People who sink their sweet tooth into too much sugar don’t just end up with cavities and flab. Dr. Nancy Appleton is a clinical nutritionist in Santa Monica, California. In her book Lick the Sugar Habit, she cites study after study that shows sugar-lovers put themselves at greater risk for arthritis, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, allergies, headaches, canker sores, yeast infections and fatigue.
“You absorb even concentrated sweets — like fructose, barley malt, and rice syrup — directly through your tongue,” Dr.Appleton states. “These foods don’t take the roundabout path through your digestive tract.” The sweetstuffs seem to hit people’s bloodstream fast enough to upset body chemistry. “These concentrated sweets deplete some of the minerals in your body. Then your enzymes, which depend on those minerals, can’t function as well.”
Sugar can also suppress your immune system. Dr. Appleton explains that we have phagocyte cells which protect us by eating up toxins. “Normally our phagocytes can gobble up 18 foreign invaders — viruses, cancer cells, and the like — but at Loma Linda University, an hour after researchers fed subjects sugar, honey, or fruit juice, the subjects’ phagocytes could only gobble up five or six foreign invaders.” (Researchersfed 100 grams of each sweet item. This is about 10 teaspoons — the amount of sugar you find in most soft drinks.)
What’s a sugarholic to do?
Take fresh fruit as your treat instead, Dr. Appleton advises. For example, she teaches clients to make a “chocolate mousse” by mashing up sweet potatoes with carob and vanilla.
If that’s not enough, kick the sugar habit this way:
- Keep all concentrated sweets out of your house.
- Exercise when you crave sweets (it’ll curb your appetite).
- Brush your teeth, and then down a glass of water to fool your stomach. “There’s enough sugar in the toothpaste to trick your mouth into feeling it had some.”