RAMIDO, Angel Mae CLOHS – H141

How consumption of sugar affects your journey to good life?

Eating sugar isn't just about putting yourself at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes or gaining
weight. Sugary drinks, candy, baked goods, and sweetened dairy are the main added sugar sources.
Added sugars can be difficult to spot on nutrition labels to further complicate because they can be
listed under a number of names, such as corn syrup, agave nectar, palm sugar, cane juice or sucrose.
Sugar affects every function in the body, and none in a positive way.

Sugar Effects on the BRAIN

Our neurotransmitter, serotonin, is our normal feel-good brain chemical. Of course our
bodies do this in balanced amounts. Sugar increases the level of serotonin within our brain.
Therefore we can understand why eating sweets is "feeling good." Through this process, sugars
mentally allow the body to have a high chemical that contributes to a lift in mood. The major
problem with this is that the body cuts back the production of serotonin over time, which results
in slight to extreme depression. One may experience mood swings, unhappiness, irritability and
other negative symptoms simply by not having a "sugary" substance. Basically, sugar throws off
the natural balance of serotonin, and the brain is now addicted to chemically having high serotonin
to add to it.

Sugar Effects on the TEETH

We've always been told cavities are caused by sugar. However, to get the full story, we
must understand that although sugar itself can be slightly corrosive, it comes in contact with
bacteria depending on its concentration and material, what causes most cavities. So where sugar
comes into the equation, the cavity which causes bacteria to feed on sugar. So, the more sugar we
consume, the more bacteria we have, to damage our teeth in every way. Thus sugar has long been
known to be the leading cause of dental deterioration, teeth cavities, bleeding gums, and teeth loss.

Sugar Effects on the PANCREAS

Although it is claimed that high sugar diets raise our risk of type 2 diabetes, we are not
really given the exact mechanism of what is actually happening. Type 2 diabetes is caused by a
slew of symptoms, the main ones being the inability of the body to use or produce insulin properly.
Insulin is a hormone that our pancreas produces which our body uses to regulate that amount of
sugar in our blood. Too high blood sugar concentrations can kill us, just as the sugar concentrations
are too low. Sugar causes our pancreas to overwork in their insulin production , resulting in insulin
resistance and other complications that manifest as type 2 diabetes.

Sugar Effects on our BONES

 Digested sugar affects our body acidically. When recognizing the body's acid-alkaline
balance, an acidic body is prone to various diseases, and our bodies do their utmost to ensure that
the blood that contains sugar will not become too acidic, losing its slightly alkaline range.

To do so the body requires an alkaline substance to neutralize the acidic sugar effects.
Calcium is an alkaline mineral that abounds highly in our bones. And thus calcium is used to
neutralize the sugar's acidic effects. This leads to the bones becoming weak, porous and ultimately
osteoporotic due to the calcium taken away. It is a much greater explanation why we have the
levels of osteoporosis we do, rather than a lack of dairy or calcium. They ought to reduce our sugar
consumption instead of consuming more calcium, whether through dairy or supplements, which
can cause so many other health issues.

Sugar Effects on our HEART

When most people think about what causes heart disease, fat is usually the answer to that.
However, we need to wake up to the fact that sugar also leads to heart disease and today there is a
strong correlation between diabetes and heart disease. Diabetics display an increased risk of
atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

Sugar causes artery damage, artery inflammation and therefore weaker arteries. This is due
to the biochemistry of what it does as it travels in large, especially badly regulated amounts through
the bloodstream, when our pancreas is stressed and having a hard time producing and using insulin
correctly. It makes us more vulnerable to clogged arteries, high blood pressure (hypertension),
weak kidneys, strokes and heart attacks.

Sugar Effects on DEFICIENCIES

Many people do not think twice that they can be stripping valuable nutrients from their
bodies when digesting sugar substances. The digestion of sugar requires the stripping of certain
vitamins, minerals, and enzymes from healthy cells. This taxes our system over time , particularly
those who already eat poor diets based on empty calories, nutrient deficiencies, processed foods.
It can also not be solved by taking a synthetic multivitamin, but requires a strong, normal, healthy,
nutrient-rich diet.

Sugar Effects on OBESITY

Glucose is the number one fuel or energy source in our body, and all of the sugar usually
breaks down into glucose. There is a huge discrepancy for most of us between how much fuel is
needed and how much we are supplying. As a result, being resourceful, our body never throws
away energy that might be used in the future, so on average 40% of the sugar consumed is stored
as fat.

Every time there is an excess of energy, whether from sugar calories or protein calories or
fat calories, they are all converted into fat cells and stored there. It's no wonder that high sugar
diets contribute to weight and obesity issues. In fact, if we take those 30 teaspoons the average
North American eats daily on average, that just in sugar alone accounts for more than 400 calories
per day. And we can fool ourselves whatever we want, and use the word "treat" as an excuse for
regular intake of sugar foods, but in the end, when the weight goes on, we don't fool ourselves
about that.

Sugar Effects on the IMMUNE SYSTEM

What really boggles my mind is that parents want their kids to be safe and complain when
their kids get sick, and yet they don't have any problems giving their kids regular sodas, cookies,
candy, cereals and you name it.

Eating sugar is dragging the immune system to a crawl. In addition, sugar almost
incapacitates the white blood cells responsible for engulfing dangerous invaders such as viruses
and bacteria for up to 5 hours and decreases their ability to function properly by up to 40%. It
appears that the effects of sugar and the immune system were first studied in the early mid-1900s
by Dr. Linus Pauling. To add to this, the stress hormone cortisol will increase over time, causing
increases in various infections as well as general organ malfunction including heart disease. To
add to this, the stress hormone cortisol will increase over time, causing increases in various
infections as well as general organ malfunction including heart disease.