Proface

Here's a test for you. Can you eat just one cherry tomato and stop? What about one olive, or one cube of cheese? Many people would say yes. What about one piece of chocolate? That's a different story-- once that sweetness reaches your tastebuds, they're yelling out for more.

Our predilection for sugar seems to be biologically based, as tests with very young babies have shown that they prefer sweet tastes to savoury, and breast milk has a natural sweetness. The trouble is, as we get older, keeping that liking in control, as sugar is one of the most addictive substances, and definitely the most addictive food.

An excessive amount of sugar affects the immune system in a variety of ways:
It greatly reduces the ability of the white blood cells to repel harmful bacteria for up to 5 hours after ingestion
It reduces the production of antibodies, which bind with and inactivate harmful bacteria
It interferes with the absorption of Vitamin C, an important nutrient for the healthy operation of the immune system
It causes an imbalance of minerals and even allergic reactions, which weaken the immune system
It nullifies the effects of essential fatty acids, inducing cells to be more permeable to invasion by
allergens and harmful bacteria

And as the efficient functioning of your immune system is vital to your good health, it's easy to see how excessive sugar intake can have a major impact on your well-being. It can raise your risk for a variety of conditions, from obesity and diabetes to heart disease, stroke and even cancer.

So what is an appropriate level of daily sugar consumption? The American Heart Foundation advises an added sugar intake of no more than the equivalent of 6 teaspoons a day for women and 9 for men. Added sugar doesn't include sugar that is found naturally in dairy products and fruit-- these sugars are well tolerated and absorbed by the body as a result of the other vitamins, minerals and fibre contained in these foods.

Your added sugar intake can be difficult to measure, because as well as the usual suspects of cake, cookies, candy, chocolate and soda drinks, sugar is added to most processed foods, even bread and other products that don't taste sweet. To give you some idea, a normal 12 ounce can of Coke contains over 9 teaspoons of sugar, so if you're female and drink a can of Coke (or any soda) a day, you're already over the healthy level. High fructose corn syrup is a typical ingredient of many processed foods and is documented to be the main reason for the addictive character of so many fast foods.

Your body doesn't require sugars to operate properly, and added sugars provide more calories and absolutely no nutritional value to food. From a nutritional viewpoint, two pieces of fruit a day are quite adequate provided that you're eating lots of other high fibre foods like vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Some brave souls can go cold turkey on cutting out sugar, but for many it's a case of decreasing their intake gradually. Become a devoted label-reader-- if a product has sugar in the first three ingredients, don't purchase it as the content will be high. Be aware that sugar takes many forms, so also look out for brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, high fructose corn syrup, honey, malt sugar, molasses, raw sugar, syrup and sugar molecules ending in 'ose' such as dextrose, maltose, sucrose etc

And while you're decreasing your usage of sugar and improving your health, it's a good idea to take a probiotic supplement to build up your stores of good bacteria. to further increase your immunity and speed up the positive effect of your healthier eating.