About four years ago we stopped buying white sugar. This step was taken as sugar has no nutritional value, it's addictive and Anju was frequently suffering from intestinal worms.
Instead, we are using organic jaggery as a sweetener. This automatically limited the quantity & frequency of sweets consumed as jaggery cannot be used to make many preparations that can be made with sugar. Also we had given up buying sweets from market. A young Engineer turned Farmer, Ramesh near Humnabad makes good organic jaggery (9741611470). He is the local and reliable source for us now.
Jaggery is not a ultraprocessed chemical like sugar, it is a condensed extract. It contains many minerals and vitamins in addition to sugar. Our body does not know how to process chemicals as chemicals don't freely exist in nature and historically there was no interaction of the body with chemicals. Sugar is rapidly absorbed and stored as far. There is no digestion phase in sugar. This is the basis for all the health issues. But jaggery is slowly digested and absorbed. Jaggery is better than sugar, however jaggery is also not a necessary food.
By quitting sugar, all of us lost excess weight automatically, feel more alert, cravings have disappeared, digestion has improved.
Sugar, is the most common sweetener for beverages, fast foods, packaged foods, tea, coffee, sweets, and condiments.
Sugar is an industrial product, not a natural substance (like foods). Foods are always in complex forms and are broken by the digestive process. Sugar is a chemical.
None of the animals have access to sugar (except the pet animals that are also getting the same diseases like the owner!).
Sugar was available in India even more than 2000 years ago. It was available for royalty, but common man got access to it less than a century ago.
Sugar is a drug, not food. If it is a food, we would not survive without it.
It was known even before 1960s that sugar intake leads to heart diseases.
Sugar industry paid scientists in 1960s to shift blame from sugar to dietary fats about link to heart diseases. Details of these claims have been published with tremendous evidence in National Public Radio, Journal of the American Medical Association & New York Times.
Americans consume almost 46 kilogram sugar in a year. Average global consumption is 23 kg and average consumption by an Indian is 19 kg.
Industries have come out with 56 names to list sugar on the food labels.
Sugar is an addictive substance & is intoxicating, just like alcohol.
It has been proven through multiple research works that higher sugar intake negatively affects various body functions like Immune system, Mineral levels, Triglycerides, Tissue elasticity, Absorption of calcium and magnesium, Structure of DNA, Structure of protein, Homeostasis (normal functioning) of the entire body, Enzyme activity, Parkinson's disease, Pancreas, Digestion, Learning, Fat & cholesterol metabolism, Estrogens in men, Urine chemistry, Brain, Hunger, Sex life, School performance in children
Sugar intake increases Bacterial infections, Fasting glucose, Neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, Adrenaline levels in children, Severity of gastric & duodenal ulcer symptoms, Yeast infections, Glucose and insulin responses, Cholesterol, Blood pressure, Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), Skin ageing, Low-density lipoproteins (LDL), Size of the liver, Liver fat, Kidney size and damages, Fluid retention, Premature delivery, Bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon, Severity of menopause symptoms, Overeating, Deaths in ICUs, Cell death, Antisocial behaviour, Homocysteine levels in the blood stream, Salt retention, Addiction
Sugar intake leads to reduction of High-density lipoproteins, Insulin sensitivity, Vitamin E in the blood, Growth hormone, Absorption of protein, Food movement during digestion, Phospatase in digestive tract, Emotional stability, Adrenal gland function, Memory Sugar intake can cause, leads to, increases risk or severity of most diseases like Hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children, Copper deficiency, Hypoglycaemia, Malabsorption in people with bowel diseases, Premature Ageing, Tooth decay, Arthritis, Asthma, Gallstones, Heart diseases, Appendicitis, Hemorrhoids, Varicose veins, Food allergies, Pregnancy toxaemia, Cataracts, Emphysema, Atherosclerosis, Myopia (nearsightedness), Thinning of the capillaries leading to stroke, Brittle tendons, Headaches, including migraine, Depression, Chromium deficiency, Ovarian cancer, Macular degeneration in eyes, Acidic digestive tract, Alcoholism, Obesity, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, Diseases of gums, Osteoporosis, Saliva acidity, Diabetes, Eczema, Pancreatic cancer in women, Gastric cancer, Gout, Alzheimer's disease, Platelet adhesiveness, Hormonal imbalance, Kidney stones, Free radicals and oxidative stress, Biliary tract cancer, Gallbladder cancer, ADHD, Lung cancer, Seizures, High blood pressure, Prostate cancer, Dehydration, Low birth weight, Schizophrenia, Breast cancer, Intestinal cancer, Laryngeal cancer, Constipation, Brain decay, Stomach cancer, Metabolic syndrome, Neural tube defects in embryos, Irritable bowel syndrome, Rectal cancer, Endometrial cancer, Kidney cancer, Liver tumour, Acne, Fatigue & mood swings, Multiple nutrient deficiencies, Liver diseases, Bladder cancer, PCOD
On quitting sugar, we experienced withdrawal symptoms like cravings for sweet or high calorie foods, headaches, lack of energy, muscle aches, nausea, bloating, stomach cramps, irritability or anxiety, feeling down or depressed.
Once these passed, clarity, freshness, alertness, lightness and other such feelings developed in the body. And these nice feelings are still there!
Take care
Madhukar