Is Sugar the Enemy?

I am currently reading a novel that is a true story about a WWII survivor who endured tremendous mind-numbing obstacles as a POW in Japan.  It is amazing to see what the human body can endure and survive.  It is also humbling to see the extreme luxury we live in in our Westernized countries.

As I have been reading I have taken note of the sheer quality of food we have access to here in America and the glut of certain things that were once seen as commodities.  Things almost unseen to this POW for years of his life are in almost every store and most convenience stores in the US; including salt, butter, vegetables, fruit and sugar.  These items were scarce or simply non-existent to him and thousands of others.  Foods we can’t imagine living without or at least having access to were no where to be found.

One particular story in the book caught my attention.  It talks of a man who kept a sock full of sugar. This sugar supply was used to help sick and starving POWs survive.  The sugar was literally a life line for many who were so weak and emaciated from lack of nutrition that they could not get out of bed for days.  Just a tablespoon of sugar to their deprived bodies helped bouy them back so that their bodies could fight to live.  One tablespoon.

Ever read the side in a can of soda?  If you can find one made with sugar (bleach, processed but still “better” than HFCS) you’ll see that the average quantity is about 8-10 tablespoons

.  So, to help a starved man you need about one tablespoon (everyday I would imagine) to get his resources high enough to fight for his life.  And to satisfy the average American sweet tooth for about an hour you need 10. My point?  Sugar itself is not the enemy, the sheer glut of it in our society is.

Sugar – raw sugar, not processed bleached sugar – can have “good” effects.  But the amount our bodies need is staggeringly less than most people would ever, EVER want to accept.  In fact, certain diets or lifestyle options nix sugars by 90% or more* which makes people experience almost instant weight loss. Why?  Because they begin pulling from their fat stores rather than the instant “fix” of sugar.

Our bodies are made to burn energy slowly.  But we pump it full of fast-fuels (mostly sugar based in some form) so our bodies use what it needs of that, store the excess (and, there is almost ALWAYS excess), and rarely tap into fat stores.

So, dear fit-seeking readers, rethink your sugar intake.  And avoid artificial sweeteners as well – for many, many reasons.  Even if you cut your sugar in half and you will might yourself slimmer with little effort.  Never a bad thing in my book.

 

*I am referring here to no sugar, not “sugar free” diets that allow artificial sweeteners.  Artificial sweeteners have been proven to trigger appetite

and often have a reverse affect on people’s bodies – making them gain weight over time rather than lose it.