Last week I wrote about a studied link between sugar and heart disease.  Your comments, as usual, were great.  I for one, am doing my best to not eat anything with added sugars, corn sweeteners, evaporated cane juice, brown sugar, raw sugar, dextrose, maltodextrin, sucrose, fructose, and on and on – all just sugar in pretty words.  Many of our readers are also on a “no-sugar” campaign.  You may want to go “sugar-free” too.

I’m not suggesting that you replace the sweetness of sugar with artificial or natural sweeteners.  No, I am not having things with Splenda, saccharine, Equal, Sweet-and-Low, aspartame, etc.  I’m avoiding any added sweeteners, even honey.  I’ve done this off and on for years.  I wrote about it in my “Give-Back Diet” earlier this year.  I believe that sugar (and carbohydrates) in general are a leading cause of obesity, overweight, diabetes, heart-disease, and on-and-on.  I recommend people stop eating sugary foods, and cut the carbs.  You will probably lose weight if you do, like I did.

Some of the comments people wrote last week are great:  dEE found she had “constant cramps,” from sugar.  Jackie B wrote, “Whenever I ocassionally have some in my diet, all the old negative effects come back! Sugar is bad news for me!”  Shirley said she’s diabetic, but “as I get stressed the only thing that I crave is cookies and chocolate bars, especially caramel filled ones”  She wonders what to do.  You’re not alone!  In our commercial culture, we’re constantly bombarded with sugar, salt and fat.  We’ve been made addicted to harmful additives that are not natural.  Don’t give into them, a little bit triggers the addiction.  Susan confirmed what I just said, “Several years ago I quit eating sugar and nothing sweet tasted good, but once you start eating it again, the addiction returns.”

Starting Over Again 2010 (who wins the grand prize for commenting – many thanks!) says it all…”We now read labels on almost everything and make every effort to eat only “natural sugars” in our canned fruits and when dining out. We also “substitute” processed sugars with natural fruits and vegetables and incorporate exercise at least 5-6X per week for 30 minutes or more. We feel much better and anticipate extending our life expectancy with healthier bodies!”

Beautiful, and very sweet – with no added sugar!

Please Comment!  Also, please join our community on twitter.  www.twitter.com/drnorrischumley