Reverend George Malkmus, Founder of Hallelujah Acres
Posts tagged refined sugar
What Does A Weight Gaining Kitchen Look Like?
Jan 18th
In last week’s Health Tip we asked “What Does A Healthy Family Look Like?” Under that heading I asked our readers to evaluate: “What is the Size of Your Family.” I wasn’t looking for the number of people in the family, but rather how large family members were and how many pounds they were carrying.
In this week’s Health Tip I want to share some things that cause a family to be overweight and then show how that family can take control of their overweight condition.
We are going to begin by taking a look in the kitchen to see what a person is eating – which is the primary cause of excess weight.
What Does A Weight Gaining Kitchen Look Like?
There are certain foods that contribute to weight gain and there are other foods that contribute to a slim and trim body. Let’s examine the weight gaining foods first.
Carbs
Refined carbs, especially refined sugar, are the greatest cause of weight gain. Anything containing refined sugar should not be found in the kitchen of a home that wants family members to be slim and trim. Where do we find refined sugar in the average kitchen?
Soft drinks – The average 12-oz can of soft drink contains approximately 11 teaspoons of sugar. If a person were to consume just one 12-oz can of soft drink each day for one year, the sugar in that soft drink would cause their body to gain approximately 15 pounds of weight. Now think of all the sugar in those liter bottles!
Bread, cakes, cookies, pies, pastries, cereals, jams, jellies, candy, gum – Almost every one of these items contain large amounts of refined sugar, a substance that not only causes weight gain but also psychological problems. Almost every manufactured product on the grocery store shelf contains some form of refined sugar.
Artificial sugars – These “sugar free” products are not only dangerous in themselves, but cause an increase in appetite, thereby defeating the very reason many people use them. Refined sugars and artificial sugars could also be classified as addictive drugs.
Refined Grains – Refined grains, when ingested, turn rapidly to sugar. Almost all breads, donuts, cookies, pies, pastries, and most breakfast cereals are made with refined grains. When a person consumes these products they are getting a double weight gaining whammy – not only from the sugar in the product, but also from the refined grain.
Fat
All animal products contain fat and the fat in these animal products contributes to excess body fat. That chicken many people think is less fattening than a beef patty is loaded with fat. Remove the skin from the breast of the chicken and broil it, and the percentage of fat remaining in that chicken breast is still 20%. Beef contains some 20 to 40% fat, and park is 40 to 60% fat.
When you cook these animal sourced foods it is impossible to get all the fat out. It’s not hard to imagine where that remaining fat ends up.
Other sources of fat include milk, cheese, hydrogenated oils, lard, and the fats found in deep fried foods such as doughnuts, French fries, fried fish, chicken nuggets, potato chips, etc.
These fats not only contribute to excess weight, but also clog the arteries causing high blood pressure, need for by-passes and stents, and often lead to a heart attack or stroke.
What’s In Your Kitchen?
As we enter the kitchen, we are going to open various doors in that kitchen to see what we see behind them. We are going to be looking for foods that contribute to weight gain behind those various doors.
The Freezer Door – The first thing that jumps out as we open the freezer door in many homes is that pint, quart or half-gallon of ice cream or maybe some popsicles. Ice cream not only contains lots of refined sugar (approximately 37%), but is also loaded with fat.
What else can we find? A stack of beef patties or package of hot dogs? Did you ever notice the fat that drains from these patties or dogs as you grill them? Did you ever consider what happens to the fat that does not drain from these items? That fat is taken into the body and that fat adds to your body fat.
Maybe you have a frozen pizza in there, covered with cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and hamburger meat. Some of the pizzas being sold today even boast “double cheese” and some even have cheese baked into their crusts.
The Refrigerator Door – As we open the refrigerator door what might we see? A six-pack of soda or beer? Are you aware that both of these contribute greatly to weight gain? So do fruit juices. Most of them are sweetened with refined sugar, which contribute to weight gain.
Even 100% fruit juices are loaded with natural sugars that can contribute to weight gain. Then there are the sugar laden Kool Aid, Gatorade, and other sport drinks.
Let me emphasize again that milk and cheese are huge sources of animal fat. Cow milk and cheese are not only highly fattening, but possibly the most dangerous items in the refrigerator.
And beware of the “low fat” deception, allowed by government, found on the label of a container of milk. The percentage is based on weight, not as a percentage of calories. As a percentage of total calories, a container of 1% milk is actually 26% fat, and 2% milk is 37% fat.
The Pantry Door – Is that a box of macaroni and cheese I see sitting on the pantry shelf, a very fattening food? Are there bags of sugar and white flour, boxes of cookies, crackers, and refined grain pastas? In most pantries there is also a container of refined salt. Refined table salt causes the body to retain water which can also contribute to weight gain.
What Does The Menu In A Restaurant Look Like?
