Sugar

Sugar has many negative effects on the body. It makes you limp, listless, tired, depressed and sick. However, sugar is also important for the human organism. But not all sugar is the same. Table sugar is harmful, while natural sugars, such as those found in fruits, vegetables, or whole foods, are important and healthy.

Symptoms of eating too much sugar

Sugar can trigger or be involved in the development of the following symptoms: inexplicable tiredness, lack of drive and energy, depression, anxiety, stomach and intestinal problems such as bloating, flatulence, diarrhea and constipation, hair loss, skin diseases, fungal infections, menstrual cramps, nervousness, sleep disorders, lack of concentration – up to mental confusion and much more.

What is of particular interest is that the body becomes susceptible to “infectious diseases” with regular and excessive sugar consumption. His immune system weakens and becomes less and less able to protect the body adequately.

Table sugar, dextrose, fructose

When we talk about sugar in the following, we are referring in particular to table sugar, also known as sucrose, i.e. the sugar that is used in every household as a white crystalline powder or sugar cube. Sucrose is a disaccharide, which means that it consists of two simple sugars (monosaccharides), namely half glucose and half fructose.

When table sugar is digested, it is broken down by enzymes in the digestive system into glucose and fructose. Glucose increases blood sugar levels and has to be transported by the hormone insulin into the cells, where it is used as fuel for energy production. Of course, if glucose is consumed directly, this happens even faster.

Fructose, on the other hand, is only used for energy production in a roundabout way and is very easily converted into fat when there is an excess, which is why fructose often increases blood lipid levels and promotes fatty liver.

First, the good news: sugar is a remedy

That’s right, sugar is a cure! In folk medicine, sugar was used to treat wounds: especially in the case of burns, the rapid healing results are said to be overwhelming. Sugar has an antimicrobial effect and can therefore suppress wound infections. That is why it is also used in high doses for the production of preserves such as jam. It preserves very well because it keeps unwanted microorganisms such as bacteria or mold at bay.

Does sugar make you happy?

But not only externally, also internally, sugar has a resounding effect. Since the thesis that sugar provides quick energy because it immediately passes into the blood is now well known to everyone, many people supply themselves with sugar in the form of chocolate bars, glucose, sweet drinks or the like before, after or during particularly strenuous physical and mental work.

You can feel it on your own body immediately after drinking sugar: a feeling of well-being takes away from you, the ability to concentrate increases, and any nervousness disappears. You temporarily (!) feel strong, powerful, and maybe a little happier than before.

The reason is easy to explain: sugar and with it all isolated carbohydrates (extract flours (the starch in it) and pure starches, such as cornstarch, consist of long glucose chains) lead to the production and release of insulin. Insulin is a hormone of the pancreas whose main task is to remove the sugar from food from the blood and distribute it to all the cells and organs of the body, which then get their energy from it.

Among other things, insulin activates the production of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is sometimes referred to as the happiness hormone, as it can conjure up serenity. The thesis that people with depression or anxiety suffer from a permanent serotonin deficiency still applies. They are therefore prescribed so-called serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are supposed to keep the serotonin level high in the brain.

In view of these connections, sugar could actually be described as a good luck charm. However, the effect only lasts for a short time – and is unfortunately not the only one of the sugar. The problem in this context is that sugar is almost like a drug and therefore as a sweet tooth you sometimes get the impression of being addicted to sugar. We describe here the signs of sugar addiction. If you recognize yourself in it, it’s high time for withdrawal. Because sugar is anything but healthy.

What exactly does sugar do in the body?

In the following, we explain what exactly sugar does in the body using simple examples:

Natural Sugar Travels Through the Body: The Healthy Sugar Cycle

If a natural sugar appears in a healthy body, for example in the form of a handful of cherries that you have just nibbed from your neighbor’s tree and eaten in a sober state, then the following happens:

The cherries will end up in the small intestine after their short journey through the stomach. Here, the absorption of the sugar molecules (glucose and fructose) is first taken care of, which means that they pass through the intestinal mucosa and enter the blood.

Lets say your blood sugar levels were at their baseline level of about 80 to 100 mg per 100 ml of blood before the cherries. Slowly (within 1 to 2 hours) it increases to about 120 to 150mg. At the same time, the pancreas receives the command to produce the hormone insulin. The insulin is supposed to lower the blood sugar level again so that it settles down to its original basic value of 80 to 100 mg – again slowly and within about 2 hours.

