“Sweet Poison: How sugar, not cocaine, is one of the most additive and dangerous substances” was the headline of a recent article written by Dr. Mark Hyman in the NY Daily News.
He said,
• Americans consume an average of 152 pounds of sugar each year
• Sugar is the new tobacco and secret destroyer
• Sugar is 8 times more additive than cocaine
• Sugar keeps you hungry
• Sugar makes you store belly fat
• Most are hidden in processed foods and sweetened drinks
Read more here.
To prove his point on hidden sugar, I gathered a few items and looked at the sugar content. Here are a few I found:
Pasta sauce 13g of sugar in 1/2cup
Nutella 21g of sugar in 2 tablespoon
Craisins (dried canberries) 29g of sugar in ¼ cup
Kefir 20g of sugar in 1 cup
20 oz. Mountain Dew 77 g of sugar
7 Eleven 64 oz. Double Gulp Coke 186g of sugar
4 Oreos 14 g of sugar
1 regular size Snickers bar 30g of sugar
1 frosted cherry pop tart 34g of sugar
1 bowl of Capn Crunch Cereal 24g of sugar
1 grande Starbucks Mocha Frappucino with whipped cream 47 g of sugar
McDonald’s medium size Chocolate Shake 111g of sugar
½ cup of Haagen-Dazs Raspberry Sorbet 27g of sugar
Raw almond butter 2g of sugar in 2 tablespoon (lowest here)
And the list continues…
Have you read your food labels lately?
Some of these labels require you to have a chemistry degree to understand. One important fact to remember is, for example Nutella is sold as “hazelnut spread with skim milk and cocoa.” When you take a closer look at the ingredients, the first two items listed were sugar and palm oil.
What can you understand by the order of ingredients?
Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, according to Penny Kris-Etherton PhD, a professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Nutritional Sciences and an American Heart Association spokeswoman. So the jar of Nutella has more sugar and palm oil and not hazelnut and cocoa.
Reading further…
Sugar comes under several names. Names for added sugars on labels include:
• Brown sugar
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup
• Fruit juice concentrates
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Malt sugar
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Sugar
• Sugar molecules ending in “ose” (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose)
• Syrup
Source: Heart.org
Can you track your daily sugar intake?
It requires a lot of work if we are consuming processed foods, fast foods, drinks and other store packaged foods.
How about artificial sweeteners?
Want to avoid too much sugar or calories? We are being marketed to drink diet soda/drink and eat sugar-free or products with artificial sweeteners. These zero calories and no sugar products sound like a no-brainer. But are they?
Aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, acesulfame potassium (acesulfame K) and neotame are five approved sweeteners in America. Recently I discovered a graphic posted by stepintomygreenworld.com on “The Truth About Splenda.” Splenda is a type of sucralose that will
• Increase the pH level in our body
• Slow down digestion
• Kill good bacteria in the intestines
• Lead to liver and kidney lesions
• Stimulate fat storage and may contribute to weight gain and cause the desire for more calories
• Increase carbohydrate cravings
Despite the negative effects, worldwide usage of artificial sugar is increasing every year. Food Product Design says it will increase to $3 billion by 2017 from $2 billion in 2012.
What are the dangers of eating too much sugar?
1. Cavities
2. Insatiable hunger
3. Weight gain
4. Insulin resistance
5. Diabetes
6. Obesity
7. Liver Failure
8. Pancreatic cancer
9. Kidney disease
10. High blood pressure (hypertension)
11. Heart disease and stroke
12. Addiction (food addiction)
13. Cognitive decline
14. Nutritional deficiencies
15. Gout
16. Compromised immune system
17. Lower quality sleep
18. Brain fog
19. Aging
20. Cancer
Source: Business Insider
Watch this video now from CBS 60 minutes on “Is sugar toxic?”
Are there ways to curb sugar cravings?
I’ve written an article on Six Natural Remedies to Stop Sugar Cravings.
Here are 2 testimonials from essential oil users:
Donna G from CO on Ocotea and sugar cravings:
Dark chocolate had become a regular snack for me everyday, even though it was just a bite or two. I know sugar can inhibit your immune system so I wanted to change this habit.
I was able to sample ocotea and loved its gentle cinnamon flavor. I started taking just one drop orally per day. Within 1 week, I realized that I had skipped my chocolate several afternoons and it didn’t appeal to me. Now, if I eat sugar, it is because I decide to, not that I am craving it.
I love the taste of this oil!
Fran G from PA on oils for appetite or craving suppressant:
I wanted to help my Mom out with her blood sugar levels as she felt she couldn’t afford to buy the NingXia Red each month, so I put together a recommended formula for control of blood sugar which is equal parts of:
Thieves
Fennel
Dill
Coriander
Well, I really liked the aroma so much I decided to where it like a perfume and dabbed some on my wrists. I began to notice that I wasn’t constantly running to the refrigerator anymore and once when I did get a craving I was heading out to Mr. Z’s (a supermarket) to grab some sweets and had dabbed some on just before I went out. I drove the 3 miles to the store only to get there and wander the aisles. I came back home empty handed. The cravings were gone. I had no desire to get anything unhealthy.
I only have one concern and that is I may not be eating enough altogether as I have no particular need to eat when I use this mix. I never noticed it with fennel alone. At least I can focus on eating to live rather than living to eat. Hope this helps.
