HOW TO AVOID TEMPTATION AND SLAY THE SUGARY BEAST
It is one thing to acknowledge that sugar is bad for us, but it is another to understand just how much havoc it can wreak on our health. Even armed with that knowledge, sugar is a major temptation for many of us, especially during gatherings.
Sugars do taste good, and there is no problem in enjoying the naturally occurring fructose in whole fresh fruits. THE PROBLEM IS IN EATING SUGAR AS A FOOD! When you are holding a cookie in your hand, a piece of cake, or a candy bar YOU ARE HOLDING A CHUNK OF SUGAR IN YOUR HAND.
If you do eat it, within minutes, your bloodstream is flooded with sugar. Soon the structural proteins of all your tissues – the elastic fibers of your skin, the filter membranes of your kidneys,the hemoglobin in your blood, the lenses of your eyes, the inner lining of your blood vessels – all get “sticky” with sugar (they become “glycosylated”).
The gummed-up oxidized protein fibers break, skin cracks in the sunlight; eyes become less permeable to light; muscle proteins do not contract as vigorously; brain function dwindles. This sounds like the aging process………… .EATING SUGAR AGES US!
As you look at that plate of cookies or cake or candy, does an image flash in your mind and do you think this is a chunk of sugar in my hand that can age me, make my skin crack, my arteries stiff, and leads to frailty. Do I really want to eat it? Is it really worth it?
By DR. MICHAEL KLAPER,MD. A version of this article was originally published on doctorklaper.com