For a moment, let’s look at what is being served in fast food restaurants. Take a typical fast food meal: animal flesh and cheese between a refined white flour bun, deep fat fried potatoes, and a sugar-laden soft drink. Other items might include deep fried chicken nuggets or a deep fried chicken or fish patty on a white flour bun.
Have you ever considered the size of the patrons in an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant? Yet even in the finest restaurant there is a meat entrée, rolls and sugar desserts, and the salads usually have cheese and bacon bits added. All fattening foods!
Lack of Exercise
Failing to exercise on a daily basis encourages weight gain and discourages weight loss. The basic formula for weight gain and weight loss is this: consume more calories than are burned, and the body will gain weight. Burn more calories than are consumed, and the body will lose weight.
Consequences
- Children who are obese are twice as likely to die before age 55.
- Obese teen girls are more likely to die between the ages of 35 and 56.
- Because of an unhealthy, fattening diet, the average young adult is now facing increased risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cancer.
- But it’s not just the young people facing these problems. Heart disease is the number one cause of death among adults. Cancer is a close second. Type 2 diabetes is rampant and low bone density is becoming an increasing concern.
Discouraged? Don’t Be!
Some reading this might at this point be so discouraged they are ready to throw up their hands and say, “There is nothing my family can eat that will not contribute to their weight gain!” Ah, but there is!
It is called The Hallelujah Diet. For nearly 20 years, tens-of-thousands of folks from around the world have written to share what happened when they changed their diet. When they switched from the unhealthy SAD foods to The Hallelujah Diet, they not only lost weight but were able to maintain that weight loss while eliminating many other physical problems.
Some of the weight losses have been dramatic. In January 2008 one gentlemen adopted The Hallelujah Diet and lost 206 pounds by October of the same year. Another gentleman in Texas lost 320 pounds and proclaimed “I’m not half the man I used to be.”
Several years ago I taught a class titled “Biblical Nutrition 101” in the church Rhonda and I were attending at the time. By the end of the six-month class, the 32 participants who adopted The Hallelujah Diet lost a combined total of more than 700 pounds.
A recent poll on www.hacres.com asked people if they had lost weight on The Hallelujah Diet. Of 240 who responded, 166 (or 69%) reported a weight loss. That is phenomenal!
What Does A Healthy Kitchen Look Like?
Next week, the good Lord willing, we will share ideas to replace those fattening foods in the freezer, refrigerator and pantry - foods that will help a person lose weight, obtain optimal weight, maintain that weight, and assist the body to rid itself of most other physical problems.
We will also share what a “Hallelujah Kitchen” looks like and provide a simple exercise program that will assist in helping a person obtain and maintain their weight goals.
White Death?
Oct 1st
Are you addicted to it? Consuming refined white sugar is one of the worst things we can do for our immune system, weight, and total health.
Many holistic doctors say white sugar is a killing you. This may be overly simplistic, but it does sum up refined sugar’s impact on the physical body.
Not all sugars are unhealthy. Certain sugars have minimal negative impact and remarkable health benefits. However the refined white sugar that most people use every day is harmful even in small amounts.
Refined sugar suppresses the immune system. It has been shown to decrease the vitality and number of white blood cells, limiting the body’s ability to respond to invaders.
It also depresses the body’s energy field and makes the blood acidic. Both of these make the body more susceptible to toxins, bacteria and viruses. Sugar also feeds bacteria such as candida and yeast.
Refined sugar hits your bloodstream hard, severely impacts blood sugar levels, decreases digestive enzymes, increases body weight, and negatively affects the pancreas.
Found in most soft drinks, candy, sauces, salad dressings, baked goods and thousands of other prepared foods, refined sugar can be very difficult to avoid unless you are fixing your own food from scratch.
If you want to experience ultimate health as God designed for your body, avoid refined sugar!
How Many Bowling Balls Are You Carrying In Your Body?
Sep 14th
A regulation bowling ball weighs 16 pounds.
If you have ever gone bowling, you know what it’s like to lug that big awkward ball around. Yet some people are carrying one, two, three, four, and sometimes many more around in their body.
This extra weight puts a tremendous strain on all the organs of the body, especially the knees and back. It is also the cause of a multitude of problems people suffer with today.
Grim Statistics on Obesity
More than 60% of the American population is overweight! That means that over 180 million Americans are carrying at least 10 pounds more than they should be carrying for their height and bone structure.
An estimated 30%, or 54 million, are defined as clinically obese. This means they weigh 20% more than their recommended ideal weight. A smaller, yet significant number are considered morbidly obese. Their symptoms are putting such strain on the body they could die at any moment.
Sadly, an ever-increasing percentage of our children are overweight, with a rapidly increasing number of these children being diagnosed as clinically obese.
The sad truth is that obesity has reached epidemic proportions. This obesity precipitates or aggravates almost every acute and chronic disease being experienced today. Many of the seriously obese suffer with cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes, along with a multitude of other symptoms.
The good news is that diet and exercise will usually fix this problem. Simply change what we eat and start a simple exercise program.
