Most of us are on day 3 of “Project: No-Sugar January”. Congrats everyone for coming on board! Hang in there and very soon you will be experiencing the many diverse benefits to your general feeling of well-being as a result of cutting out the white poison. Most people think sugar is just dangerous if you fear gaining weight, or if you’re diabetic. However, sugar plays a leading role in almost every disease and health condition there is. Of all the foods consumed today, refined sugar is considered to be one of the most harmful.

It contains no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes – only empty calories. It’s at the root of chronic inflammation, which impacts the immune system, the brain and other systems in the body. Made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, sugar (or sucrose) is a carbohydrate. Sucrose is made up of two simpler sugars: fructose and glucose. Sucrose is also naturally in plants, including fruits.

 

There is a difference between natural occurring sucrose in plants and the sucrose found in granulated sugar or the high fructose corn syrup often used to sweeten processed foods. Both granulated sugar and high fructose corn syrup go through a refining process. There are volumes upon volumes of scientific data on these different components of sugar.

For me personally, my lifestyle is such that I eat clean and avoid processed “fake” foods, which would include an unnecessary amount of added refined sugars. I do however have a big sweet tooth, and often find myself enjoying a small to moderate serving of my beloved chocolate or cookies a couple times each week. This is balance and is sustainable I believe. On rare occasions, such as the recent Christmas season, I indulged almost daily. Thus, my desire to now detox from this!

My January will be clean “real food” only, which includes a healthy 1-2 servings of fresh fruit each day – and zero added unnecessary sugars, whether honey, molasses, agave, or maple syrup – all of which are processed. Of course all desserts (ice cream, cookies, pastries, candy, chocolate, etc) are off-limits. For those who regularly eat processed foods (that may not necessarily taste sweet) beware! High fructose corn syrup can be found in everything from salad dressings, ketchup, jams, sauces, ice cream, crackers/chips, packaged granola bars and snacks, even flavored and low-fat yogurts and mayonnaise.

For a list High Fructose Foods:  http://www.celestialhealing.net/Food_contain_HFCS.html