As we jump from Halloween to holidays, your body might be screaming out from sugar overload.
Sugar is ubiquitous. It's in just about everything we eat, including sauces, dressings, drinks, and most prepared foods. Even though it's so readily available and commonly consumed, sugar may be the number one culprit in why you're feeling crappy and run-down.
Not only does sugar drive inflammation—which is a significant cause of modern chronic disease—but it also plays a lead role in other low-level dysfunction in your body.
One of the biggest drivers for the inflammatory response sugar causes is how it disrupts the function of the cell membrane. Identified by Dr. Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., as the brain of the cell, the cell membrane interacts with the environment and your DNA, turning on or off specific genes in response to environmental factors. This phenomenon, called epigenetics, highlights that your genes are not set in stone but are affected by your choices (like how much sugar you eat) and your circumstances (such as what types of toxins you’re exposed to).
One of the cell membrane's jobs is to allow hormones into the cell via hormone receptor sites. When damaged, your body doesn’t receive the messages the hormones are meant to convey, which can lead to hormone resistance. Insulin resistance is an example of this. In insulin resistance, the hormone receptors don’t allow insulin into the cell. The cell then doesn't receive the message to bring glucose from the blood into the cell, and blood sugar stays high. Over time, this resistance becomes Type 2 diabetes. Likewise, other hormones become blocked when the cell membrane is damaged and hormone receptors become dysfunctional.
The cell membrane is also responsible for letting toxins safely out of the cell. Buildup of toxins can begin to burden the cell and damage its energy centers, the mitochondria. With damaged mitochondria, you may feel mentally and physically tired, weak, imbalanced, uncoordinated and other symptoms of fatigue.
A compromised cell membrane means all cellular functions are compromised. Not only can this cause your energy to plummet, but it can also turn on genes for obesity, heart disease, neuro degenerative diseases, cancer, and more. Expounding these risks, sugar can also deplete your minerals, dysregulate your mood, disrupt your sleep, and impair your oral health. Damage accumulates over time, taking root early and becoming a problem years later with the diagnosis of a condition or disease. Dementia, for example, is now being called “Type 3 diabetes” because of its relationship to blood sugar dysregulation.
In general, the less refined and closest to the source a food is, the less harmful it is for your body. White table sugar is made from sugar cane and sugar beets. Both are highly processed, often from genetically modified crops that have been heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.
But all is not lost. Although all sugars can have inflammatory impacts, some are clearly better than others. For instance, natural sweeteners such as dates, maple syrup, honey and coconut sugar are relatively unrefined and offer some additional benefits such as fiber in dates and natural enzymes in honey. You can kick this effort up a notch and reduce consumption of all sugars by bringing natural sweeteners that don't raise blood sugar, like organic stevia or monk fruit, into your diet.
This year, as you head into baking season, consider cooking with these more natural options instead. If you must use real table sugar, opt for an organic brand like Florida Crystals and reduce the sugar by up to one third. This is the amount you can eliminate without significantly compromising taste.
With a little conscious effort, these substitutions can become automatic. Baby steps in this direction can help you reduce your sugar intake and begin to reverse chronic, disease-driving inflammation so your cells function properly.
This is a significant step toward healing!
I’ll end this post with a screenshot from functional doctor, Mark Hyman’s Instagram account, highlighting the importance of today’s choices in tomorrow’s quality of life.
May you enjoy life’s natural sweetness this time of year and always. ❤
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