Sadly, the prognosis for ever being able to leave the slavery of obesity and obtain the trim physical body God designed for each of His human creations is very bleak.
Statistics reveal that only about five percent of those who seriously attempt to lose weight are able to take off the desired amount of weight and keep it off. Some studies show the success rate to be even lower.
These sad statistics reveal the ineffectiveness of most of the expensive weight-loss diet programs being offered and adopted by an ever-increasing number of Americans.
According to the F.D.A, Americans spent an estimated $30 billion on all types of diet programs in 1992.
In 2007, Marketdata reported that figure has reached $60 billion. The firm has been tracking sales of diet products and programs since 1989. (Source: “The U.S. Weight Loss & Diet Market”, 2007)
Hallelujah Diet and Lifestyle Best Weight Loss Program
I want to share right up front that The Hallelujah Diet is the very best weight loss program available today.
We will later talk more about why this is true. But for now I would like to encourage our readers by sharing the weight loss results others have obtained on this lifestyle.
A few years ago the pastor of our church asked me to teach a series of lessons titled Biblical Nutrition 101. Thirty-two adults in our church adopted The Hallelujah Diet and completed the course. At the end of 6 months, the total weight lost was over 700 pounds, for an average of over 22 pounds per person.
On January 7, 2010, Hallelujah Acres launched 60 Days to a Hallelujah Waistline on the internet. Over 7,200 people worldwide signed up for the course – including 26 of our own staff at Hallelujah Acres. In just 60 days, those 26 individuals lost a total of 456 pounds, for an average weight loss of over 17 pounds.
Cause of Excess Weight and Obesity
In Proverbs 26:2, the Bible tells us that “the curse causeless shall not come.”
We need to realize that the curse of obesity will not occur without a cause!
In most instances, the cause of excess weight is not genes or glands, but rather food choices and lack of exercise.
Following are the five major factors contributing to excess weight.
1. The Refined Sugar Factor
Refined sugar is an addictive, weight-producing drug! The average adult in America consumes some 172 pounds of it each year. For adults, that breaks down to 50 teaspoons or more of refined sugar every day. Most children consume even more sugar than adults.
Refined sugar is very high in caloric value and causes the body to gain weight. Consuming just one 12-ounce can of soft drink a day for one year can increase your weight by 15 pounds or more. Yet there are people who consume liter bottles of it every day.
Consider also that sugar is invariably baked or cooked into irresistibly tempting goodies like ice cream, cakes, cookies, cinnamon buns, etc. These foods contain additional ingredients that cause the body to gain ever more weight.
Refined sugar is an addictive drug. Even though a person wants to lose weight, they continue consuming products containing it to feed their addiction.
The USDA recommends that the average adult should consume no more than 40 grams of sugar per day from all sources.
It might startle you to learn that just one teaspoon of refined sugar contains 4 grams of sugar and 16 calories. One 12oz soft drink, contains 11 teaspoons of sugar, or 44 grams, and about 176 calories.
If the average person consumes 50 teaspoons, that person received 200 grams, or 800 calories, just from sugar.
Regarding artificial sweeteners, Dr. Neal Nedley, in his book Proof Positive says, “Do the low calorie soft drinks really work?… Those who drink the most diet drinks have the most problems with their weight… One study of over 75,000 women ages 50 to 69 found that users of artificial sweeteners were significantly more likely than non-users to gain weight over time.” (Page 187)
Researcher Michael Tardoff reported that artificial sweeteners increase the appetite. “We found that hunger increases after drinking just a liter of aspartame sweetened soda. In our country, an average of over 20 pounds of artificial sweeteners is consumed per person per year, but despite this increase in consumption of artificial sweeteners, actual sugar consumption continues to increase.”
2. The Animal Fat Factor
The average American consumes some 100 pounds of animal fat per year. This becomes important when we recognize that weight gain is often related to getting too many calories from fat rather than getting them from complex carbohydrates as God designed.
In the research lab, animals on a high fat diet gain more weight than their peers on a low-fat regimen—even when both groups ate the same number of calories.
Animal source foods are the primary source of fat in the average diet. Each of the following foods provide the body with 10 grams of saturated fat: 2 cups of whole milk; 1 double hamburger; 2/3 serving of macaroni & cheese; 1 cup ice cream; 2 cups plain yogurt; 2 slices of American processed cheese. (Source: Proof Positive, page 24)
Cheese has the honor of being one of the most fat-laden foods being consumed today! Often people will consume a salad, which is a healthy food, but then load it up with cheese, a very unhealthy and fattening food!
Fat contains 9 calories per gram. There are 454 grams as well as 4086 calories in each pound of fat. If the average person consumes 100 pounds of animal fat per year they consume 408,600 calories per year. That equals 1,119 calories from animal fat alone every day. This amounts to half of our daily caloric intake.
