably haven't even go this far into this blog post!! If you are still reading its probably because you want to do something to enhance your well being in some way.

I hope so. You really ,really are what you eat, or even better you are what you digest.

Contact me through Balanced on Face book for more information on METABOLIC TYPING, or leave me a comment at the bottom of this blog, and I'll get back to you. Comments welcomed, whatever your view!
RX