If you are 100% committed to curb your sugar cravings – and you want to get help, then I highly recommend doing the first step, that is>> Get our articles with wellness tips and natural remedies sent to your inbox twice a week. Sign up here (it’s free)!
Disclaimer: This information is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. It’s strictly for informational, educational, or entertainment purposes ONLY. The products I talk about are not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. Any information I give you about them is for informational or entertainment purposes only. They have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. Please seek the qualified health professional of your choice when making health decisions for yourself, your family and your pets.
So Saturday night I had my 20th year class reunion. I have known about it for several months now and I was fine with going until about 48 hours before the event. Two days prior I started getting this weird anxiety. It was like a quickening of my heart, anxious feeling, and then on the edge of tears all rolled into one. As the hours grew closer to the event I became increasingly more anxious. Finally I decided to take a bath in Epson salts and Idaho Balsam Fir. Idaho Balsam Fir helps to lower your stress hormones naturally. I laid in the tub for about a half hour and when I got out I felt a whole lot better.
Thankfully I found something decent that fit. My friend and I arrived with her husband and the four of us took off for the class of 1993 high school reunion. As we entered the banquet hall my nerves were even a bit more relieved to see familiar faces. Sadly I soon learned that one of our classmates that still lived in town had died and his wake and funeral was today. How awfully sad.
I headed to the bar to order a Corona with lime, the second beer I have drank in two years probably. I have to admit it also helped me to relax and gave me the courage to introduce myself to many people I didn’t recognize or know. Some classmate’s kids were in high school while others like me just had children. I learned that one classmate, Anna loved Melaleuca oil because it helped to stop her 1 1/2 year olds’ ear infections when she put it in the humidifier. Another classmate said her partner had Lyme’s disease and nothing medical helped. Only natural remedies got her health back. I also got to share with some friends who asked about migraines or other ailments and some natural solutions that would help their symptoms.
I guess I was a little self conscious being the heaviest weight I have ever been right now. Yes I know I just had a baby four months ago but I really thought my body would shrink. I didn’t feel so bad as many of my classmates’ bodies didn’t shrink back either. But three women were very inspiring.
My good friend Cindy Brown released over 100lbs with exercising and eliminating the carbs. Carrie Clark released over 50lbs with exercise and changing her food choices, and recently she became a Beachbody coach. But the winner for awesome body even after birthing three babies and having a full time job was my friend Michelle. She began doing yoga in college and continued it but after the birth of her third son, she decided she wanted to start teaching. So she invested 200 hours to learn to teach with Yoga Works. She now teaches three to four classes a week, and WOW does she look good. I don’t mean just skinny she was always thin, but HEALTHY. She radiated.
There were happy parts of the night seeing some of the more zealous hyper boys of high school really find their own creatively in music and life. There were sad parts of the night to listen about divorces or see that too much partying had aged some classmates. Our classmate who had passed suffered a lot of years with back pain and knee pain according to his friend. He said he was on a lot of medication for a lot of years and that did him in. He died suddenly of a heart attack.
Now I really don’t know the whole story but in my field I know that path. An injury leads to pain medication which for most is highly addicting and when you try to get off of it, it makes the pain worse so you spend even more years addicted to it and in this pain cycle loop. You add a poor lifestyle of bad food or alcohol and the body will eventually shut down. It is extremely sad but we see this happen all the time with movie stars like Brittany Murphy or Heath Ledger. So hearing this story of a life gone too soon, I am revitalized to start sharing and screaming – THERE IS ANOTHER WAY – YOU DON’T NEED ALL THOSE DRUGS – IT’S A TRAP BE CAREFUL!
Okay maybe you think I am being a little dramatic and you may be right. I have never had real awful agony pain that lasted weeks or even years. But I do know there are solutions out there that can help, natural safe alternatives to harsh drugs and their side effects.
My 20th year high school reunion was really good. I left feeling happy, relieved, sad, and heart broken at the same time. I want all those people to know what I know, to live like I live and be free of drugs. But I also know that only some of them want to be better, only some of them will seek out alternatives, and some of them will actually do what they learn. But I will be there hoping, sharing and giving solutions for Total Wellness.
God Bless you GRB Class of 1993 – I am here if you need me.
For your Total Wellness,
Dr. Mary Starr Carter
www.thetotalwellnessdoc.com
Disclaimer: This information is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. It’s strictly for informational, educational, or entertainment purposes ONLY. The products I talk about are not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. Any information I give you about them is for informational or entertainment purposes only. They have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. Please seek the qualified health professional of your choice when making health decisions for yourself, your family and your pets.
This video is part of my personal story and journey and struggles with Breastfeeding. I think God planted some of these challenges so that I could understand more Mommy stuff and struggles as well as be driven to find solutions.
Please share this video with women you know who are going to have babies or those that are struggling with breastfeeding.
Thank you,
Dr. Mary Starr Carter
the Total Wellness Doc and Mom
Disclaimer: This information is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. It’s strictly for informational, educational, or entertainment purposes ONLY. The products I talk about are not meant to diagnose, prescribe, treat or cure any illness or disease. Any information I give you about them is for informational or entertainment purposes only. They have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. Please seek the qualified health professional of your choice when making health decisions for yourself, your family and your pets.
