Diabetes is spreading.

It’s an insidious disease that totally wreaks the lives of the people who have it.

Yet… many of them won’t change the way they eat.

I’ve met people with open weeping sores on their FACE who won’t cut back on their carbohydrate intake.

I talked to a woman in a wheelchair the other day.  Because of diabetes, she’s lost both feet and most of one leg.  She keeps eating like crap even though she KNOWS it’s going to kill her soon.

Dying by inches and unwilling to change.

I’m re-reading a book called “Suicide By Sugar”  The title makes sense.

If you’re eating a lot of sugar, you’re committing slow suicide.

The author, Dr. Nancy Appleton is no Don Rickles, but the information in her book is compelling.

Forget diabetes.  Sugar can do many, many things to poison your body.

Here’s a partial list of ways sugar can damage your physical and mental health:

1. Sugar suppresses your immune system
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body
3. Sugar eaten during pregnancy and lactation can influence muscle force production in offspring (Eating sugar will make your child WEAK)
4. Sugar increases reactive oxygen species, which will damage your cells and tissues
5. Sugar causes hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate, and crankiness
6. Sugar produces a significant rise in your triglycerides
7. Sugar reduces your ability to defend against bacterial infections
8. Sugar causes a decline in tissue elasticity and function (the more sugar you eat, the sorer and stiffer you become)
9. Sugar reduces good cholesterol
10. Sugar consumption has been linked to ovarian cancer
11. Sugar causes copper deficiency
12. Sugar interferes with your ability to absorb calcium and magnesium (osteoporosis anyone?)
13. Sugar makes you more vulnerable to losing your eyesight as you age
14. Sugar interferes with your neurotransmitter production (ever notice that after a sugar binge you feel depressed?)
15. Sugar leads to an acidic digestive tract
16. Sugar can cause premature aging
17. Sugar consumption has been linked to alcoholism
18. Sugar causes tooth decay and bad breath
19. Sugar leads to obesity
20. Sugar will increase your risk for Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitus
21. Sugar causes duodenal and gastric ulcers
22. Sugar leads to arthritis
23. Sugar leads to learning disorders
24. Sugar assists the growth of yeast infections
25. Sugar can cause gallstones
26. Sugar can cause heart disease
27. Sugar can cause appendicitis
28. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids
29. Sugar can cause varicose veins
30. Sugar leads to periodontal disease
31. Sugar decreases your insulin sensitivity
32. Sugar causes acidic saliva
33. Sugar decreases the amount of growth hormone in the body (growth hormone burns fat and keeps you young)
34. Sugar increases your cholesterol levels
    
35. Sugar increases advanced glycation end products (leads to premature aging, Alzheimers, heart disease, and stroke)
36. Sugar interferes with the absorption of protein
37. Sugar causes food allergies
38. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy
39. Sugar causes eczema
40. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease
41. Sugar can damage your DNA (cancer and tumors)
42. Sugar changes the structure of your body’s proteins
43. Sugar causes wrinkles by changing the structure of collagen
44. Sugar consumption leads to cataracts
45. Sugar can cause emphysema (lung cancer without ever even smoking!)
46. Sugar leads to atherosclerosis
47. Sugar will slow your metabolism
48. Sugar impairs your enzymes’ ability to function
49. Sugar intake is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease
50. Sugar damages your liver
51. Sugar increases the amount of fatty tissue in your organs
52. Sugar damages your kidneys
53. Sugar damages your pancreas
54. Sugar increases your fluid retention (I HATE feeling bloated!)
55. Sugar disrupts your bowel movements
56. Sugar can cause near-sightedness
57. Sugar damages the lining of your blood vessels
58. Sugar makes your tendons and ligaments more brittle (people with crappy diets are more likely to blow out a knee)
59. Sugar causes headaches, even migraines
60. Sugar has been proven to lower grades in children
61. Sugar can cause depression
62. Sugar can cause indigestion
63. Sugar increases your risk of developing gout
64. Sugar reduces learning capacity
65. Sugar reduces your ability to handle fat and cholesterol
66. Sugar increases platelet adhesiveness, which leads to blood clots
67. Sugar causes hormone imbalances (Have you ever been accused of being “hormonal”?)
68. Sugar leads to the formation of kidney stones
69. Sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress
70. Sugar can lead to biliary tract cancer
71. Sugar can lead to a substantial decrease in the length of pregnancy (premature birth)
72. Sugar keeps food too long in your bowels
73. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stool and bacterial enzymes in the colon, which modifies your bile to produce cancer causing compounds (and colon cancer!)
74. SUGAR INCREASES ESTROGEN IN MEN
75. Sugar makes digestion more difficult
76. Sugar is addictive (Don’t let any chemical get the best of you!)
77. Sugar aggravates premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
78. Sugar decreases emotional stability
79. Sugar makes you hungrier, prompting you to eat more
80. Sugar can cause adrenal fatigue
81. Sugar decreases oxygen to the brain
82. Sugar increases your risk for POLIO
83. Sugar can cause seizures
84. Sugar increases blood pressure
85. Sugar can induce cell death
86. Sugar has been linked to prostate cancer
87. Sugar makes disorders like schizophrenia worse
88. Sugar can contribute to memory loss
89. Sugar causes brain decay in diabetics
90. Sugar can cause asthma
91. Sugar can affect your central reward system (loss of motivation and decreased ability to feel pleasure)
92. Sugar can give you acne and make acne worse
93. Sugar can ruin your sex life by turning off the gene that controls sex hormones
94. Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness, and depression
95. Sugar can cause diverticulitis
96. Sugar increases your risk for irritable bowel syndrome
97. Sugar can cause rectal cancer
98. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer (cancer in the womb)
99. SUGAR MAKES YOU FAT!!

Dr. Appleton lists MANY more reasons sugar will damage your health in Suicide By Sugar

I’d suggest printing this list out and giving it to people you know who are eating too much sugar, but that’s a quick and easy way to insult somebody.

So, lead by example and give up sugar and hope they follow you!