According to the USDA, our nation’s daily fat intake has steadily increased from 107 grams in the 1970’s, 110 grams in the 1980’s, to 116 grams in 1999. So according to these figures, if we multiply 116 grams times 9 calories per gram, we arrive at the figure of 1044 calories per day. If we increase to today at the same rate of growth, we get approximately the same as the previous figure.
Add the 800 calories from refined sugar to over 1,000 calories from animal fat. Most of the calories eaten by the average American each day originate in the two most fattening foods one can consume. Is it any wonder America is overweight?
3. The Refined Carbohydrate Factor
Refined carbs, such as white flour, white rice and sugar make you fat. Unrefined carbs, such as whole grains, beans, legumes, fruits and vegetables help keep you lean.
Unrefined carbs contain fiber, which packs a powerful punch when it comes to fighting fat.
Scientists at the University Hospital of London, Ontario compared the fiber intake of different individuals. They found that those individuals who had a healthy weight ate 30% more fiber than the overweight individuals.
Why is fiber important? High fiber foods help people lose weight for several reasons. First, high-fiber food requires more chewing time, slowing food intake. Second, fiber has more bulk, filling you up with fewer calories. Third, fiber stabilizes blood sugar levels and stimulates less insulin secretion, which translates into weight loss. Finally, since we can’t digest fiber, we can’t absorb any calories from it.
In his book Carbohydrates from Hell, Carbohydrates from Heaven, author James Krystosik says, “anyone trying to improve their health and lose weight should take advantage of fiber, one of nature’s best appetite suppressants. Remember fiber is a non-digestible form of carbohydrate, which passes through the digestive system without ever adding one single calorie. Fiber absorbs water, swells inside your stomach, and creates a sense of fullness. Now your brain gets the message that your hunger has been satisfied. High fiber foods also satisfy the sensation of hunger longer than refined food, which means you end up eating fewer calories and you lose weight”
Refined grains also upset normal blood sugar levels, causing mental and/or physical imbalances. When refined starches are eaten, a high percentage is quickly broken down into a glut of simple sugars hitting the bloodstream and causing alarm to an exhausted pancreas and/or adrenals. This amounts to the same objectionable diabetic/hypoglycemic reactions initiated by refined sugars.
4. The Table Salt Factor
Table salt is a protoplasmic poison. Besides being totally devoid of fiber, it causes the body to retain fluid. In reality, it is not the table salt that retains the water. Instead the body retains more water so that the salt concentration is reduced, thus causing less irritating and less caustic concentrations.
In other words, the body recognizes table salt as a poison and acts to protect itself by diluting the highly irritating crystals. This adds water weight to the body.
It is not unusual for a person to lose 6 to 12 pounds or more within a few days of going on The Hallelujah Diet. Why? Because when a person stops consuming table salt, the body releases the water being retained to keep all that toxic sodium chloride from doing damage.
5. The Lack of Exercise Factor
Calories in vs. calories burned is a huge factor in how much a person weighs.
If a person takes in more calories than the body is burning, weight will increase.
The amount of calories burned depends on how much exercise a person receives. If a person wants to lose weight, they must exercise enough to burn more calories than they are consuming.
A sedentary couch potato lifestyle and high caloric intake is a prescription for obesity. An active lifestyle and low caloric intake is a prescription for a slim, trim and healthy body.
Obesity Is a Matter of Choice
The Hallelujah Diet and Lifestyle eliminates all 5 of the above fat-producing items found in the Standard American Diet (SAD). These items are responsible for most of the excess weight and obesity plaguing over 60% of our population today.
The Hallelujah Diet replaces these with predominantly raw foods that are highly nutritious and high in fiber and complex carbohydrates. We couple this with regular exercise.
This lifestyle was not my idea. It came from God and can be found in the Bible in Genesis 1:29.
That’s right. The Hallelujah Acres diet is 100% plant-based and very similar to the one God gave the first humans, Adam and Eve, immediately after creation.
The Hallelujah Diet is totally comprised of plant-sourced foods. It contains no refined sugar, refined carbohydrates, refined table salt, or animal fat. This diet, which we have been proclaiming for almost 20 years, and the ones promoted by Dr. Neal Nedley and Dr. Krystosik are all similar to the Genesis 1:29 diet.
Diet is not the only vitally important fact to maintaining and ideal weight. The body must also be exercised daily.
Might it be that God is far wiser than we humans when he placed man in a garden and told him he would have to earn his bread by the “sweat of thy face” (Genesis 3:19)?
My daily exercise routine includes gardening in season, stretching, resistance and aerobic exercise, with at least two miles of power walking most every day.
I personally listened to God thirty-five years ago and adopted a diet similar to the one He gave Adam in Genesis 1:29.
Today I have a lean, muscular physical body capable of doing almost anything physically I could do at the age of 20. Just three years short of my 80th birthday, my height is 5’ 9”, my weight is 142 pounds, my waist is 31/32 inches and my abs are rock hard.
Because I know Jesus I know that there are even better days ahead! Amen!
