Before you reach for the afternoon jelly bean, learn what is happening with sugar enters the body.

• Energy Highs and Lows
  When we consume foods high in sugar (glucose), the glucose enters the bloodstream, quickly causing blood sugars to rise.

The pancreas responds by secreting insulin which then causes a surge of sugars to enter the cells to either be used as energy or stored as fat for later use. Blood sugars then fall to normal or possibly just below normal levels. While this is happening, we experience a “sugar rush” of hyperactivity (all too commonly seen in kids) only to be followed by the “crash” - fatigue, drowsiness and poor concentration. Naturally, as blood sugars fall, the body works to maintain balance by causing a craving – most likely for more sugar – and the whole process starts all over again.

• Compromised Immunity
  Studies dating back to 1997 and even earlier, back to 1973 show white blood cell counts are suppressed after sugar consumption. White blood cells are the body’s first line of defense against an invading virus or bacteria, so this leaves us susceptible to illness, especially with regular consumption of sugar.

• Sugar’s Long-Term Effects Aren’t Sweet
   Insulin is also secreted in proportion to the amount of sugar consumed.

Insulin is the hormone that instructs the body to store energy as fat. Repeatedly eating sugar throughout the day eventually leads to chronically high insulin and ultimately to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is like this: Imagine insulin as a truck that carries sugar into cells and enters the cell upon arrival by using the garage door opener. Think of insulin resistance as the insulin truck arriving at the cell, but the garage door opener won’t work until six insulin trucks are waiting, rather than just one. Soon, we will have a traffic jam of insulin trucks throughout the body, or chronically high insulin. At this juncture, weight loss becomes very difficult and there is often an increase in blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, abdominal fat, breast and prostate cancer risk and more.

• Aging Accelerated
  Through a process called glycation, described as abnormal attachment of sugar molecules to cells in the body, aging is accelerated.

When this occurs, tissue elasticity reduces to cause skin sagging, arterial stiffness and poor organ function. Sugar also causes the brain, nervous system and eyes to age. 

• Tooth Decay

Sugar is terrible for your healthy mouth and smile. Studies clearly show it can lead to tooth decay and gum disease.

• For more information on various names of sugar, click HERE   
• information provided by: http://www.truestarhealth.com/members/archives.asp?content=14ml3p1a95

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