Sweetness kills. Know why.

The next time you feel the strain after running long distances or running fast, try eating fruits including dates, grapes, bananas, mangoes and oranges. They make you feel full due with their fibre content, and take away the sugar craving by providing just the right amount of sugar at a measured pace (unless you have eaten cart-loads of these in which case, besides getting a slight sugar rush, you may either have to rush to the hospital or stay put in the toilet for hours!). So says Dr Rituparna Shinde, Cardiologist at Aloha Clinics, Pune.

And, if you are a true-blue speed junkie, you could just stuff your mouth with sugary stuff to take care of your sugar craving and feeling of fatigue. Done too often, it does a lot besides making you feel more than an overcharged battery about to explode. Most (if not all) of these effects are simply negative that in time could cause major damages to the body including bringing about an early onset of diabetes, varied heart diseases, non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, premature ageing, and also cancers of varied kinds.

Why fruits from natural sources, and not raw sugar?

In its most natural form in fruits and natural eatables, sugar gets stored in the form of chains in the fibres. Fluids in the small intestine break down these foods into much-needed nutrients, including glucose. The process of digestion is slow in the presence of fibres and this helps keep things on an even keel. Glucose enters the bloodstreams and gets transferred to all the parts of the body that crave energy, including the brain. Glucose on its part mixes with the blood because of insulin. On a normal diet, the body does not use all the glucose thus produced. Some part of it gets stored in the liver as fat, to be used in lean times.

The above, an ideal situation, takes place when the diet has a healthy mix of naturally occurring nutrients including sugar found in nature-derived products.

What goes wrong when we consume copious quantities of raw sugar?

Sugar to glucose in the presence of insulin is a process that takes time. Under ideal conditions, glucose thus derived goes either into the bloodstreams or is stored in the liver. For the ‘ideal condition’ to occur, the supply of sugar ought to be steady, which happens ONLY when one follows a balanced diet that contains eatables in the right quantities, including dietary fibres.

As against this, when one consumes sugar-heavy foods (and beverages), the body’s capacity to process sugar gets overwhelmed. With insufficient insulin being available, unprocessed or semi-processed glucose gets dumped into the bloodstreams besides getting stored in much larger quantities in the liver. Both these lead to Type 2 diabetes and hyperglycemia. The latter may damage veins and arteries that supply blood to vital organs, thus increasing the risk of heart disease and cardiac arrest. These besides, the liver may enlarge with increasing concentration of fat and not function as desired, leading to impurities being pumped back into the body. Other areas where high blood sugar has adverse effects include kidneys, eyes and the central nervous system.

The way out?

If you are still at the beginning of the curve, you could do the following, among others, to stop or slow the spread of diabetes:

• Get off the couch/ chair/ bed and get into some form of physical activity that strains your body. Glucose is what the body burns when you exercise. In fact, of all the form of carbohydrates, including fat and starch, glucose is the easiest to burn. Besides blood sugar, fats in places like the liver and other parts get used up efficiently - only when one exercises.
• Eat right. Strictly monitor the consumption of Corn syrup, sugary treats, chocolates, foods high in flour and carbs. Instead, switch to more greens, grains, legumes and coarse grains because they don’t cause a sugar spike while making you feel full and energetic. Foods that need processing including flour etc shouldn’t be ground to a fine powder or in forms that make it almost a sugar. To the extent possible, natural fibres should of cereals must be retained.
• Manage stress. Our subconscious mind interprets stress as a situation calling for more blood sugar that gets processed with other chemicals including adrenalin, glucagon, cortisol and growth hormones. Under stress, the body becomes less efficient at processing fats or glucose leading to high levels of blood sugar continuously.
• Get sleep. Sleep is the polar opposite of a stressful situation. It’s during sleep that the body needs relatively lesser blood sugar. If sleep is fitful and for the required duration, blood sugar normalizes to a large extent.
• Request medical help. Age is when the body produces lesser insulin leading to diabetes despite one’s best efforts. In such times, medical help is most required.

If after trying these you still feel you need help, come to us. We are Aloha Clinics pioneer in Lifestyle Diseases Reversal, here are some programs for you to consider -

• Cardiac Rehabilitation Program is designed especially for people who have recently encountered or learnt about a heart ailment.
• Diabetes Rehabilitation Program is recommended to people who within the past five years were detected of Type 2 Diabetes or have a Body Mass Index (BMI) > 27 kg./m2
• Obesity Reversal Program is a preventive program for individuals who are over-weight & with a family history of heart diseases, high blood pressure or uncontrolled diabetes.