by Lawrence Wilson, MD

SUGARS OR SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES

Sugars are the simplest type of carbohydrates. They are also called simple carbohydrates or monosaccharides and disaccharides. WE FIND THAT THE LESS SUGARS OF ANY KIND THAT YOU EAT, INCLUDING FRUIT, THE HEALTHIER YOU WILL BE AND THE BETTER YOU WILL FEEL.

Chemically, most sugars are ring-shaped structures with five or six carbon atoms arranged in a circle or ring. This ring is under tension. When we eat sugars, our bodies are able to open the ring, releasing energy. This is somewhat like opening a jack-in-the-box. Opening the ring structure releases the energy, similar to releasing a spring that is under tension.

FRUIT

Ripe fruit contains mainly simple carbohydrates or sugars. These are also found in other sweet foods such as honey, maple syrup, corn sweeteners and refined sugar. Fruits also contain some fiber and vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.

However, most fruit is mainly sugar and water. I feel that fruit is nutritionally highly overrated. Many who are trying to live healthfully eat it because it is quick and easy to eat, satisfies a craving for sugar, and it is less expensive than many protein foods. Also, many ignorant health authorities, doctors and others recommend it so highly. I find they are wrong today. Fruit today is unhealthful because:

· Most fruit today is hybridized. That is, it has been altered for enhanced sweetness, better shelf life or bug resistance, but not for better nutrition. Most hybrid fruit contains more sugar, but almost all contains fewer vitamins and minerals. If you happen upon an older apple or pear tree, you will often find the fruit is smaller and less sweet.

· Lots of pesticides are often used to grow fruit. This also applies to organically grown fruit, although they are not supposed to use toxic pesticides on organic food. It is just difficult to grow some fruits without chemicals of some kind, even natural chemicals.

· Fruit is extremely yin in Chinese medical terms. This is harmful today for most everyone. (Why this is so is explained in the article entitled Yin Disease on this site.)

· Fruit acids often have an acidic reaction in sick individuals, in spite of what one is told by some books and websites.

· Eating fruit often upsets the blood sugar, which, in turn, stresses the adrenals glands even more.

· Fruit today picks up a toxic form of potassium from the N-P-K or superphosphate fertilizers used to grow basically all of it, even the organically grown fruit.

· Fruit is very low in etheric energy.

As a result, I suggest you eat as little fruit as possible - none is needed. If you must have a little, have a few berries and that is all. Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and cranberries are high in anti-oxidants and other health-promoting substances. For much more about fruit, please read Fruit-Eating on this website.

NONABSORBABLE SUGARS

Just as we cannot digest some fibrous starches, our bodies do not absorb some sugars. These are found in various fruits and vegetables, and help make the food sweet-tasting without adding calories or sugar to the diet.

In the food industry, these are used as natural non-caloric sweeteners and include mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol. These are excellent sweeteners if one does not want the calories that the other sugars provide. They are not without problems, however. They still upset the blood sugar level, though less than calorie-containing sugars. They can send phony signals to the body that one is eating a sugar and to prepare to digest the sugar, when in fact the product is not digested and absorbed at all.

I believe it is best not to sweeten your food. The best solution is to avoid all sweets. Sweetening your food just a habit, and with patience and practice it can be changed. However, if you need a non-caloric sweetener, xylitol or mannitol are far better than the artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame, Equal, Splenda or Saccharin.

The latter are synthetic chemicals that have been shown to have many adverse effects on the body. Indeed, the term “aspartame disease” describes a range of symptoms from depression to seizures that can result from consuming diet soda and hundreds of other products sweetened with NutraSweet or Equal. If you have any unusual symptoms and use artificial sweeteners, try discontinuing them all for at least three weeks and notice if you feel better.

One can find non-caloric natural sweeteners such as xylitol, sorbitol or mannitol at health food stores and some supermarkets.

REFINED SUGARS

Most sugars eaten today, including most honey, is refined. This means that some or all of the minerals and vitamins naturally contained in the food are removed. This is a crime against humanity, as these precise minerals, vitamins and other nutrients are needed just to digest the food. Therefore, the more that one eats of these foods, the more sick one becomes.

For example, sugar cane is processed into molasses and sugar. The sugar contains almost no vitamins or minerals. Molasses, meanwhile, is considered a health food, as it is rich in micronutrients. Despite some propaganda to the contrary, eating sugar leads to tooth decay, hypoglycemia, hyperactive behavior, mood swings, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and more illnesses.

Unfortunately, most Americans receive a major portion of their calories from refined sweeteners. The most popular today is high-fructose corn syrup. It is one of the worst sugars, but it is widely used, as it is inexpensive. Corn syrup, which is mainly fructose, interferes with blood sugar and with copper metabolism. These are just two of its problems.

Other refined sugars are barley malt and rice syrup, which are little better than refined sugar. Others are beet sugar, and most honey and maple syrup. Most honey is boiled, and most maple syrup contains a little real syrup with added sugar. These “foods” contain little or no vitamins and are correctly called “empty calories”. They contribute to an epidemic today of obesity, hypoglycemia, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other illnesses. Preferably totally avoid all sugars, even natural ones.

Refined sweeteners are often listed on food labels as glucose, fructose, maltose, corn syrup, sugar, liquid sugar or natural sweeteners. They are added to most processed foods from soda pop and cereals to dressings, breads, pastries, desserts of all kinds, condiments such as ketchup and mustard, peanuts butter and hundreds of other foods. They upset blood sugar and raise insulin levels, slowly causing many health conditions.

THE MANY NAMES OF REFINED SUGAR

One of the major problems with sugar is that it has a large number of names on food labels. Take the time to look at some things you have in your cupboard and when you go to the store – watch for these names.

Try to avoid any products with these ingredients. Realize that sugar is not just the white stuff in the bag – all of the ingredients below are sugar and have the same harmful effects on the body as sugar.

• barley malt

• corn syrup solids

• fruit juice

• honey

• beet sugar

• date sugar

• fruit juice concentrate

• invert sugar

• brown sugar

• dextran

• glucose

• lactose

• buttered syrup

• dextrose

• glucose solids

• malt syrup

• cane-juice crystals

• diatase

• golden sugar

• maltodextrin

• cane sugar

• distatic malt

• golden syrup

• maltose

• carmel

• ethyl maltol

• grape sugar

• mannitol

• carob syrup

• fructose

• high fructose corn syrup

• molasses

• raw sugar

• refiners sugar

• sorbitol

• sorghum syrup

• sucrose

• sugar

• turbinado sugar

• yellow sugar

Make a list of all of the foods that you currently consume that contain one or more of these ingredients. This will help you gain a better understanding of just how much sugar hides in unsuspecting places. Then get rid of all these foods, ideally.

The brain yeast connection. Sugar addiction is a common problem for millions of people today. An important reason for it is that these people have some yeast in the brain that thrives on sugar. This is very common today.

If one does not eat sugar, the yeast starts to die off. One might think this is a good thing, and it is. However, many people today actually like the brain yeast because it produces alcohol. This small amount of alcohol gives them a slight ‘high’ all the time, and numbs their consciousness a little. This reduces feelings such as depression, anxiety, anger, rage and others.

This is an extremely common problem and most people and most doctors do not understand it well, at all. Often, what is needed to overcome this cause of sugar or sweet craving or addiction is forgiveness of yourself and others. To read about this, read Forgiving on this site.

To read more about yeast in the body – its causes and correction – please read Yeast on this website.

1. Cleave, T.L., The Saccharine Disease, The Master Disease Of Our Time, Keats Publishing, CT, 1974.

2. Dufty, W., Sugar Blues

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