Insulin can be compared to a freight forwarder for firewood. Firewood is made up of sugar molecules (glucose). The forwarder insulin transports the wood to a wide variety of organs, muscles and nerve cells, which derive energy from it, i.e. burn the wood in order to be able to perform their daily tasks optimally.

This type of glucose, which is found in fruits or other whole foods, never arrives in the body pure, nor in excessively high quantities, it is always accompanied by vitamins, fiber and essential minerals. These accompanying substances act like brake blocks on the glucose feet, they ensure that the sugar molecules do not jostle and pass into the blood one after the other.

Natural glucose can be thought of as solid, well-seasoned beech wood in handy logs. A steady and long-lasting fire is created. When all the “organ fires” are crackling and there are still glucose particles left in the blood, these temporarily superfluous sugar particles (logs) are brought to the liver by the forwarder insulin.

Here, the wooden parts are then processed into handy briquettes, because the fuel can be stored in this form in a more space-saving way. The briquettes in the human body are called glycogen. This is a storage form of starch that serves as a supply for lean times. If the calculated famines do not come, the storage capacities in the liver will soon be exhausted – and glucose will no longer produce starch, but fat. This fat is now stored in the well-known “problem areas”.

If nothing appears in the stomach for a long time after the cherries, the blood sugar level slowly begins to drop, because organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and brain constantly retrieve glucose (firewood) from the blood. A steadily decreasing blood sugar level is the signal for the pancreas to release another hormone. It is called glucagon and converts the glycogen stored in the liver and also in the muscles back into glucose. Due to the insulin-glucagon interplay, the organism can always keep its blood sugar level in a healthy balance – provided a healthy diet.

This mechanism ensures a reliable supply of fuel even during longer periods of fasting or even in stressful situations. Because in times of great excitement, e.g. when the neighbor shows up to ask you where his cherries might have gone, then you or your organs need more energy than by sitting at a desk.

Thanks to glucagon, the brain now has enough power to come up with favorable excuses (because of the cherries) (it was the birds, of course) or, in the worst case, you have the energy to take flight. The muscles and organs are now also equipped for a possible chase or for a hand-to-hand fight.

At some point, peace will return, you will eat a little something (this time from your own garden to spare your nerves), the blood sugar level will rise, the liver will be able to store new supplies in the form of glycogen and the cycle will start again.

Now we have come to know and understand the natural sugar cycle in the body. But what happens when a soft drink sweetened with sugar or a bread roll with jam is eaten?

Industrial Sugar Travels Through the Body: The Unhealthy Sugar Cycle

In the case of industrial sugar, it is usually contained in significantly higher quantities in sweets, flour products, etc. than in wholesome foods and there are hardly any helpful accompanying substances in sweets, sweetened beverages or table rolls that could slow down sugar (fiber). This leads to a real sugar shock. The blood sugar level quickly reaches a short-term peak of 150 to 180 mg (within half an hour), which subsequently results in a very high insulin release.

These are not logs that arrive in the blood, no, these are dust-dry sawdust that burns like tinder – and they arrive pure, in huge, uncontrollable quantities, which would never (!) occur in nature. With these sawdusts, however, it is not possible to create a permanent, cozy and warming fire. In a matter of seconds, a sparking straw fire flares up and just as quickly it is extinguished again.

Instead of warming embers and peacefully working organs, all that remains is a pile of ashes, irritated intestines and an exhausted blood sugar level lying on the floor. For such special cases, glucagon is simply too slow and so the adrenal cortex steps in. This is where the hormone adrenaline is produced, which is known to spur the body on to incredible performance. Glucose (sugar) is released at top speed under its influence – and if necessary, adrenaline from the liver will squeeze the very last remnant of glucose.

The all-rounders’ magnesium and calcium

Only those substances that can “identify” themselves are allowed into the organ cells. The “passes” are controlled by the two minerals magnesium and calcium. Only when these two minerals recognize the “passport” as valid is the person knocking on the cell door allowed to enter, in this case the carrier with his truck full of sawdust (insulin loaded with glucose).

Without magnesium, the glycogen (the briquettes) stored for times of emergency is also difficult to convert back into glucose (logs).

