By Sherry Orcutt

Sugar is creating untold suffering in individuals including tooth decay, mental and emotional problems and suppressed immune systems.

Soda contains approximately 10-16 teaspoons of sugar which will immobilize the immune system by 33 percent for the day. Refined sugar is so denatured and concentrated from its original plant form that it is actually a drug – and very addictive.

Your body converts all foods to glucose. However, there is an important difference between sugar and other foods. Sugar has nothing to assist in its digestion and absorption. As a result, metabolizing refined sugar puts the body at a severe nutritional disadvantage.

This translates into a 50 percent reduction in the ability of white blood cells to engulf bacteria. Lowered white blood cell activity means your immune system and it’s ability to fight infection is impaired.

High fructose corn syrup is a liver toxin, metabolized in the body the same way as alcohol is by the brain.  The effects of intoxication such as impaired judgment, slowed response time impaired motor function are easily recognized. But fructose is not metabolized by the brain, so you don’t notice that is affecting your body the same way alcohol is.  Drinking a can of soda does the same thing to your liver that drinking a can of beer does. Many kids drink soda every day.

When the fructose breaks down in your body, it causes fatty liver disease which raises your cholesterol and deactivates a substance in your body that prevents high blood pressure, so you get hypertension and high blood pressure and then you can develop diabetes.

The small blood vessels in the kidney become damaged and your heart has to continue to pump the blood through at a higher pressure.

Eating whole fruits does not cause the same problem as high fructose corn syrup and table sugar because fruit contain vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which helps metabolize the fructose. Today’s advice to consume more of God’s sweet goodness; the fruits that He created for our enjoyment. Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

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Kelly Wise Valdes
Kelly Wise Valdes has been writing for the Osprey Observer since 2008. She graduated in 1989 from Florida Southern College with a B.S. in Communications and enjoys writing and traveling. She currently resides in northern Hillsborough County with her husband, David. When not traveling and writing, Kelly and her husband enjoy spending time with their five grown children (as well as their grandchildren) that still keep them very busy.