Vague Menace
By Dean L. Jones
It is common for us to eliminate and limit the amount of sugary items we consume each day, like ice cream, candy and desserts. Although, few of us think about the amount of foodstuff containing added sugar, such as bread and pasta. The issue with these carbohydrate items is that they are processed grains, whereas consuming large amounts can avert a significant amount important fats from being used by the body for energy, thus, leading to the body storing unwanted fat.
This is why the term sedentary lifestyle comes up so often, as when we do not employ immediate physical activity upon consuming sugary foodstuff, a higher danger of an elevated blood sugar will occur. Any carbohydrates not burned straight away by the body as fuel will be stored in the form of glycogen (a long string of glucose molecules linked together). Glycogen will either be stored in the liver organ and/or within the muscles. Once the glycogen levels are filled in either the liver or muscles, excess carbohydrates are converted into fat and stored elsewhere as fatty tissue.
Plainly put, carbohydrates end up as excess fat. So, refined grains are essentially a veiled sugar source, just as processed sugar is unseen fat. In other words, whenever we eat too much bread, pasta, or other grain products, we are sending a hormonal message to our body, via insulin, requiring it to store more fat.
Added sugars are extremely inflammatory agents that build up dangerous growth of fat cells around our vital organs, which is the hallmark of diabetes and heart disease. I realize that this is probably very old news for most people, but it cannot be overemphasized since processed sugar is lurking in thousands of foodstuff items.
There is so much hidden sugar that most candy bars have less added sugar. Take for instance how nearly all commercially marketed yogurt contains an average of 30-grams, or 6 ounces of added processed sugar. Even more troubling is that the yogurt brands labeled as light with less sugar are more toxic from the added artificial sweeteners, like aspartame.
Granola bar labels often show sugar as the top ingredient, where granola is a grain that breaks down into sugar. Hence, this one item alone can lead to excess body fat, obesity and related health issues. One cup of tomato sauce may add up to over 20-grams of processed sugar, and considering that most of us eat tomato sauces topped upon pasta (pizza), another carbohydrate source, the end result will be sugar overload.
Likewise, a cup of canned fruit may contain over 30-grams of added sugar, due to how the packing process consists of sugary high fructose corn syrup. These are a mere diminutive example of the menacing dangers of hidden sugar, consequently obese, cancer, heart disease and/or diabetes sufferers especially ought to live SugarAlert!
www.SugarAlert.com
Dean Jones is an Ethics Advocate, Southland Partnership Corporation (a public benefit organization), contributing his view on certain aspects of foodstuff.