Calcium is the bodyguard of cells

At the cell door, calcium mainly has the function of repelling toxins and pollutants. If the calcium level in the organism were always optimal, then pesticide residues and heavy metals from dental fillings or environmental toxins would not have the slightest chance of entering the cell at all. Endless calcium wear and tear due to sugar, unfortunately, means that calcium is needed for completely different tasks in the sugar-flooded body so that it hardly has any time left to guard the entrance of the cell door.

Vitamin B1 is in short supply

When glucose is converted into energy, acids are produced in the cell. These should usually be neutralized by an enzyme containing vitamin B1. But vitamin B1 is in short supply in a poorly nourished body, and so the acids circulate happily in the body and make it acidic.

Now calcium molecules have to be found in a hurry to bind all the acids so that they can be excreted. For this purpose, the “cell guarding” calcium is then commandeered. These are often not sufficient in number and so whole calcium special units have to be extracted from bones, teeth, and the vascular walls.

Calcium absorption can already be blocked by symptoms such as bloating so there is a high degree of deficiency of this mineral in human bodies nourished with industrial food.

The organism then has to make one suicidal decision after another in order to survive at least the moment. Further consequences can be avoided, but only if wholesome foods arrive again soon.

Otherwise, the whole range of so-called civilization diseases awaits you. The sugar rush!

What’s next in the industrial sugar cycle? The insulin that appeared in excess has now done a great job, the blood is almost sugar-free, the sparks are rattling in the organs and cells.

In the meantime, people feel stimulated. This is the so-called “sugar rush”.

But the fires were quickly extinguished and the original blood sugar peak value plunged rapidly into the depths, past the basic value – and it reached a record low of perhaps 50 mg only about 1.5 hours after climbing its peak.

Afterwards the “Sugar Blues”

So if you had breakfast at 9 a.m., this process explains the “11 o’clock hole” or the so-called “sugar blues”. This low can last up to two hours or more. You feel completely groggy and would like to lie down for a while.

This is because such a low blood sugar level is no less alarming for your organism than the recently reached sugar peak and you have to be “immobilized” as a precaution due to acute lack of energy.

This condition is called hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is very much in vogue. You are by no means alone with this syndrome, on the contrary, you are even very “trendy”!

According to medical assessments, it is a current widespread disease from which every second person suffers either permanently or sporadically (after days of excessive sugar or carbohydrate consumption, e.g. Christmas or similar).

Since all organs especially the brain are permanently dependent on the supply of glucose, even a relatively mild hypoglycemia leads to damage of organs and body cells, while a long-lasting one can even lead to serious impairments of brain functions.

The acute symptoms of this are very individual: sweating, palpitations, cravings and anxiety are possible. But nightmares also indicate nocturnal hypoglycemia, e.g. after a particularly rich bedtime treat.

Vision and speech disorders, unsteady gait, mental confusion and emotional disorders such as irritability, pessimism, aggression or seemingly out-of-place silliness round off the program.

Again, in extreme cases, drifting into a coma is the end of the story. As is well known, it will take a while until glucagon has finally rushed in from the pancreas and has produced easily transportable logs (freely available glucose) and thus new energy from the briquettes (glycogen) in the liver.

Blood sugar levels that are too high

Do you remember the cramped “road conditions”? As with insulin before, far too much glucagon is now ordered and correspondingly too much soon swims in the blood, which in turn requires insulin.

If a diet that follows without isolated carbohydrates and without sugar, the body will generally be able to regain its balance.

If, however, since you can’t (or don’t want to) doze off in your hammock for a few hours in broad daylight after your jam bread breakfast – you eat another denatured snack at the slightest hint of hunger or tiredness to give your body another “sugar rush”, then your blood sugar level immediately shoots up to dizzying heights again.

In many people, the blood sugar level is stimulated several times a day in this way – and the regularly following energy slump in the form of a much too low blood sugar level has to be readjusted by the body at the expense of its glycogen stored in the liver, all briquettes have to be chopped into small pieces.

The caffeine in coffee or the cigarette in between also increases the blood sugar level and your organism is thus in a state of unbearable permanent stress, which it will sooner or later make you feel.

Children are particularly affected by hypoglycaemia. They may be even more likely than adults to live on sweets, pasta dishes, sweet casseroles, puddings, etc. Such children are often either apathetic and always tired, or nervous and overly lively (in other words, hyperactive).

Many complain of headaches, indefinable abdominal pain, and some suffer from sporadic dizziness and fainting spells. A change in diet usually ensures a transformation of the children into balanced and symptom-free people within a very short time.