Refined Addictions
May 25th
How We Contribute to Our Own Physical Problems – Part 6
For the past five Health Tips (#648 through #652) we have been talking about “How We Contribute to our own Physical Problems.“
In Health Tip #648 we talked about the FAT contained in animal sourced foods that clog the arteries, and contribute to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.
In Health Tip #649 and #650 we discussed how the ACID in animal sourced foods cause a myriad of problems, including acid stomach, heartburn, osteoporosis, and more, and how if the blood becomes even slightly acidic, we die.
In Health Tip #651 we talked about PROTEIN and how the excessive amounts of protein found in animal source foods harm the body, and contribute to numerous physical problems.
In Health Tip #652 we talked about SUGAR the second greatest cause of both the physical as well as the mental problems being experienced today.
In this Health Tip we are going to continue talking about sugar, the second greatest cause of the physical problems being experienced today, and a substance that has a devastating effect on the mental state of those who consume it.
THE DANGERS OF REFINED SUGAR CONTINUED
After animal sourced foods (both flesh and dairy), which I previously have said are the most dangerous and destructive foods we can place into our physical bodies, the next most dangerous food is refined sugar. Last week in Health Tip #652 we showed how refined sugar turns off the immune system; the very system God gave us to protect us from germs, viruses, and bacteria. In this Health Tip we continue the discussion:
LIFETIME INTAKE OF REFINED SUGAR IS 12,000 POUNDS PER PERSON
Though refined sugar is not a food substance, but rather a dangerous, poisonous, addictive drug, the average person consumes approximately 50 teaspoons of it nearly every day of their lives. That’s approximately 170 pounds per person per year.
If we do a little math, we find that if a person lives to 70 years of age, they will consume some 12,000 pounds of refined sugar during their lifetime, or about 1,277,500 teaspoons.
It takes three feet of sugar cane to produce one teaspoon of refined sugar. Thus, in order to receive that amount of sugar in its natural sugar cane form over a lifetime, a person would have to chew, digest, and assimilate some 3,832,500 feet of sugar cane.
Refined sugar is something God never intended our physical bodies to ever have to contend with. The only sugar God designed our physical bodies to ever have to process are the natural sugars found in the LIVING plants, in the raw fruits and vegetables that God the creator of mankind created and placed in the Garden for the nourishment of His human creation. (See Genesis 1:29.)
1. REFINED SUGAR IS DEVOID OF LIFE
The physical body we each possess is a LIVING organism, comprised of LIVING cells, designed by God to be nourished with LIVING (raw) food. Sugar cane, as it grows in the garden, is a LIVING food! However, turning sugar cane into refined sugar destroys the LIFE force, and sadly does so much more.
For a few moments, let’s look at the process being used to convert the LIVING sugar (cane or beet) as found in the plant, into a refined, DEAD, product. The following was taken from a newsletter written by Charlotte Gerson of the Gerson Institute:
“Sugar is a basic element in starchy food; however, processed sugar is a completely different matter. The sugar we purchase in the supermarket for personal consumption is processed sugar. This kind of sugar is heated up in chalk-milk, so that calcium and protein are extracted. After the process, it becomes alkaloid, destroying all vitamin content. In the second phase the sugar is mixed with acid chalk, carbonic gas, sulfur dioxide and finally with natrium bicarbonate. The mixture is cooked and cooled off several times and thereafter crystallized and centrifuged.
“The dead mass is then treated with strontium hydroxide. Subsequently it arrives at the refinery where it is passed over chalk carbon acid to clean it. Dark coloring is removed by adding sulfuric acid and then it is filtered with bone charcoal. Finally, it is colored with Indathrenblue or the highly toxic Ultramarine. This product’s chemical composition is C12H22011, which you can buy in shops as ‘pure cane’ sugar.”
Refined sugar was not included in God’s Genesis 1:29 diet, and can only be found when we go outside the garden to obtain our food. And when we go outside the Garden to obtain our food, we always place our body in jeopardy.
2. REFINED SUGAR IS FRAGMENTED
When sugar cane, or beet sugar, is processed into refined sugar through heating and mechanical and chemical processing as we learned above, all vitamins, proteins, fats, enzymes – indeed – every single nutrient is removed until nothing but pure white sugar, pure naked calories, pure refined carbohydrate, remains. Sixty-four food elements are destroyed in the processing. Fragmented foods set up nutritional imbalances that create a myriad of health problems.
3. REFINED SUGAR CONTAINS ZERO FIBER
Between our mouths, where we receive our food, and where the digested foods exit the body, there are 30 feet of tubing the food must pass through. The only means the body has of moving food through those 30 feet of tubing is by means of fiber. In previous Health Tips we learned that foods of animal origin contain absolutely no fiber, and the same is true of refined sugar.
The body has great difficulty dealing with foods that do not contain fiber. However, all raw fruits and vegetables, along with seeds and nuts, the foods God told us we should consume for nourishment in Genesis 1:29, contain fiber. This is just one more reason all of our foods should consist of high fiber foods found exclusively within the Garden.
