Cardio Training

by Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN and Amy Coates, BSc., RHN

The average person in North America consumes 150 lbs of refined sugar per year! This is astronomical in contrast to the 5 lbs per year consumed by the average person at the turn of the 20th century.

Sugar, especially in its refined state, has many detrimental effects on the body. First and foremost, it is highly acid-forming. This means that sugar consumption throws off your pH balance so that your blood and other important cells become more acidic. The more acidic your body becomes, the greater the likelihood for disease to flourish.


Arthritis, asthma, headaches, psoriasis, cancer, stomach gas, intestinal gas, osteoporosis, heart disease, weight gain, PMS, candidiasis, tooth decay, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer sores, cataracts, gallstones, kidney stones, and cystic fibrosis are all diseases and conditions that are negatively affected by the intake of sugar.

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1. Sugar - The Fat Promoter and Drug

When you consume sugar, insulin is released from the pancreas, causing your muscle and liver cells to take up glucose from the blood and store it. A diet that includes lots of refined sugar goes hand in hand with mood swings. When blood sugar is abnormally high, as it is when sugar is ingested, the sugar acts like a drug, and you become elated.

But once insulin packs the sugar away into the cells, your mood begins to head south and your brain signals that more sugar is needed to regain the high. This is exactly when you find yourself reaching for that chocolate bar or sugary treat.

When a low-sugar diet is consumed, you will find your moods are even throughout the day, and your body will actually tap into fat as a source of fuel, a process that stops the second you eat something sugary. Since toxins are stored in fat, this is something you want to get rid of!

2. Sugar = Toxic Acid

Excessive sugar consumption throws your body’s pH levels out of balance. The sugar, and the acidity that it creates, provides an internal environment that is ripe for the overgrowth of dangerous yeasts, fungi, and bacteria - ultimately making it much harder for you to lose weight and maintain optimal health.

In turn, these nasty little critters feed on the sugar, multiply, and expel toxic wastes that make you feel and look even worse. Because these critters feed on sugar, your body begins to crave more sugar in the form of sweets, breads, pastas, and so forth. You end up feeding these microorganisms and fuel their growth, placing additional toxicity acid into your body.

As this vicious cycle continues not only do you feed these toxin-producing microorganisms but you also intake huge amounts of calorie-rich, nutrient void, sugar-laden foods. Over time, an excess intake of calories through sugar obviously leads to weight gain (considering everything else remains equal).

The other aspect of sugar that increases toxicity is the fact that as you fuel more and more of these “bad” microorganisms, the toxins they expel create more acid in your blood and pose added stress on your liver.

Since excess acid in the blood will eventually be stored in fat cells, it is imperative that you reduce the acid load in your body - if you want to lose weight and achieve great health. Only once you rid your body of excess acid and restore its proper pH balance will you be able to shed excess fat. If fat isn’t needed to store acid, then it can more readily be metabolized.

Make sense?

Similarly, if your liver becomes stressed and compromised as a result of having to filter tons of toxins floating through your blood, your weight loss attempts will be in vain. This is because the liver is not only the body’s major filter but it also regulates sugar and fat metabolism.

If your liver is not functioning properly then its ability to metabolize sugar and fats will also be compromised. Elevated blood sugar and blood lipid levels are usually the result.

3. Sugar is a Now a Processed Food Ingredient

The manner in which sugar is processed exacerbates the problem. More than 60 chemicals are used in the processing of natural sugarcane’s thick beige stalks into the fine, white granular table sugar that we’re all to familiar with. Many of these chemicals, including bleaches and deodorizes, are still present in the final product.

At same time, the naturally occurring minerals and vitamins in the sugarcane plant are completely removed. One such mineral is chromium.

Chromium is a critical player in your body’s ability to uptake sugar from the blood and into the cells. The fact that chromium is not present in refined sugar poses a serious problem for sugar uptake and metabolism, which imposes further stress on your body’s ability to burn fat and control blood sugar effectively.

4. Sugar Upsets the Mineral Balance in Your Body

There are so many reasons that sugar is bad news that simply it’s impossible to go through all of them right now. But one reason we will hit on is the fact that sugar can single-handedly impair the mineral balance in your body.

Researchers have found that ingesting sugar increases the rate at which we excrete calcium. Essentially, calcium is removed from the bones, teeth, and tissues to neutralize the consumption of acidic sugary treats!

Since minerals work in relation to one another, when you consume sugar, you are starting the dominoes falling.

And it’s not just the refined table sugar that is the problem. In fact, the majority of our sugar intake comes from hidden and unexpected sources such as processed and packaged foods. Sugar is used as an additive in foods ranging from meat to ketchup to salt. In packaged foods sugar can take the form of glucose, dextrose, sucrose, or the ever-present high-fructose corn syrup.

The major concern is that sugar provides no real nutritional value, while wreaking havoc on your blood sugar levels (promoting diabetes and weight gain) and leading to excess caloric consumption. It suppresses the immune system, disrupts normal mineral relationships, compromises the health of your vital organs, and keeps your body incredibly toxic.

Obviously, you must not only eliminate sugar from your diet, but also avoid other antinutrients such as alcohol, sweeteners, caffeine, rancid fats, drugs, and food additives and colourings to ensure your immune functioning is up to par. Of course, you must also eat a diet full of fresh, whole, colourful, and nutritious fruits and vegetables!

Don't waste money on detox pills, detox supplements and detox potions that will not work. Instead.......

Download your Free book, "5 Detox Scams to Avoid" and learn how to really detox your body with whole, natural foods.


Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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