Remember when your grandparents would warn you, “Don’t eat too much cake because you might get a belly ache!” It was because they knew there was a direct relationship to you eating too much sugar and then getting sick to your stomach. Too much sugar = sick. I also remember being told, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” They knew eating something fresh with nutrients was good for your health.
Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost track of food and its relation to our health beyond just adding inches to our waistline. Today we seem to look at physical and mental illness as a separate issue caused solely by external forces we cannot control. Our children eat Cheetos and drink Dr. Peppers everyday but we cannot figure out why their stomach hurts. We feel depressed but it can’t have anything to do with the fact we consume a large amount of high fructose corn syrup, drink 4 Diet Cokes a day, and haven’t exercised in weeks.
A recent study on the sugar substitute aspartame revealed even more about the sweetener we have been warned about for years:
Drinking soda is in many ways as bad as smoking. Most sodas contain far too much sugar, or even worse, artificial sweeteners. For instance, the chemical aspartame (aka NutraSweet, Spoonful, Equal, etc), often used as a sugar substitute in diet soda, has over 92 different side effects associated with its consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders, memory loss, joint pains, and seizures. Plus, each sip of soda exposes you to:
- Phosphoric acid, which can interfere with your body’s ability to use calcium, leading to osteoporosis or softening of your teeth and bones.
- Benzene. While the federal limit for benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb), researchers have found benzene levels as high as 79 ppb in some soft drinks. Benzene is a known carcinogen.
- Artificial food colors, including caramel coloring which has been identified as carcinogenic. The artificial brown coloring is made by reacting corn sugar with ammonia and sulfites under high pressures and at high temperatures.
- Sodium benzoate, a common preservative found in many soft drinks, which can cause DNA damage. This could eventually lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson’s.
But sugar is ok right? In moderation sugar is fine, but the problem is Americans do not consume sugar in moderation anymore. If you are grocery shopping and buying packaged foods it is in almost everything you are buying, even in things you would not think contain sugar – energy bars 25 grams per bar, flavored yogurt 20 grams per cup, salad dressings up to 10 grams per serving, any bread, BBQ sauce 9 grams per ounce.
100 years ago Americans consumed about 4lbs of sugar a year. Today we consume 150-170lbs a year the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports. Some classify refined sugar as a drug or poison because it is depleted of its life forces, proteins, minerals and vitamins. Too much of it can be harmful to the body and promotes inflammation and disease. Too much sugar can lead to organ malfunction and hormone disruption. When these systems are disturbed and unbalanced, several other pathological conditions manifest: allergies, obesity, tooth decay, arthritis, migraines, degenerative/organ disease, diabetes, depression, behavioral problems, mental illness and more.
Plus, if you or your child have reoccurring sickness throughout the year you may want to look at your sugar intake. How does eating sugar relate to being ill? Excess sugar consumption depresses your body’s immunity. Sugars are known to create a 40 to 50% percent drop in the ability of white blood cells to kill bacteria and germs within the body. The immune-suppressing effect of sugar starts less than thirty minutes after ingestion and may last for five hours. By consuming 150 to 170 pounds of simple sugars each year, a person may have up to 80,000 hours of immune suppression.
At a school event last year, I was shocked to see sodas being served left and right to children and the prize for one of the games that almost every child who played won was a 2 liter of soda. Was I stuck in 1988? Why on earth would this be acceptable in a school setting where our children are supposed to be educated (even in health).
We live in a world that believes illness needs to be cured with a pill, a tiny 1 milligram pill, but the 3-5 lbs of food and drink we put in our bodies every single day has no effect on our body and minds, except for waist size.
The truth is however that your food and drink intake critically affect your health and mental well being. For example, a deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids (key building blocks of brain tissue) has been strongly linked to depressive illness because omega-3 fats facilitate the brain’s use of “feel good” neurochemicals such as serotonin and dopamine. Omega-3s also serve as raw material for the body’s construction of anti-inflammatory hormones, which help calm the cerebral inflammation that often characterizes depression. High-dose omega-3 supplements, typically in the form of fish oil, have been shown in multiple trials to fight depression. Even moderate exercise like walking briskly 3 times a week is proven to fight depression as effectively as Zoloft.
We are a nation that believes we fight chemical imbalance with chemicals. Maybe it is time to take charge of our own health and our family’s health instead of relying on an ill-fated health care system and realize that anything our bodies consume will affect our physical and mental well being. Your body is a temple and you control what you put in it. Too much sugar should be looked at as a drug, highly processed foods and drinks should be looked at as drugs.
So what can we do? I believe we start by educating our children about real food. We show them where real food comes from and teach them how delicious real food is. Little Savannah Chef Clifton Holt visited an elementary school last year and he asked, “Where do oranges come from?” The reply from the children, “Publix!” Not one child could tell him that oranges came from Florida or even from a tree. If children understand that food comes from planting a seed in the earth – how fascinating would that be for them.
Each year it becomes more fascinating to me and I’ve been planting for several years now. This year I discovered how delicious radishes really are. Previously I had only had them from restaurants or the grocery store and I thought they were probably the most boring, tasteless vegetable imaginable, then I grew my own and discovered that they are absolutely delicious with a wonderful peppery flavor. What do radishes do for your body – they sooth a sore throat, aid digestion, and prevent viral infection. They are just one of the thousands of vegetables (all with their own health benefits) that comes from the earth that is naturally beneficial to your mind and body. Other foods you may want to give a chance before popping another Big Pharma pill:
- Beets – Lower blood pressure, fight inflammation, boost your energy, detoxify your system, fight cancer
- Kale – Fights cancer, promotes bone health, helps blood clotting
- Blueberries – Lower risk of heart disease and cancer, fight inflammation
- Wild Salmon – Lower risk of heart disease, help arthritis, may possibly help with memory loss and Alzheimer’s.
- Tea – Tea contains unique antioxidants called flavanoids which may help against free radicals that can contribute to cancer, heart disease, and clogged arteries.
- Tomatoes – Lower cholesterol, fight heart disease, contains lycopene which is an antioxidant that promotes bone health.
- Swiss Chard – Balances blood sugar, regenerates pancreatic cells, promotes bone health, anti-inflammatory
- Hot peppers – Contain capsaicin which releases endorphins, burns calories, arthritis relief, sinus soother, promotes healthy blood circulation.
- Yogurt/Kefir (cultured milk products) – Contain probiotics which reduce heart disease, reduce intestinal cancer, reduce childhood respiratory infections, reduce IBS, ameliorate food allergies, help prevent tooth decay.
- Lavender – Calms nerves, reduces stress, induces sleep, treats acne, repels bugs.
- Cranberries – Prevent urinary tract infections, fight cancer, reduce inflammation.
- Chamomile – Treats colds, heals wounds, relieves skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema, induces sleep, calms an upset stomach, calms menstrual pain.
- Nuts – Walnuts reduce inflammation, almonds regulate your digestive system, cashews boost brain power, pecans improve heart health, pistachios burn calories, Brazil nuts fight cancer, hazelnuts manage diabetes.
This is a very short list, imagine the benefits of the thousands upon thousands of foods and drinks that exist naturally on this earth, some of which you can grow in your own backyard. Our health and our family’s health is in our control. Let’s start teaching our children what real food is and how healthy choices promote physical and mental well being.