Nutrition 101 - Avoid refined sugars and flours

Perhaps this is not the right time to cover this subject so soon after Passover and Easter when many of us still have parts of our chocolate bunnies and other goodies to eat...or maybe it is the perfect time.

Dr. William Coda Martin posed the following question in 1957: "When is a food a food and when is it a poison?"1 He defined poison in medical terms as "any substance applied to the body, ingested or developed within the body, which causes or may cause disease."1 Dr. Martin considered refined sugar a poison because it is stripped of its "life forces, vitamins, and minerals."1 Refined flours are included in this definition because they act in the body just like refined sugars, and provide little to no energy or nutrition.

Following is a summary of what happens when we consistently eat these refined products:

Refined sugars and flours produce an acidic condition in the body, and an increasing number of minerals are required from the depths of the body in order to regain an acid/alkaline balance. Also, as a way to preserve the health of the blood by reducing acidity, calcium and other minerals are leached from the bones and teeth resulting in rotting and deteriorating. Continuous consumption of these foods eventually affects every organ in the body. First, they are stored in the liver in the form of glucose (glycogen), but the liver's ability is restricted, so when the liver has had enough, the extra glycogen is returned to the blood in the form of fatty acids. The fatty acids are transported to every part of the body and stored in the ones that get the least amount of activity, namely the stomach, the thighs, the behind, and the breasts.1

Disease is the next step and may manifest as: type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome (syndrome X), inflammatory conditions, high blood pressure, hyperinsulinemia, hypoglycemia, high cholesterol, and Candida (yeast overgrowth), and many others.2

Replacing refined foods with whole, unprocessed foods may help us to avoid many health problems and provide us with a lot more energy and much needed nutrition. And, since refined sugars and flours trigger fat-making hormones2, it is recommended that you cut out all refined sugars if you want to lose weight.3 Just in time for bathing suit season!

1Global Healing Center. 2010. Refined sugar - the sweetest poison of all: why sugar is toxic to the body. Retrieved from http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/
2Light, L. 2006. What to eat: the ten things you really need to know to eat well and be healthy. McGraw-Hill: New York
3Tierra, M. 1998. The way of herbs. Pocket Books: New York.