4. REFINED SUGAR IS VERY ACIDIC
If you are at all knowledgeable regarding the proper pH (acid/alkaline) balance of the body, you know the body was designed by God to be slightly alkaline. In fact, an alkaline body offers great resistance to disease, and almost all raw fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts leave an alkaline ash after digestion.
On the other hand, like animal source foods, refined sugar is ‘acid forming.’ This requires the body to take vital alkaline minerals, calcium being the most plentiful, from the bone structure of the body to neutralize the acidity and to metabolize refined sugar. Refined sugar, along with the consumption of animal products, causes the body to take so much calcium from our bones and teeth that the bones become osteoporotic and teeth decay.
5. REFINED SUGAR COMPROMISES THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Our IMMUNE SYSTEM is what God built into each of our physical bodies to protect us from the germs, viruses, and bacteria of this world. Our IMMUNE SYSTEM is our first line of defense! Refined sugar is an immune system suppressant.
In other words, refined sugar cripples and can even knock out this first line of defense. Does that not give us a clue as to why so many people experience infections, colds, the flu, and so much more? As I mentioned in last week’s Health Tip, this editor has not experienced a cold or the flu since eliminating refined sugar, and adopting a basically living, plant sourced diet, 34 years ago.
6. REFINED SUGAR LEADS TO WEIGHT GAIN
Refined sugar is highly caloric all by itself, but then it is often combined with something containing high fat, like shortening, along with some salt, producing a tempting goodie like cake, cookies, cinnamon buns, etc. Then there is candy, and high sugar drinks like soda pop.
All of this sugar contributes to weight gain. Something that should alert those who are concerned about keeping their weight down, is the fact that consuming just one 12-ounce can of soda pop a day, which contains approximately 11 teaspoons of refined sugar, will add 15 pounds to their weight in just one year. Sugar substitutes such as aspartame are even more dangerous than refined sugar.
7. REFINED SUGAR LEADS TO ADDICTION
Because of the way sugar plays havoc with the emotions, refined sugar is highly addicting. It works exactly like an addictive drug – which technically it is! This means that once a sugar-holic sufferer has given in to this crystalline sweetness, they can’t stop the addiction. And if they dare face withdrawal, the ‘sugar blues’ give them no peace until they return to the addictive sugar, and resign themselves to remaining fat.
Refined sugar is every bit as addictive as nicotine and alcohol. I have read that it is as addictive as cocaine! We have found that when a person decides to adopt The Hallelujah Diet, they usually do not have a great deal of difficulty eliminating the animal products, but many find that the most difficult item to eliminate from their diet is refined sugar. Sugar has a powerful addictive influence upon many people.
Have you ever noticed that children, who are allowed to have candy, are always asking for more, while never being satisfied no matter how much you give them? Why is this? It is because their little bodies have literally become addicted to sugar and their bodies are screaming for a fix! Children should NEVER be allowed to have candy, because it is comprised of almost pure refined sugar.
8. REFINED SUGAR PROMOTES EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY
After a sugar-holic has consumed a candy bar, or bag of cookies, or any large amount of refined sugar, they often feel depressed. Sadly, studies reveal a strong link between juvenile and adult criminal offenses and sugar addiction. Similar research reveals a link between mental illness and sugar abuse.
Also, hypoglycemic reactions, for the very sensitive consumer, promote extreme irrationality, emotional instability, and oftentimes aggressiveness. Recent studies reveal that sugar may be as involved in mental illness, divorce, and crime as alcohol has been found to be. Depression is also one of the most rapidly growing problems in our society today, and refined sugar is one of the major contributing factors.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) as well as ADHD are running rampant among our children and even some adults. It is a problem doctors are trying to treat with Ritalin type drugs. Isn’t it a sad commentary, that these problems, which are caused by the very toxic and addictive drug (poison) called sugar, are then treated with another poison, a prescribed drug. How sad! Mothers who are having trouble with their child’s behavior should seriously consider removing all sugar from their diet.
9. REFINED SUGAR CONTRIBUTES TO NUMEROUS PHYSICAL PROBLEMS
Refined sugar is associated with malnutrition and decreased resistance to disease, and is responsible for a myriad of other physical problems as shared at the conclusion of last week’s Health Tip #652.
TO SUMARIZE
Refined Sugar, and all products containing refined sugar, are the second most-often cause or contributing cause of the physical problems being experienced today. Refined sugar is also a major cause of the emotional, psychological, and depression problems people are experiencing. How do we explain this?
God said: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” in Hosea 4:6. Isn’t it a sad commentary, that instead of dealing with our physical and psychological problems by seeking out and eliminating their causes, we merely try to eliminate the symptoms?
And how do most people deal with these symptoms? They place into their body another poisonous drug (prescribed or over the counter)! Sadly, it was our failure to nourish our physical bodies the way God told us we should nourish them in Genesis 1:29 that caused the problems in the first place.
