Healthy Eating for Children

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Thursday 5 December 2013

How harmful is Sugar?

Using and digesting sugar is actually difficult for our bodies and regularly eating large amounts of sugar could cause serious harm.

Dr. David Reuben, author of ‘Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition’ says, "….white refined sugar is not a food. It is a pure chemical extracted from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways. Its true name is sucrose and its chemical formula is C12H22O11. It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and absolutely nothing else to offer."
The chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21NO4. Sugar's formula again is C12H22O11. For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the "N", or nitrogen atom.
It’s possible that consuming too much sugar may:
Ø  use up vital minerals and vitamins in your body,
Refined sugar contains no fibre, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, only empty calories. What happens when you eat a refined carbohydrate like sugar? Your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolise the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of the sugar.

Ø  cause tooth decay and periodontal disease, which leads to tooth loss and infections,

If calcium is used to naturalise the effects of sugar, bones may become osteoporotic due to the withdrawn calcium. Teeth are affected in the same way and they lose their components until decay occurs and hastens their loss.
Sugar makes blood very thick and sticky. This tends to cut down blood flow into the minute capillaries that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients. So we end up with diseased gums and starving teeth.
Ø  result in a child showing poor concentration,

Ø  cause both children and adults to become disruptive, show signs of learning disorders and become forgetful,
Glutamic acid is very important in making sure the brain functions properly. When too much sugar is consumed, the bacteria which manufacture B vitamin complexes in the intestines begin to die. Normally these bacteria thrive in a symbiotic relationship with the human body. But when the B vitamin complex level declines, the glutamic acid is not processed. This can cause sleepiness, a loss of memory and the inability to perform mathematical calculations correctly.
Ø  cause hypoglycaemia and weight gain in children and adults, leading to diabetes and obesity,
Hypoglycaemia occurs when the pancreas overreacts to the large amount of sugar in the blood and releases too much insulin leaving one with the "tired" feeling as the blood sugar level becomes lower than it should be.

Diabetes is another commonly known disease caused by too much sugar as well as a high fat diet. If the pancreas fails to produce adequate insulin when the blood sugar rises the body goes into shock from the rapid rise in the blood sugar level. The pancreas eventually wears out from overwork and diabetes then rears its ugly head.
Ø  upset hormonal balance and support the growth of cancer cells,
Refined sugar is void of all nutrients, consequently it causes the body to deplete its own stores of various vitamins, minerals and enzymes. If sugar consumption is continued, an over-acid condition results, and more minerals are needed from deep in the body to correct the imbalance. If the body is lacking the nutrients used to metabolise sugar, it will not be able to properly handle and rid itself of the poisonous residues. These wastes accumulate through the brain and nervous system, which speeds up cellular death. The bloodstream becomes over-loaded with waste products and symptoms of carbonic poisoning result.

Ø  raise blood pressure and bad cholesterol (LDL), increasing the risk of heart disease,

Ø  initiate auto-immune and immune deficiency disorders such as arthritis, allergies, and asthma.
The vital organs in the body are actually damaged by over eating sugar.

How can you save yourself and your family from the harmful effects of too much sugar? Obviously consume less or,

Use a sugar substitute such as Xylitol.
Xylitol is not only a safe, natural sweetener without the bad side-effects of sugar and artificial substitutes, it's also good for your teeth, stabilizes insulin and hormone levels, and promotes good health.
The good thing about xylitol is that it tastes and looks exactly like sugar. But, while sugar starts to destroy the body, xylitol heals and repairs. It also builds immunity, protects against chronic degenerative disease, and has anti-ageing benefits. Xylitol prevents the growth of bacteria. While sugar is acid-forming, xylitol is alkaline enhancing.
Xylitol has 40% fewer calories and 75% fewer carbohydrates than sugar and is slowly absorbed and metabolised, resulting in very negligible changes in insulin. About one-third of the xylitol that is consumed is absorbed in the liver. The other two-thirds travel to the intestinal tract where it is broken down by gut bacteria into short-chain fatty acids.

Xylitol looks, feels, and tastes exactly like sugar, and leaves no unpleasant aftertaste. It is available in many forms. In its crystalline form, it can replace sugar in cooking, baking, or as a sweetener for beverages. It is also included as an ingredient in chewing gum, mints, and nasal spray.
Some Background Information about Xylitol.
Xylitol is a natural substance found in fibrous vegetables and fruit, as well as in corn cobs and various hardwood trees like birch. It is a natural, intermediate product which regularly occurs in the glucose metabolism of man and other animals, as well as in the metabolism of several plants and micro-organisms. Xylitol is produced naturally in our bodies. In fact, we make up to 15 grams daily during normal metabolism.
Xylitol was first manufactured in 1891 by a German chemist and by 1930 it had been purified. But it wasn't until World War 2 that sugar shortages forced researchers to look at alternative sweeteners.
Finland had an acute sugar shortage and the Finns began searching for an alternative. It was then that the Finnish scientists rediscovered xylitol. It was also during this time that researchers discovered xylitol's insulin-independent nature. (It metabolises in the body without using insulin.)

By the 1960s, xylitol was being used in Germany, Switzerland, the Soviet Union, and Japan as a preferred sweetener in diabetic diets. Since then, many other countries, including Italy and China, have been producing xylitol for use in their domestic markets with remarkable health benefits. Elsewhere, because of the availability of cheap supplies of cane sugar, the more expensive xylitol was less economically viable.

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1963, xylitol has no known toxic levels. The only known down-side is that some sensitive people may initially experience mild diarrhoea or slight cramping when taking large amounts.

Since the body makes xylitol daily, as well as the enzymes to break it down, any discomfort usually disappears within a few days as the body's enzymatic activity adjusts to a higher intake.

Over 1,500 scientific studies have found that the more you use xylitol, the more you can eliminate sugar cravings, reduce insulin levels, and alkalinize your body. It's a great aid on the way to good health and long life.

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