More Health Topic for You
Enrichment Material for You
Sweet Sorrow
Hampton Roads Seventh-day Adventist Church
3400 Kecoughtan Road ~ Hampton, Virginia 23661
Church Office ~ 757.722.1221 ~ Church Fax ~ 757.722.7642 ~ Email ~ jeanniehoward@cox.net
Saturday (7th day Sabbath)
Sabbath School 9:30 am ~ 10:40 am
Family Worship 11:00 am ~ 12:00 noon
Prayer Meeting ~ Wednesday 7:00 pm
"Sweet Sorrow"
Rhoda Kanna
Health Emphasis - Sabbath February 19, 2011
There is a saying that goes something like this – “A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.” This old adage aptly applies to the modern problem of sugar consumption in America. Excessive sugar consumption contributes in a large measure to the overweight problem that exists in this country. It is linked to many cancers, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Mental function is impaired temporarily after sugar is consumed. Today we are eating about 70% more sugar than our grandparents did in the early 1900s.1 “Between1970 and 2005 alone, our intake of added sugars jumped 20%.”2
Why do Americans eat so much more sugar today? Because we love the way it tastes and it is accessible on every street corner. We can find “sugar dispensers” in waiting rooms, lunch rooms, and break rooms. Into our affluent lives has come soda pop to satisfy any personal preference, sport and energy drinks, Krispy Krème Doughnuts, Hershey’s Chocolate, and Little Debbie’s. A conservative study reports that the average American eats as many as 30 teaspoons of added sugar every day.3 Other data indicate average daily consumption up to 46 teaspoons per day.4
Most of us don’t sit down to a bowl of sugar and eat it. The added sugar that we eat is hidden in our foods. Simple sugars come in many forms, such as white sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, and fruit juice. These simple sugars add empty calories, that is, they add a few nutrients, and they fail to provide fiber.
If you are an average American and eat 30 teaspoons of added sugar daily, you have just consumed 475 empty calories that contribute a negligible amount of nutrition to your body’s daily requirements. Can Americans afford these added calories, void of value, to a diet that’s already high in calories? I think not.Taking in 30 teaspoons of added sugars each day, by the way, may not be so hard to do. Most sugar in our diet is hidden and virtually goes unnoticed.
Sugar is best utilized by the body when it is found in the food as it comes from the Creator’s hand. “Eating natural but not refined sugar, such as in apples, oranges, pears, etc., should be encouraged because these foods are packed with nutrients, including fiber, along with the unrefined sugar. … Fiber slows the rate of simple sugar absorption, allowing utilization of the energy from the food we eat at a steadier rate.”6
Is there any wonder that our prophet said, “The free use of sugar in any form tends to clog the system, and is not unfrequently a cause of disease.”12 Today research is bearing light on the accuracy of that statement. It most certainly is a contributing factor in many lifestyle diseases present in our society today.
Refined sugar depresses the vitality of the immune system and its strength to combat disease. Studies showed “that the capacity for white blood cells to destroy bacteria is weakened as sugar consumption rises.”8 To understand this slide, if a person has not consumed sugar “for 12 hours, each white blood cell could destroy an average of fourteen bacteria.”9 Eating just 6 teaspoons of sugar like a Krispy Kreme chocolate covered crème filled doughnut, “each white blood cell could only eliminate about 10 bacteria – a 25 percent decrease in killing power.”10 As the sugar consumption increases, white blood cell bacteria fighting capacity decreases. “Sugar’s impairing effects on white blood cells are not short-lived. The impairment lasted full five hours….This means that during that five-hour period the white blood cells could not perform optimally.”11
“One classic study examined the effects of eating apples in three different forms: as whole apples, as applesauce, or as apple juice. The same number of calories was consumed with each preparation.” Note that the blood sugar levels peaked for all three at the same level 30 minutes after eating. Then all levels decreased as sharply as they rose, with apple juice falling the lowest. The blood sugar level for the whole apple did not fall as low as the other two and then maintained a fairly constant level for the remaining 2 hours, “indicating that the whole apple will produce a steadier blood glucose that the body can more easily handle. …Eating food in its natural state is the safest way to enjoy sugar.”7
Think about your own dietary habits. If you drink a 20 oz. bottle of soda, you’ve just consumed about 17 teaspoons.
If you add a small package of M&Ms to that, together you have eaten 25 teaspoons of sugar.
And what about a ½ cup of vanilla ice cream and 2 Oreo cookies before bed? There, you’ve just had 30 teaspoons of added sugar.
You will also find added sugar in most boxed cereals, crackers, breads, potato chips, fruit juices, and processed foods.
And if you’ve been told that artificial sweeteners are safer because they add fewer calories to your diet, beware. Research has shown that artificial sweeteners increase the appetite, and people who use them are more likely to gain weight overtime.5 It is worth mentioning also that some artificial sweeteners have been proven to be harmful and others have not been on the market long enough for their safety to be verified.
The Bible says in Proverbs 25:27, “It is not good to eat much honey.”13 Sugar consumption impairs our ability to think clearly. If you believe as I do that we are living in the time of the end, then a clear working mind is essential in the great controversy battle we must fight. God has given us the power to choose. Our dietary habits will either strengthen this power to choose what’s best for us or weaken it. Enjoy sugar as God has packaged it for you in many delicious foods, limiting your intake of added sugar, and thereby minimizing the chances of experiencing “sweet sorrow.”
1 Nedley, Neil. Proof Positive, p. 185
2 Leibman, Bonnie. Sugar Overload: Curbing America’s Sweet Tooth. Nutrition Action Health Letter, January/February 2010, p. 1
3 Leibman, Bonnie. Sugar Overload: Curbing America’s Sweet Tooth. Nutrition Action Health Letter, January/February 2010, p. 1
4 Nedley, Neil. Proof Positive, p. 185
5 Ibid. Proof Positive, p. 187
6 Ibid. Proof Positive, p. 183
7 Ibid. Proof Positive, p. 183
8 Ibid. Proof Positive, p. 184
9 Ibid. Proof Positive, p. 184
10 Ibid. Proof Positive, p. 184
11 Ibid. Proof Positive, p. 184
12 White, E.G. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 197
13 Proverbs 25:27, KJV