Please, for the sake of your own physical and mental health, and that of your loved ones, let’s return to the Garden foods God told us we should consume in Genesis 1:29 and thus stop contributing to the physical and emotional problems we experience. God’s Way is the Only Way to a healthy mind and physical body!
How We Contribute To Our Own Physical Problems (Part 5)
May 18th
For the past four Health Tips (#648 through #651) we have been talking about how animal sourced foods were the single most dangerous foods a person could consume, being the cause or contributing cause of some 90% of all physical problems being experienced.
In Health Tip #648 we talked about the FAT contained in animal sourced foods that clog the arteries, and contribute to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.
In Health Tip #649 and #650 we discussed how the ACID in animal sourced foods cause a myriad of problems, including acid stomach, heartburn, osteoporosis, and more, and how if the blood becomes even slightly acidic, we die.
In Health Tip #651 we talked about PROTEIN and how the excessive amounts of protein found in animal source foods harm the body, and contribute to numerous physical problems.
In this Health Tip we are going to talk about another food, one that most people consume in huge amounts daily, that is extremely devastating to the body. And what is that food? Well, it is not a food at all, but rather a toxic and addictive drug. It is called sugar, and after animal sourced foods is the second greatest cause of both the physical as well as the mental problems being experienced today.
THE DANGERS OF REFINED SUGAR
If you remember nothing else from this article regarding refined sugar, remember this: “REFINED SUGAR TURNS OFF YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM!”
God, in His infinite wisdom, realized that the human physical body He created, which every person reading this possesses, would come in contact with some what we will call “bad guys,” during our earthly journey through life.
These “bad guys” are called germs, viruses, bacteria, etc. In order to protect us from these “bad guys,” God built into the human physical body a means of protection. It is called the immune system.
Our immune system is comprised of a unique grouping of cells, designed by God, and given the task of identifying and destroying these foreign invaders (“bad guys”) before they can do significant harm to the body.
Disease-causing organisms such as those listed above are detected by the immune system, tagged for destruction, and then annihilated by these hungry immune system cells, but only when the immune system is kept strong and healthy and functioning at optimal levels.
The immune system God placed into our physical body is designed to recognize even cancer cells, also in the category of “bad guys”, as abnormal and unwelcome. A strong, healthy, immune system, operating at optimal levels will seek out cancer cells and actually destroy them before they multiply if, but only IF, the immune system is operating at optimal levels.
It is of vital important we realize that after God had created the human physical body, with a self-protecting immune system built right in that physical body, God had done His part in providing us with a body that would efficiently handle these harmful germs, viruses, bacteria, and even cancers. But now we come to MAN’S PART!
WHAT IS MAN’S PART?
It is the responsibility of every man, woman and child (the child is the parents responsibility until the child is old enough to take control), that we not place into the body anything that would comprise our immune system, because doing so would render it incapable of fulfilling its God given task of protecting the body.
In other words, we must each do everything we can possibly do to keep our immune system in such a condition that it remains STRONG and HEALTHY, and thus capable of fulfilling the task God gave it of protecting our physical bodies from these “bad guys.”
Our daily diet and lifestyle determines whether our immune system is strong and healthy, and working at optimal levels – OR – weak and ineffective, and thus unable to fulfill its intended function! In other words God has given us the controls that determine wellness or sickness.
When functioning at optimal levels, the immune system can recognize, seek out, and destroy all of the “bad guys” in our body. But if our diet and lifestyle are poor, then our immune system will be too weak and compromised, and thus unable to fulfill its God given task of protecting us from the “bad guys”.
HOW REFINED SUGAR EFFECTS OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
The single most destructive thing we can place into our body, with regards to the immune system, is refined sugar! As I said earlier in this article, refined sugar is an immune system suppressant! It literally knocks out or compromises the very system God gave us to protect us from the “bad guys.”
And yet, and sadly, the average American consumes approximately 50 teaspoons of refined sugar each and every day of their life. It takes approximately 3 feet of sugar cane to produce 1 teaspoon of refined sugar. Thus, for a person to obtain 50 teaspoons of sugar from sugar cane (the daily average), that person would have to chew, digest, and assimilate 150 feet of sugar cane each and every day.
Since there are approximately 11 teaspoons of sugar in just a single 12-ounce can of soda pop, a person would have to consume 33 feet of sugar cane to obtain an equivalent amount of sugar. And can you even begin to fathom how many feet of sugar cane would have to be chewed, digested, and assimilated to equal the amount of refined sugar found in breakfast cereals, candy, cake, cookies, pies, ice cream, donuts, etc., etc.
Dr. Agatha Thrash, (M.D.), explains how sugar affects the immune system when she writes:
“Another important fact about sugar has to do with disease resistance. The white blood cells with segmented nuclei increase in numbers in the blood stream when the body has a bacterial infection. These cells destroy bacteria. They are the body’s soldiers. However, when the blood sugar level goes up, these cells get sluggish and cannot destroy as many bacteria.”
