Sugar, sugar, and more sugar. Our body craves it and the more we eat the
more our body screams like Veruca in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, “I want
it NOW!” Sugar is hidden in many of the common
food items we regularly pick up at the grocery store which means we may be
ingesting more sugar than we realize. The sugar epidemic has successfully led our
society to become one of the most chronically inflamed cultures in history,
responsible in part to illnesses including: Diabetes, Pancreatitis, IBD,
Cancer, Crohn’s disease, Rheumatoid arthritis and Asthma to name a few.
The average American consumes 20 tsp (80 grams) of sugar in a day compared to the 9 tsp (36 grams) the American Heart Association recommends.
Chronic and Acute Inflammation
Most people think of
inflammation as a sprained ankle or an injured muscle, which is acute
inflammation. Acute inflammation is a normal and natural process to an injury
in the body. Chronic inflammation is a very different kind of inflammation.
Chronic inflammation is at the cellular level and is dangerous to our health.
Most diseases today are caused by chronic cellular inflammation. The majority
of people in our country suffer from chronic cellular inflammation.
Inflammation causes our bodies to age prematurely and can actually damage our
DNA. We can make choices in our lives, particularly in our nutrition choices
that can decrease inflammation, help our hormones and positively affect our DNA
expression.
Cellular Inflammation
When our cells become
inflamed the signal on the receptors becomes blunted to the communication. The
receptors work poorly and if the cell is too inflamed, then the receptors can
shut down. Then nutrients don’t enter the cell and at the same time waste
doesn’t leave the cell. It makes for a toxic cell.
We have about 10 trillion cells in our bodies. If our cells are healthy, we are healthy. If our cells are sick, we are sick.
The truth about added sugar
Sugar is hidden in many common foods such as milk, marinara sauce, bread, crackers, and ketchup. Fast food eateries and restaurants hide huge amounts of sugar in meals that sound healthy like, Applebee’s Grilled Shrimp N’ Spinach Salad which contains 50 grams of sugar and Jamba Juice’s Acai Primo Bowl with a whopping 96 grams of sugar. So even though you’re not downing Jelly Bellies and Pop Tarts, you still may be eating much more sugar than you think. Read those nutrition labels! Reducing the amount of sugar in our diet is key to a healthy functioning liver and keeping cellular inflammation as low as possible.Our Liver on Sugar
The liver’s main job is to
filter the blood coming from the digestive tract, before passing it to the rest
of the body. The liver also detoxifies
chemicals and metabolizes drugs. I
usually think of our liver as this hard working, detoxifying, powerhouse that
kicks into overdrive when we drink alcohol.
Well, your liver is getting beat up by the sugar in your diet too. One source claims sugar does the same thing
to your liver as shots of bourbon! Your
liver sees this as poison and stops all other functions while it rids itself of
the poison ASAP. High amounts of sugar,
particularly Fructose, can leave people with unhealthy levels of fat around the
liver.
Sugar Delays Massage Results
Our massage
clinic sees a lot of people in pain.
Some clients’ bodies, like Client A’s, can heal from pain well through
deeper work, stretching or trigger-point therapy. Then there are others, like Client B, in
which that same treatment is not effective, with the person having to go
through days of pain and recovery after the treatment. What is the difference? Why does the same treatment not work the same
for both clients? The answer, in part,
is that Client B has more inflammation.
Due to the constant draining factors inflammation causes the body;
people like Client B do not have the energy to help themselves heal.
What can you do to decrease inflammation?
If you change your diet you can dramatically decrease your inflammation levels. You can start by reducing inflammation over the course of time by greatly reducing and/or eliminating inflammatory foods.
- Start with cutting out sugar and things that turn to sugar. Take out the sugars and grains that you are eating.
- Drink lemon water. Lemon is a great natural detox for our bodies.
- Eat some green with every meal. Yes, even breakfast!
- Receive detoxifying massage. Our massage clinic uses Essential Oils and offers abdominal massage for detoxing sessions.
