The Secret Life of Sugar in Your Body

Part 1: Sugar as a Fundamental Substance

Sugar has gained a bad reputation

There's no doubt that sugar has gained a bad reputation for causing bad things to happen to fairly good people who happen to have a sweet tooth. Diabetes, on the rise in the Boomer Generation, will claim the lives of tens of thousands in the next few years. But there's more to sugar than meets they eye: sugar is a very important thing in your body and plays an important role. Actually, you might say that your relationship to sugar determines your relative health or disease state. Sugar is one of the building blocks of the body.

Surrounding the cell membrane

In fact, surrounding the cell membrane of each cell of your body is a chain of sugar molecules. These sugar molecules have a specific job: to regulate what goes in and out of the cell. In many ways, they are like bouncers in a bar, who (if they're doing their job right) will let the celebrities and wealthy patrons in, but will also keep the riff-raff out. In the same way, the sugar molecules surrounding the cell will let the nutrients in and let the toxins out. Much like the club bouncers, that is their job.

Our relationship with sugar

When our relationship with sugar becomes imbalanced, it's like when the mafia slips the bouncer at the club an extra $100 in order to get in. The bouncer's judgment is corrupt; therefore he doesn't have the discrimination to keep the bad guys out and let the good guys in. The same thing happens with sugar-when we don't have a good relationship with sugar, the sugar molecules on the outside of the cell membranes will not let the nutrients in or the toxins out. This quite naturally compromises the functioning of our immune system and paves the way toward malnutrition and disease.

Our brain uses

Furthermore, our brain uses only a few substances in its functioning--water, amino acids, fats, oxygen, and sugar. When our brain needs food, it gives us a very loud, clear signal to that effect. However, although the brain could very well be saying, "I need some water," or "I need some amino acids," the only thing we really understand is, "I need sugar!" Therefore, the most common side effect of protein deficiency or dehydration is a craving for sugar.

Succumb to the craving

It is when we succumb to the craving that we really throw our body out of balance. Ingestion of any type of sugary snack-soda, candy, sweet breads and coffee drinks- disturbs our blood sugar for quite some time and sets of a dangerous chemical reaction that taxes our pancreas and our liver and takes them hours to remedy. When we ask our body to work that hard, especially over a period of years, it eventually takes its toll. An excess consumption of sugar, more than anything else, will acidify the body, and this makes us more susceptible to disease.

Two things

There are two things each of us can do to maintain a good relationship with sugar. The first is to stay hydrated and keep our protein intake at a sufficient level. The second is to avoid sweets. The second is relatively easy as long as we don't keep a stash around to tempt ourselves, and as long as we do the first thing first.

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