Sugar

Sugar. If it isn't the most poisoning thing on the planet then what is? It slowly degrades the health of those that consume it, as though they hardly notice their bodies slipping away. Of course I say that about sugar, but salt does just the same.

What is it that sugar does that salt does not? Sugar has the power to alter the body's ability to burn calories, essentially making the body lazy when accessing glucose i.e. breaking down food into glucose. If it continuously receives calories that readily give the body glucose without much work, it will always look for that solution and essentially crave it.

Let's break all this down into science, what is it that makes up sugar. We're literally saying sucrose, which is a disaccharide made up of two monosaccharides, a split of Glucose and Fructose, yes I just said Fructose. What are sources of Sucrose then? It comes in many forms, some that are natural, and I mean organic, and those that are artificial, I'll explain further later. Glucose is the energy that the body uses to trigger insulin responses to rebuild your body and provide ATP or energy in your cells. Fructose on the other hand does the opposite, it does not trigger insulin in your body and does not provide energy like Glucose, it is the "complex-carb" of the two primary sugars in nature.

Sucrose is virtually in everything and most abundant in table sugar and fruit. While I don't entirely agree that granulated sugar is natural, it is much closer that HFCS could ever be. Don't get it twisted, although HFCS has Fructose in the word it is not entirely made of Fructose, there are different types made, but the most common is a pretty even balance of Glucose to Fructose within the Sucrose disachharides.

You might be thinking that Fructose is awesome so I only want that, it doesn't trigger my insulin, the diabetic's wet dream. Insulin is what causes satiety in the brain, making you feel full, and fructose doesn't do any of that. But Fructose is also not calorie free and it's still a simple carbohydrate, so it's easy to over-eat when consuming any amount of Fructose. It's best consumed in fruit which has all the balanced Glucose, vitamins, minerals and fiber to compensate for any other problems that go along with the imbalance.

Juice, something I've never been fond of is a culprit in this same argument as it has the same properties as a soda. It's only the sugar nothing else and that's not helping us all that much, we need the solids from the fruit, the fiber and countless other trace elements that we miss with the processed juice. I've been told and heard about the bacteria on the fruit which also assists in digestion. Not to mention the fiber that goes with it.

I believe that's enough for now, but this discussion could go on forever. Heed every warning when consuming items high in sugar or entirely made up of sugar. While it may benefit you in the short-term, it will not over time.