Sugar Part 1

Sugar... dun, dun, dun!

What's so bad about sugar that everyone's gotta pick on it! It's not so bad right? I don't eat that much right?

Well, one of the hardest parts about sugar is that it's currently in EVERYTHING! Pick up any type of processed food in the grocery store and you'll see it staring back at you. Ketchup? Check. Bread? Check. Healthy granola cereal? Check. Healthy vinaigrette salad dressing? Check. Yogurt? Check. Crackers? Yep.
Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming.

It helps to know the 'lingo'. Sugar comes in different forms and a variety of names. All of the following sweeteners provide you with calories and all have little or no nutritional value (known as ‘empty calories’). Sugar, dextrose, maltose, glucose, fructose, corn sweetener, honey( as apposed to raw local honey), corn syrup, sucrose, sorghum syrup, sorbitol, brown sugar, lactos, molasses, syrup, fruit juice concentrate, and high-fructose corn syrup.

Two hundred years ago, the average American ate only 2 pounds of sugar a year. In comparison in 1970, Americans ate 123 pounds of sugar per year. Today, the average American consumes almost 152 pounds of sugar in one year. This equals to 3 pounds of sugar in one week!
Nutritionists suggest that Americans should get only 10% of their calories from sugar. This equals 13.3 teaspoons of sugar per day (based on 2,000 calories per day). The current average is 42.5 teaspoons of sugar per day!

That's a lot of sugar my friend.

So why exactly is sugar so bad for your body? Why is everyone so worked up about sugar?

Sugar suppresses the immune system. When you consume sugar, it's like someone punched you immune system in the face, and it takes a bit to recover. Now if you're eating sugar mulitiple times a day every day, this is pretty hard on the system. Basically what's happening is Vitamin C and sugar possess the same chemical structure. When your white blood cells see the sugar, they prefer the sugar over the vitamin C. So your white blood cells are getting their fill of sugar too. :( makes for not happy or healthy white blood cells.

Increases Acidity Levels. Increase in our bodies acidity can cause issues such as fatigue, cavities, and even cancer. This increase also inhibits the body’s natural ability to repair damaged cells, detoxify heavy metals, or absorb nutrients.

Sugar promotes improper inflammation. Inflammation is not always a bad thing, but when sugar is consumed the body responds with unnecessary inflammation, that actually promotes aging and disease.

Causes Yeast Infections. Sugar causes candida albicans, a naturally-present yeast in our bodies, to take control and cause yeast infections. Eczema can also be irritated by this yeast.

Sugar promotes glycation. Sugar can attach itself to protein and fat molecules. When they attach they will produce toxic compounds called advanced glycation end products, or, AGEs. These AGEs essentially speed up the aging process. And much of the damage done by AGEs is irreversible.

Raises Triglycerides. Excess amounts of sugar in the body causes a rise in triglycerides, which is fat in the blood. Contributes to organ and tissue problems such as coronary disease and heart attacks, and obesity issues.

Encourages Stress. The adrenal glands, which are walnut-sized glands on top of the kidneys, produce hormones that have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory functions. One adrenal hormone, called cortisol, assists the body’s healthy response to any type of stress from physical to emotional. When sugar consumption is high, this strains the adrenal gland, causing cortisol production to be low, a condition known as adrenal fatigue (of which I personally have suffered with from time to time). This, in turn, encourages your stress levels to elevate (which then causes other symptoms like insomnia, acne, etc.).

Sugar raises insulin levels. When you eat sugar your blood sugar levels will zoom up. Shortly after, your pancreas will release insulin to help clear sugar from your blood into your cells. As blood sugar levels go down, insulin levels return to normal. But when you eat a lot of sugar, you’re constantly calling for insulin, and that can backfire. Over time, it takes more and more insulin to get the job done. Eventually, your pancreas may just stop responding to the call. Which can then develop into insulin-dependent diabetes. And along the way, exposing your cells and organs to chronically high insulin levels accelerates the aging process

Damages Teeth. Sugar feeds the germs in the mouth. As a result, cavities form, gingivitis develops, and teeth become yellow.

Causes Addiction. Sugar can be a highly addictive substance. In fact, scientists have proven that sugar has the same reaction in the human brain as cocaine. It triggers a serge in dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter that controls the brain’s pleasure centers (same thing happens in a drug abuser’s brain when using cocaine). This causes individuals to have a sweet tooth and makes them want more and more sugar. Even withdrawal from sugar is similar to withdrawal from cocaine—severe headache, extreme fatigue, and shaking.
And so it's strongly recommended, when you are wanting to cut sugar out of your diet, to not go cold turkey. Rather, wean yourself slowly. Start reading labels and choosing where you want to have your sugars come from and where you don't.*

In Parts 2 and 3 I'm going to address artificial sweeteners, and how sugar affects children, and less processes/natural sweetener options.


I'm also going to work on a post for snacks that I do with my kiddos that aren't processed, that my 3 year old and 4 year old will eat, and aren't too time consuming or ridiculously expensive. But for now, here's just one!


Favorite snack with out sugar but SUPER sweet!


NutButter Home Made Lara Bars


I love Lara bars. Just a few simple natural ingredients blended together for a delicious snack. Now, I have four boys to feed, and at over a $1 each, I'm not able to buy them... then I discovered how easy it is to make them! All you need is a food processor!


So here's my basic recipe.


2 Cups Pitted Dates
1 1/3 cup Cashews
1/3 Cup Nut Butter (we use almond or peanut, but just pick your favorite!)
1/2 Teaspoon real vanilla
1/2 Teaspoon sea salt
1/3-1/2 Cup Mix ins! (organic chocolate chips, organic white chocolate chips or dried fruit)


Process them all in the food processor for about 90 seconds, you'll want the nuts into fairly small chunks. Now you get to do the fun part! Now my boys like to make little round 'cookie dough' balls out of these. My husband prefers the simple bar shape. So We normally make half and half. For the bar shape, you just need to smash them really compact and then sliced up in the sizes you want. You'll want to use parchment or freezer paper when you store these so they won't stick together! Then store in an air tight container in the fridge for an easy sweet snack!

*Some of my information was from EatingItReal's Blog.