Just How Bad Is Sugar?

Click on the following link to watch an eye opening 60 Minutes interview on the dangers of sugar.  It's as addictive and dangerous as cocaine and yet, nobody realizes this as they consume pound after pound of the white stuff!  I think you'll learn some interesting things that you may have not known before.  I also believe that it is TREMENDOUSLY important to get your kids off of sugar completely.

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/toxic-sugar.html

Ps - the notes from the author of the article found below the video are worth reading as well and I tend to agree with him on those points :)

Cancer and Sugar

I am constantly trying to tell my family to cut out all things with sugar. I don't believe our bodies are made to be eating as much sugar as everyone does - and there is proof!! It is evident all around us. The health problems are too many to count, the costs too expensive. Read this article about how cancer cells feed off High Fructose Corn Syrup and use it to divide and grow faster. I hope it will make you think twice before putting syrup on your pancake or pouring a bowl of cereal or eating a packaged granola bar or drinking a soda or............

Organic All The Rage

With everyone turning green and organic, it makes sense that huge companies that sell us crappy dead food and make billions of dollars would want to get in on that chunk of change. Where people can make a buck, they will - and they will do it at the cheapest cost to them which means that the product you buy will be compromised. For example, Stevia has been around for ages. Real, pure Stevia isn't cheap. But the 'health' industry has caught onto Stevia and now you see it on the shelves in regular stores and I'm sure everyone is aware of the recent commercials advertising juice drinks (like Sobe) that now contain Stevia and no sugar. Well, this is what my head has put together. 1) Look at the ingredients if you buy Stevia. Is it just Stevia?? Or are there other ingredients...like other artificial sweetners and/or fillers that will make the product and cheaper - and unhealthy. Most of the different brands I see on the shelves do contain things other than Stevia - and I put it right back on the shelf. 2) All these sports/juice drinks that advertise the use of Stevia are still NOT GOOD for you. And I would bet a pretty dollar that they aren't using straight pure Stevia - because that would cost more.

So what I am getting at here is that everyone wants to make money off the health industry so be careful when you go to the store and you pick up, say, a box of organic health cereal. I'm not a fan of cereal but that is a post all in itself, but how do we know what's really in there? Yes you can look for the USDA approved organic seal - but!

Check out this chart that shows who owns some of the popular organic food products out there. You'll be surprised!! I know I was. My brain says: "If Kellogs really cared about making 100% healthy, organic, enzyme-full food...wouldn't they make ALL their cereal like that?? Why would they make sugar cereal which is literally killing people from the inside out?? How are we, as consumers, supposed to believe that Kashi is going to be healthy for us, when their other cereals are so very not??

Food for thought.

The Aliases of Sugar

Added sugars in processed foods can be found under the following names:

Sugar (sucrose) - the refined crystallized sugar; a combination of glucose and fructose.
Dextrose (glucose) - a simple sugar made of only one molecule.
Lactose - a simple sugar from milk.
Maltose - a simple sugar made from starch, usually grains.
Maltodextrin - a manufactured sugar from maltose and dextrose.
Brown sugar - the refined sugar coated with molasses or coloured with caramel.
Raw sugar - a less refined sugar with a small amount of molasses remaining.
Fructose - a simple sugar refined from fruit.
Corn syrup - a manufactured syrup of corn starch, containing varying proportions of glucose, maltose, and dextrose. (see note below).
High-fructose corn syrup - a highly concentrated syrup of predominantly fructose.
White grape juice - a highly purified fructose solution; virtually no other nutrients are present.

Be aware that cornstarch, treated by heat or enzymes to make dextrose, maltose, corn syrup, corn sugar, and crystalline dextrose, is used to supplement sucrose in processed foods in order to: bring costs down, add colour and flavour, and retain bright colours in preserves, ketchup, and cured meat. This widespread use may be a cause of the increased allergies to corn.

Typically, when ingredients are listed on a product, they must be listed from largest amount down to smallest amount found in that product. Do not be fooled into thinking there is very little sugar in an item if it is not listed near the beginning. Often you will find three or four of the above aliases in the ingredient listing, meaning that in the end the product may be mostly sugar!

Taken from http://www.wholife.com/issues/10_1/02_article.html