Back to you: If your eating habits leave your body no other choice, sooner or later it will go to an extreme depending on its predisposition and general condition. Either you will henceforth belong to the chronic hypoglycaemia, wake up with a blood sugar level of sometimes less than 30 mg, hardly get out of bed and are unresponsive in a fasting state, or you will belong to the circle of hyperglycaemics, whereby your blood sugar level will then rush up to 240 mg in the first hour after a corresponding meal, only to drop back down to its baseline of about 100 mg much too quickly within the next two hours.

Both phenomena can hardly be distinguished from each other from a purely external point of view. The secret of the increased susceptibility to infection, in both cases, the rapid drop in blood sugar levels, extremely weakens the resistance of those affected. In this condition, one seems to be particularly susceptible to colds, sore throats, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia – and even polio.

The Best Health Insurance: Avoid Hypoglycemia

The American physician Dr. Benjamin Sandler was able to observe that in the case of hypoglycemia, you have to prevent your blood sugar level from dropping below the baseline value which makes you immune to all these phenomenas!

In other words, a minimum sugar content of 80 to 100 mg in 100 ml of blood protects the body like an insurmountable barrier to disease triggers. But it is not only the low level of blood sugar that has a debilitating effect, the length of this condition is decisive. The longer it lasts, the more susceptible you become and the more severe the diseases caught during this phase.

A journey into childhood

What further increases susceptibility to illness is physical overexertion. If you are no longer a child, then please remember the time when you were still one: constantly on the move, especially in summer. By bike, roller skates and football. As a refreshment for the way, there were biscuits, lemonade, chewing gum here, an ice cream there and sometimes a coke.

After a wild bike ride over hill, you and your friends come to a swimming lake and jump in to cool off (it’s about 35 degrees in the shade). They romp and bawl until they are knocked out.

Back outside in the shade, someone unpacks a bag of chocolate bars, together they eat the whole package and drink soda with it. You start to shiver despite the heat, and with difficulty, you still make it home. You’ve “caught something”! Your head hurts, your stomach rumbles and your mother detects a fever. What had happened? Their exuberant physical activity has depleted all the glucose molecules present in the blood. Not a single log of wood to be seen.

Above all, the muscle cells could be supplied with large amounts of fuel. Subsequently, all the briquettes (glycogen stores) in your liver had to be broken down into individual logs (glucose) and also made available to the muscles. You sweated a lot, which caused many of your sparse mineral supplies to float away with you.

You constantly quenched your thirst with sugary drinks or ice cream.

One insulin shock followed the next. Both excessively strenuous muscle work and excessive sugar or carbohydrate consumption – as we now know enough – sooner or later lower the blood sugar level below the baseline.

Both together (muscle work and sugar consumption) plus the additional stress of the sudden cooling – cold water, cold drinks, cold ice – not only lead to an almost dramatic crash of the blood sugar level, but also to the fact that it will stay at this dangerous depth for a particularly long time.

This means that the reserves are almost exhausted, the liver reluctantly pulls out the very last emergency supplies, and feverish searches are made for fat, which could possibly be converted into glucose.

Mineral deficiencies

The lack of minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, trace elements and vitamins of the B-complex, causes difficulties in the organism, sports activities (which are actually praiseworthy) can have threatening effects and the blood sugar level can then only very slowly wake up from its long period of hypoglycemia.

Nerves suffer in phases of hypoglycemia

Diseases can now spread in a weakened and unprotected organism. In this long-lasting hypoglycemia phase, some organs and body cells sometimes had to wait a very, very long time until there was a supply of glucose again. Especially for the brain and nerve cells, the time was unbearably long!

Some nerve cells almost starved to death, and in their efforts to get in touch with additional blood vessels that might still contain glucose, they made themselves big and fat, they swelled up.

However, even if this had been successful, their ability to utilize the glucose they got hold of now decreases by up to 60%, as their outer wall has expanded to such an extent that their natural consistency has changed. The nerves are now extremely irritable and vulnerable and susceptible to diseases and symptoms affecting the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), such as paralysis.

Alternatives to Sugar

In the meantime, there are many alternatives to Sugar. Instead of Sugar, you can use Xylitol, Erythritol, Yacon syrup, Date syrup, Stevia, Luo Han Guo, or Monkfruit. So there is really no need for Sugar.