Eating Sugar Ages You

I have been reading several sites that indicate that eating sugar, especially to excess ages your body quicker. It has to do with something called "Cross Linking" and happens when sugar molecules bond to protein molecules in your body. The end result is that your tissues become stiffer.

Link to cross linking causing aging

(EXCERPT)

"What is Cross-Linking?:

When you heat onions or toast bread, the sugar molecules bond to protein molecules. This bonding, which in cooking is called carmalization, is a result of the sugar molecules attaching to protein molecules. When this happens, a series of reactions occur (called glycation) that result in protein molecules bonding to each other.

This Happens in My Body?:

Chemically speaking, yes. The process is slow and complicated, but over time more and more protein molecules are cross-linked. These cross-linked molecules don't function propoerly. When enough cross-linked molecules accumulate in a specific tissue (such as cartilage, lungs, arteries and tendons), there can be a change in function.

What Changes With Cross-Linking?:

Basically, things become stiffer. When tissues stiffen, they do not function as efficiently. Many of the symptoms of aging have to do with the stiffening of tissues. Cataracts, for example, are a stiffening of your eyes' lenses.

Can I Stop It?:

No, but you can slow it down. Researchers believe that if the concentration of sugar in the blood is high, then more cross-linking occurs. Everyone could benefit from keeping their blood sugar from spiking. Foods with a high glycemic index, such as sugary sodas and juices, release sugar into the body quickly. These foods have been associated with cardiovascular disease, possibly because of protein cross-linking"

(MY INPUT)

There is also a fair amount of evidence that restricted calorie diets, especially restricted glucose intake result in longer life.

Link to LESS Glucose Means Longer Life

(EXCERPT)

"ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2009)" — Scientists searching for the secrets of how calorie-restricted diets increase longevity are reporting discovery of proteins in the fat cells of human volunteers that change as pounds drop off. The proteins could become markers for monitoring or boosting the effectiveness of calorie-restricted diets -- the only scientifically proven way of extending life span in animals."

Their study appears online in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.
Edwin Mariman and colleagues note that scientists have long known that sharply restricting intake of calories while maintaining good nutrition makes animals live longer and stay healthier. Recent studies suggest that people may gain similar benefits. But scientists know little about how these diets work in humans, particularly their effects on cells that store fat.
The new study focused on proteins in abdominal subcutaneous fat cells from a group of overweight people before and after they went on a five-week-long calorie-restricted diet.
The volunteers each lost an average of 21 pounds. Scientists identified changes in the levels of 6 proteins as the volunteers shed pounds, including proteins that tell the body to store fat. These proteins could serve as important markers for improving or tracking the effectiveness of therapies involving calorie-restricted diets, they say."
 

(MY INPUT)

The more one reads, the more data you will find that eating a lot of sugar and refined carbohydrates and empty calorie foods is going to shorten your life span. If you are a type 2 diabetic already, this applies doubly to you and ME . You cannot continue to build your day and your life around rewarding yourself with some sort of sweet treat 2 or 3 times a day and think you are going to get better.

This is not rocket science, however you do have to make up your mind that if you want to reverse type 2 diabetes, you absolutely have to make some changes. You are going to have to develop NEW and better dietary habits. I cannot stress enough that you have to start reading labels. Then you have to retain that knowledge and stop eating foods that contain hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. Stop eating empty calorie foods with high sugar or high carbohydrate levels. Get off the carbonated drinks (both DIET and REGULAR) as sugar is bad for you, and the artificial sweeteners are just as bad if not worse.

Here is a case in point:

You might be thinking to yourself, come on Dan, I have to have a little treat every day or life just isn't worth living for me. OKAY, I understand, so why not pick up a package of "Little Debbie" Cosmic Brownies with chocolate chip candy frosting. The box contains six individually wrapped brownies, so why not eat just one every night before you go to bed and on Sunday, you will sacrifice and skip the brownie.

Before you put the package into your shopping cart though, why not read the label first:

Each brownie contains:

• 42 grams of carbohydrate
• 24 grams of sugar
• Enriched BLEACHED flour
• Corn syrup 
• Partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil
• Some combination of titanium dioxide, yellow 5 lake,  yellow 6 lake, red 3, blue 1 lake, blue 2 lake (which I presume to be some sort of dye for the coloring on the frosting etc.)
• Carmel color red 40

There is one redeeming quality - each brownie contains 2 grams of protein, so if you eat all 6 at one sitting, you have 12 grams of protein. I am not saying that one brownie is going to kill you, and I am not particularly picking on "Little Debbie" Brownies. I just happened to pick up the box and read the label.

I think a lot about one of Jack La Lanes famous sayings, "IF man made it, don't eat it".

Dan

In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.  ~Author Unknown