Label Reading for Sugars

All of these items are just another name for sugar. While they appear "natural" (whatever that means) they have undergone processing and will cause a rise in blood-sugar levels.
- cane sugar
- sucanat
- brown sugar, golden sugar
- fructose, sucrose,
- HFCS, high fructose corn syrup
- raw sugar, dried cane juice
- sucrose, maltose, dextrose, glucose
- agave, maple syrup

Fruits and starches, as well as honey, provide an unprocessed source of sugars, which should be eaten in moderation. Stevia is a leaf which provides an intense sweet flavour; while it can be processed, it is still a leaf only, and will not affect blood-sugar.

Here are some good reasons for not consuming processed sugar:

It’s an empty food  White sugar (sucrose) has been stripped of most of its nutrients. A whole, unprocessed food comes with its own minerals and vitamins, as well as enzymes to help it get digested in the body.
It spikes blood sugar levels  White sugar is so close to pure glucose, what your body needs for energy, that it is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. A large amount eaten at once (2 tsps) will increase your blood pressure, speed up your heart rate, and cause your pancreas to start secreting insulin in large amounts.
It’s a strain on your system  Since your body has a tendency to stay in balance, hormones are secreted and your pancreas and adrenal glands work overtime to correct the blood sugar level spike, to restore balance. Regular white sugar consumption can exhaust these two organs in particular.
It will acidify you  White sugar and other highly refined foods have an acidifying effect on the body which inhibits many metabolic processed. For example, if your cells are too acidic, they will not accept any further acid substances such as glucose to enter them. Too much sugar doesn’t mean you will be able to do more work. If your cells can’t accept the glucose, it gets stored as reserves. That means fat.
It makes you lose minerals  Consuming refined sugar will cause your body to excrete a higher amount of much-needed Calcium than it should.
It suppresses your immune system  We’ve heard this before but why? White blood cells help us fight off disease. In a person who eats white sugar regularly, the white blood cells will regularly have to give up their enzymes for the purpose of aiding the digestion of the refined sugar, making them sluggish and less able to do their job. Studies have shown that just sugar decreases the ability for white blood cells to fight infection by at least 25%.
It’s bad for your heart  Sugar can raise triglyceride levels, cholesterol production, systolic blood pressure, has been linked to atherosclerosis, heart disease, reduces your High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) levels
It will make you VERY sick  Sugar consumption has been indicated as a major contributing factor in these diseases: diabetes, hypoglycemia, Multiple Sclerosis, cataracts, periodontal disease, alcoholism, Crohn’s disease, kidney disease, arthritis, asthma, gallstones, appendicitis, and cancer of the breast, ovaries, intestines, prostate and rectum.  Fructose, in recent years, has been shown to accelerate the growth of cancerous tumours.

Does this sound hard to believe? People reacted with similar disbelief when first told that smoking and suntanning could accelerate the growth of cancerous tumours. Think about how our lives have changed since we've become "civilised":  we sit around a lot and watch flickering screens, take on stressful jobs, eat fast food, drive around in fast cars, drink too much and eat too much food that barely resembles food growing naturally in a field or forest. Giving up sugar is a difficult challenge, but when you consider that are not designed to eat it, and it doesn't do us much good, the choice should be an easier one.