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Life & Arts

Vitamins, sugars can be helpfu, hurtful

Get Well

Ron Douthitt

In my first installment on artificial and traditional sugars last week, I discussed sugar and three of the most popular artificial sweeteners. I failed to mention some of the less popular ones, such as Xylitol, which has not shown too much controversy just yet. Syncal is a trade name for a newfangled version of saccharin, and not too much different than regular saccharin. Perhaps they're worth a try. My sister uses several, including refined sugar in moderation, all in hopes of cutting down on the toxicity it may produce. The only one she stays away from is Splenda because of the uncertainty of what it may cause. 

Honey is all-natural and is a very good sweetener for those who are watching their sugar intake. Turbinado, referred to as sugar in the raw, is about as close to sugar from the cane as one can get, is not bleached nor refined. However, both of these must also be used in moderation, or they too will make you pack on the pounds. 

While there are many other sweeteners on the market in addition to those, fitness expert and former Mr. America and Mr. USA Lee Labrada, mentioned he refers to sugar as poison.

When referring to sugar as poison, it is simple to disregard it as such. However, our brains feed on glucose. It must be used to maintain proper brain function and is essential for things like studying for tests. 

Fructose, found in all our fruits, is a good source of needed sugar. However, refined white sugar and high fructose corn syrup, which is found in all regular soft drinks, is strictly a poison. The sugar picks the body up instantly and provides a quick rush for the brain. Within 45 minutes, the body has used up all the sugar and has a depletion, or withdrawal of simple sugar. Besides the fact that the consumer is left with much less energy from the simple sugar, the pancreas ceased to regulate its distribution of insulin. This is why simple sugar is particularly poisonous for diabetics, who do not make enough, or in some ceases any, insulin on their own. 

This has nothing to do with complex carbohydrates, such as oatmeal and fructose found in fruit, it's the highly processed and refined sugars that are found in corn syrup from soft drinks and bleached white flour desserts. That is why all health experts remind people daily to stay clear of pastas that are not made with whole wheat or spinach and white breads, not to mention most wheat breads that are not really made with enough whole wheat to be considered healthy by health experts. It is essential to always check out what you're eating by looking at the ingredients on the back of all food products and understanding how some of these products carefully disguise poison as being healthy. 

Many studies have been conducted on regular soft drinks, products like Wonder Bread, candy bars like Milky Way and even foods like carrots, corn and countless other foods which contain entirely too much sugar.

Poisons are essential. When Jason Davis, Head Pharmacist of a local Walgreens, first began pharmacy school, his instructor wrote on the blackboard that all medicines are "poison." Medicines heal us. They are essential. But they are poison and must be used sparingly. 

Another prime example of this is the essential vitamin potassium. Potassium chloride is used to kill convicted murderers on death row. It is one of the substances that, when used in large doses, will shut down the lungs. Potassium is found in bananas and is essential for the body to keep it healthy and reduce, if not eliminate, brutally painful muscle cramps. It is also a poison. 

Another example of poison is the drug morphine. Not long ago, liquid morphine and liquid cocaine used in hospitals for injection displayed a skull and cross bones on the label, the universal trademark for poison. It also was labeled "poison." 

An apple or banana must never be referred to as poison, although it too must be consumed in moderate quantities for diabetics and those who are attempting to lose unwanted pounds.

There are good fats and good sugars, and even those must be consumed with prudence. Protein cannot be labeled, under any circumstances, as poison. Americans never get enough of it, and it is so important to maintain a healthy body.
 

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