All too often, it seems that our lives are filled with paradoxes, some of which represent our collective way of avoiding or ignoring problems, and the way most of us deal with sugar addiction is certainly an excellent example of this tendency. We place a considerable amount of time, effort and resource (and rightly so) in the war against illegal drugs and in a battle to try and get people to turn away from smoking. Smoking is surely the biggest single addiction in our society, we are told and is directly linked, quite vocally so, to many serious illnesses. Quite surprisingly however, when it comes to sugar, almost nothing is discussed in the mainstream media about its ability to cause a powerful addiction, ticking away in the background of our lives – day by day, causing debilitating health issues in people everywhere.
Professionals in the field of holistic nutrition say that our diets should be balanced, and that we should cut out any ingredients which are commonly known to be counter-productive or potentially dangerous. Government nutrition experts however do little to point out the significant problems caused by our over reliance on sugar and how this rather simple and unassuming product can cause an addiction as bad as some of the items listed within restricted schedules.
Like any addictive substance, refined sugar has little or no value for your body. Quite the opposite actually, as ingestion of this substance tends to leach away vitamins and minerals from your bloodstream to be metabolized. It’s difficult not to notice the blatantly obvious analogy between many of the most addictive and dangerous illegal substances and our simple act of eating or drinking large quantities of sugar. All of these substances create an unnatural “high,” and can result in long-term organ damage if used regularly over time.
When we choose to add sugar to foods or drinks or elect to consume processed items which are packed with simple sugars, then we’re choosing a quick boost energy and a feeling of satisfaction because of our “sweet tooth,” regardless of the subsequent crash we’re well aware of, and the conversion of the by-products into stored fat. While some of the protected, scheduled drugs may be known to create problems for our major organs, an over-reliance on simple sugar intake can lead to an excess of insulin production and the onset of diabetes. All that stored fat will invariably lead to obesity and all the problems that condition brings with it.
When sugar was first introduced to our diet it was touted as the purest form of food and one which required very little in the way of preparation. It is this very simplicity that has undoubtedly caused simple and refined sugars to become one of the scourges of our modern diet. Drugs often represent the easy way out within any situation and sugar represents an easy, every day, “acceptable” fix.
In most instances, holistic health solutions focus our attention on eating a balanced, natural diet, leading a healthy lifestyle, exercising and avoiding any kind of excess. Moderating our sugar intake ranks very highly on a list of concerns and requires us to realize that our sugar addiction can be very damaging indeed.
