GMO Sugar – You Can’t Get Away From It!
More and more recent research is saying just how bad sugar is for your health. From obesity to insomnia, this stuff seems to interfere with everything.
What’s worse, there’s a lot of evidence that sugar is highly addictive—even as addictive as some drugs. It seems that sugar, especially processed sugar, causes a release of dopamine and other feel-good chemicals that get you hooked right away.
And you want to know something quite interesting? I was just on a trip where I met a guy who used to work with Monsato – the corporation who has been suing farmers for ridiculous patent claims (read the business week article on them here), and what he told me I had to make sure I shared with all of you. What is most scary is that over the past few years Monsanto has been farming GMO (genetically modified) sugar beets to produce sugar and the ramifications of the herbicides used as well as cross-contamination are a threat to organic farmers.
Natural sodas coming from the Pepsico corporation have also been recently exposed of containing these GMO sugars and the health implications are quite unclear (read the full article here).
What I’m getting at here is that perhaps its the GMO sugars that are causing some kind of hormonal imbalances or in more simple terms, interfering with our natural body chemistry and the cause effect is a harsh addiction.
That unknown is a big one and I think it’s time we kick the habit. I’ve tried all of these myself, and I can tell you that it is highly effective in curbing the irrational sugar cravings.
Let’s start with the basics…
Sorting Out Carbs and Sugars
Sugars are carbohydrates, but they’re the simplest carbohydrates you can get from your food. All carbohydrates are essentially composed of different numbers of sugar molecules. The problem with the simple sugar molecules, like the ones you get in processed sugars, is that they enter your bloodstream quickly and cause a very fast spike in blood sugar levels.
This spike can cause a number of problems, from nasty cravings to insulin resistance and obesity. This is also where the addictive properties of sugar really come into play.
But some other carbohydrates cause a pretty fast spike in blood sugar as well, especially processed grains like white bread, white pasta, and white rice. Because they’re so heavily processed and stripped of their nutrients, they end up acting much like processed sugar when they enter your body.
What’s the Solution?
In addition to cutting out all processed sugars (including foods that have added sugar), you should also be cutting out highly processed carbohydrates. Make sure everything you eat is whole grain, and go for minimal processing whenever possible. Fruits are okay in moderation, because they tend to include a lot of other nutrients.
