Sugar - Should it be a Part of Your Diet?

The topic - REFINED SUGAR - seems somewhat trivial to those of us who live in the United States. It seems trivial because everywhere we go, in almost every food or drink we encounter, sugar is one of the main ingredients. For Americans, using SUGAR is the norm and because its use is so regular, it’s difficult to impart its true significance with regard to sickness and disease. What we don’t know is shocking.

Sugar as we know it, is refined cane syrup from sugar cane, a plant that grows naturally in tropical areas of the world. Sugar cane has been used in its natural form throughout time by indigenous peoples in tropical regions of the world. However it came into more widespread use during the “Age of Enlightenment” around 1000 AD, when its common function in a refined form was as a medicine used by apothecaries (pharmacists) in urban areas of Europe. That’s right, a MEDICINE! Back then it was expensive and hard to come by, and it was used only by the few people who could afford its lofty price.

Over the next few centuries, the use of sugar widened and it became a cash crop that helped drive trade throughout the world. It eventually became inexpensive enough to be used for armies and was accessible to most people. By the late 1400’s, Britain’s use of sugar was still (by today’s standard) minimal, used by apothecaries, beer breweries, and in corner store confections, but the story would change in just two hundred years. Looking back to 1662, we see that Britain’s use of sugar soared to more than two million pounds per year! It was also around this time that physicians in London were recording increases in physical and mental illness.

1665 brought bubonic plague to London, where tens of thousands of people died; 30,000 in just the month of September of that year. It was observed that English people who lived outside of the cities (and who did not consume sugar regularly) more or less avoided the plague. It was mostly those who lived in the cities and consumed sugar on a regular basis who were coming down with the disease. Even so, the sugar trade was increasingly lucrative. Just as the use of sugar would continue to rise steadily through the industrial age, so has the list of medical diseases.

Mr. William Duffy, author of Sugar Blues, likens sugar to opium, heroine and morphine, as its affect on the brain and nervous system are tremendous. It’s found in everything from cigarettes to bread and is even in some of our vitamins, minerals, and supplements. Your Doctor or Health Coach should be able to help you learn how to avoid hidden sugars in your foods.

The book Sugar Blues gives what I consider to be overwhelming practical, historic and scientific evidence of how and why sugar is such a destructive element to our health. Diseases which are so common in our modern era, like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease… how might all of these be caused/contributed to by the overuse of refined sugar? You will recall the mention of sugar previously used only as a medicine by apothecaries in Europe. Well, to put today’s use of sugar into perspective: imagine 2 years from now that almost every food and beverage has aspirin as its first, second or third ingredient…what would you think?

I recommend that everyone read William Duffy’s book "Sugar Blues" and make their own determination. It could change the quality and quantity of your life.