We hear all kinds of bad press about sugar.  Is has been labeled as the cause of the diabetes epidemic, the obesity epidemic, even linked to heart disease and cancer.  How can something so simple and so widely used be so bad for us?  Weren't we always told that sugar is for quick energy?  And we have seen how poorly people feel who have low blood sugar.  So obviously sugar can't be all bad if we need it in our blood to feel ok.

Well the truth is, like everything else having to do with our body, there is an optimal amount that works to keep us healthy - too much or too little and we are not healthy.  Even water works like this - too much and we drown, too little and we die of dehydration.  So the real question is how much is the right amount, and are all sugars the same?

Interestingly, there is only one type of cell in the body that absolutely has to have sugar to do its job - white blood cells.  This is because when the cells burn sugar for energy, it produces toxic byproducts called reactive oxygen species (like hydrogen peroxide). The white blood cells use this to kill bacteria and viruses.  (Yes, just like the hydrogen peroxide antiseptic you buy at the pharmacy.)  This reactive oxygen production is why most cells prefer to burn fat for energy, as fat does not produce toxic reactive oxygen.  This is also why we like to eat antioxidant rich foods as the antioxidants neutralize this reactive oxygen toxin.  (Glutathione is the body's main antioxidant and the reason why I take Glutathione Recycler every day to maximize my Glutathione levels.)

The only other body cells that prefer to burn sugar are your nerve cells.  They will burn around 20 calories per hour for a total of 480 calories per day.  The body manufactures sugar from breaking down fats and metabolizing protein so it can actually make all the sugar it needs, but this takes extra work for the body.  So for optimal health you want to consume 400 to 600 calories per day of carbohydrates that turn into sugar in your blood stream.

What happens if you eat more than that?  

When you eat a meal full of carbohydrates or sugars, your body converts all of this down to simple sugars like glucose and fructose that then enter the blood stream.  This pushes up your blood sugar.  Your body does not like too much sugar in the blood because when there is too much sugar, the sugar starts poisoning the proteins of your tissues and literally candies them (called glycation.)  They can't function when "candied" and so that tissue dies.  This is what happens with diabetic neuropathy - the high sugar blood levels "candy" the nerves in the feet and you lose feeling in your feet and replace it with the pain from the damaged nerves.  This also happens with people who don't have diabetes (yet), but their blood sugar rises too high after a meal because of consuming too much sugar or carbohydrate.

So, a partial answer to our question "Is sugar toxic?" is above a certain level it is more than toxic, it is deadly.  But as we are seeing with the neuropathy in the feet, it is more than total sugar levels that we have to be aware of.  Spikes in the blood sugar level following the eating of foods that turn rapidly to blood sugar (or just plain way too many carbohydrates/sugars in one meal) have to be watched as well.  Our body can only process so much sugar in the blood at a time.

When we eat a load of sugar (and carbs that turn into sugar) and it dumps into the blood stream, our blood sugar level rapidly rises.  The body responds by dumping the hormone insulin into the blood to start shoving the extra sugar into the cells and out of the blood.  This forces cells that would rather burn clean burning fats to have to burn the sugars for fuel before the sugar starts damaging the protein tissues in the cell.  This in turn produces reactive oxygen that will also damage the cell (particularly the DNA and RNA) and shorten the life span of the cell.  If we don't have enough glutathione to neutralize this reactive oxygen, our cells age prematurely.  Simply put - excess sugar makes us age faster.

This process is actually doubly damaging, because the excess insulin that is dumped into the blood to deal with the excess sugar is itself also damaging to the body.  Insulin also speeds up aging.  It weakens our defenses against infection, hardens our arteries, and promotes degeneration of the brain.  Low insulin promoting diets have been shown to extend life span in many cultures all over the world.

The insulin factor and the glycation (candy) factor mean that we not only have to be careful to keep the total amount of sugar/carbohydrate down to the level our body needs to be healthy - 400 to 600 calories per day for the average person - but also look at how fast the food we eat enters the blood stream as sugar.

To our blood stream there are only three kinds of food - fats, sugars, and proteins.  There are many kinds of fats, many kinds of sugars, and many kinds of proteins - some more toxic than others.  That concern will be the subject of a later newsletter.  Right now we want to look at how fast different carb/sugar foods enter the blood stream and therefore be likely to spike our blood sugar level up to a damaging level.

This subject is also known as looking at the glycemic index of carbohydrate foods.  All starchy and sugary foods break down into simple sugars in the digestive tract (or should if you are healthy.)  Some foods break down very fast and dump their sugar into the blood all at once.  Others break down slowly and do not spike our blood sugar.  Obviously we want to eat the slow ones and avoid the fast ones.  Most sugar containing and flour containing foods break down very fast and should be avoided.  High fiber starchy vegetables contain carbs that break down slowly and will be healthy foods for managing our blood sugar.  I suggest keeping the glycemic index of foods you eat to below 55.  For a great website that discusses glycemic index in greater detail and lists the index of all foods that have been tested to date, check the link at the end of the article.

Examples would include roots and tubers like sweet potatoes, beets, winter squash, some whole and unprocessed grains and seeds like beans, rice, nuts, other plant foods eaten in their whole form.  All your vegetables are good, as is a small amount of fresh fruit.  Total throughout the day of these foods should be around 400 to 600 calories - or around 20% of your daily diet calories.  More than that or the wrong ones and you are damaging your body.

So are sugars toxic?  The right kind in the right amounts entering your system at the right rate is highly nutritious for you.  Too much coming in too fast is disastrous.

Take care,

David

Glycemic index link: http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm

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About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

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