Dr. Thrash then provides a chart showing how much sugar it takes to affect the ability of the white blood cells to destroy bacteria:
“Six teaspoons of sugar (the amount of sugar in a single candy bar) reduces the ability of these white blood cells to destroy unfriendly bacteria by 25%; Twelve teaspoons (the amount of sugar in a single can of soda pop) reduces the ability of these white blood cells to destroy unfriendly bacteria by 60%; And twenty-four teaspoons (just half the average daily intake of refined sugar), reduces the ability of these white blood cells to destroy unfriendly bacteria by 92%.”
Every time a person drinks a soda pop or other beverage containing refined sugar, eats a piece of candy or a breakfast cereal containing refined sugar, has a piece of cake or donut or a cookie or piece of pie, they are placing an addictive drug into their body that will compromise the very immune system God gave them to protect them from the “bad guys.”
REFINED SUGAR DOES MORE THAN COMPROMISE THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Refined sugar impacts the quality of life by: (1) Increases the severity of PMS; (2) Decreases cognitive or intellectual function, especially in children; (3) Sugar also contributes to our current epidemic of heart disease, excess weight, and so much more.
Following is just a partial list of health problems related to the intake of refined sugar:
- Acne
- addiction to drugs and caffeine
- alcoholism
- allergies
- anxiety
- behavioral problems
- binge eating
- bloating
- bone loss
- candidiasis
- depression
- difficulty concentrating
- eczema
- edema
- emotional problems
- fatigue
- food cravings
- hormonal problems
- hyperactivity
- insomnia
- menstrual difficulties
- mental illness
- mood swings
- premature aging
- psoriasis
- and the list goes on and on.
Prior to my adopting The Hallelujah Acres Diet and Lifestyle (based on God’s Genesis 1:29 diet) in 1976, I experienced several head colds each and every year; the flu annually; as well as sore throats, headaches, upset stomach, fevers, and debilitating seasonal allergies. Since adopting The Hallelujah Acres Diet and Lifestyle 34 years ago I have not experienced a single one of these physical problems! WHY! There are several reasons.
1. When I adopted The Hallelujah Acres Diet and Lifestyle in 1976, I eliminated ALL refined sugar from my diet, and except for those occasions when I was not aware it was contained in something I was consuming, I haven’t placed any refined sugar into my body. How could I do that? I did it by so programming my mind that when I was confronted with a food containing refined sugar, in my mind I visualized a skull and cross-bones emblazed upon it, rather than seeing it as a tasty delight.
When I made the diet change in 1976, in addition to the elimination of all refined sugar, I also eliminated from my diet all animal sourced foods (both flesh and dairy); products containing white bleached flour; refined table salt, and caffeine.
2. At the same time I stopped all refined sugar intake, along with the other items mentioned in above, I totally changed my diet. Overnight I went from a diet that consisted almost totally of cooked foods with lots of animal foods, to a diet consisting of almost totally raw plant sourced foods, a diet similar to God’s Genesis 1:29 Diet. Also, I began consuming an abundance of raw, freshly extracted vegetable juices.
The only reason I have been free of colds, the flu, sore throats, headaches, upset stomachs, fevers, and debilitating seasonal allergies for the past 34 years is because I stopped consuming the diet that produced them, and began a diet and lifestyle that protected me from them.
Thus by consuming a diet comprised of an abundance of living plant sourced foods, along with lots of freshly extracted vegetable juices and barley juice powder, including lots of exercise, my body has been able to continue to protect me and maintain that immunity for over 34 years.
But this immunity is not only available to me, but available to all who are willing to apply the principles that will protect them also.
I did not achieve this degree of wellness because God singled me out, and has been protecting me from all these physical problems for the past 34 years. God doesn’t do that! Rather, God gives each of us a choice as to whether we live in wellness or sickness. If we want to live in wellness, we must adopt the diet and lifestyle God designed these physical bodies we each possess to live by, which is so clearly articulated in Genesis 1:29 in the Bible.
If we desire sickness, then all we have to do is do what we have been programmed to do by this world in which we live. Sickness is the result of following the worlds diet and lifestyle – yes, the Standard American Diet (SAD), along with a sedentary couch potato lifestyle.
God very clearly tells us in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world.” And in Galatians 6:7 the Bible tells us we have a CHOICE as to whether we live in health or in sickness: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
For over 18 years now, Hallelujah Acres has been sharing with all who would listen how they too could disease proof their body. Millions have listened and applied our teachings, while tens-of-thousands have written to tell me that by simply applying the principles we have shared here at Hallelujah Acres, they have recovered from over 170 different physical problems, and that they no longer get sick.
That’s a great BIG HALLELUJAH my friend! Won’t you join us, so that you too, can experience the health God designed for you and your family?
Loading ...
