The Fruits & Vegetables of our Labor
When you think of fruit, do your thoughts instantly head towards sugar?
Do you believe that carbohydrates and fruit sugars lead you away from your health?
What if I told you that part of living a healthy life was to consume a healthy serving of fruit sugar everyday?
What if I told you that part of living a healthy life was to consume a healthy serving of fruit sugar everyday?
Lets face it, in todays society carbohydrates and sugars get an unfair rap. Everywhere you turn you are constantly being conditioned not to consume carbohydrates and sugars. Sadly, we have become a society of trends that is always looking for the next fad. Most of us are unaware of why were are choosing to nix out foods from our diet, and who could blame us? Most of us aren’t scientist whom study the benefits of nutrition!
BUT… natural sugars from plants are created as a byproduct from photosynthesis!
Why is this so important?
Sugars from fruit are in the form of fructose. In this case, fructose is broken down at a much slower rate than sucrose. This allows proper time for the liver to metabolize it and does not require an insulin response from the body. Fruit also has the added benefit of fiber, both insoluble and soluble. Fiber aids the breakdown by allowing slower digestion of glucose within the body.
(on a side note)
Fruits are loaded with powerful antioxidants that fight free radicals which often lead to disease and serious illness!
Free radical are harmful molecules that are created through oxidation. When free radicals rule the body, they inflict damage to healthy normal cells allowing them to become damaged and unstable. Damaged cells, now unable to carry out their normal function, start you down the long and painful path to disease.
In my opinion, cancer patients often get denied the valuable asset of antioxidants from fruit due to the thought of sugar. Processed sugars, which have been shown to be a feeding ground for cancer cells, causes a chaotic overgrowth of damaged cell replication. Fruit on the other hand, is loaded with powerful antioxidants which has been shown to be a proven killer to cancer. That begs the questions, Why does modern medicine deny our bodies this powerful resource to restore us back to health?
Could the answer be pharmaceuticals?
Let the problems of the Thyroid begin!!
The Thyroid plays an essential role in our health, hormone function and metabolism. Joining the trend of no sugar/no carbs, decreases the much need function of our thyroid. Natural sugars and carbs, which are converted into glucose, help the thyroid sustain its conversion of T4 (Thyroxine) to T3. This conversion allows the inactive hormone (T4) to become an active hormone (T3) within the liver. Thus creating a faster and healthier metabolism.
Without the essential natural sugars needed by the body, we will often face a much slower metabolism leading to weight gain, fatigue, hormone imbalance as well as added stress to the body. An unhealthy side effect from this is the detoxification process becomes more difficult as the body struggles to flush out toxic waste.
Remember that sugar and carbs are the bodies first and fastest form of energy …
As an athlete and an active person, carbohydrates and natural sugars play an important role in my life. Before every workout, I always make sure to consume a banana or an apple, as each of these fruits gives me 90 minutes of sustainable energy to complete my workouts and my activities! Those whom live an active lifestyle must have proper fuel levels for the cells! Sugar and carbs are that fuel!
Sugar, as well as carbohydrates, get the bad rap often due to the type of foods we are ingesting. It is true that sugar and carbs, if not used, turn into adipose (fat) tissue. Fat is the body’s way of preserving and storing nutrients for later use in case of scarcity of food. Now we can start to understand why living an active lifestyle, as well as eating the proper nutrients, is important!
Take home message …
The next time you’re ready to eradicate food and a lifestyle due to a popular trend, educate yourself when it comes to your health! We often blindly trust those in white coats believing that they have all the factual knowledge with our health in mind. Western Medicine, as is all forms of medicine, is a learning practice, and as our technology grows and times change, so does our understanding. This is why it is called Practicing Medicine.
The earth provides us with all the proper nutrients to maintain optimum health! So go ahead and taste what nature has to offer and enjoy the fruits of our labor!
Raina
Raina has helped thousands of individuals from all over the world find their purpose and mission. Having several degrees in Oriental & Alternative medicine, as well as her ever-evolving purpose to gain higher consciousness, Raina has created many outlets to share the wisdom and truths of the universe. Her radio show, IAMevolution Podcast, and the IAMevolution program are ready for those who truly want to seek wisdom and truth and help transform their vibration of our third-dimensional world.
References:
- Kelly L. Wolfe, Xinmei Kang, Xiangjiu He, Mei Dong, Qingyuan Zhang, Rui Hai Liu. Cellular Antioxidant Activity of Common Fruits. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2008 August 30. 56 (18), pp 8418–8426
- Dean P. Jones. Redefining oxidative stress. Antioxidants & Redox Signaling. 2006 September 20. 8(9-10): 1865-1879. doi:10.1089/ars.2006.8.1865.
- Diabetes Care 1993 Sep;16(9):1301-5. Metabolic effects of dietary sucrose in type II diabetic subjects. Bantle JP, Swanson JE, Thomas W, Laine DC “CONCLUSIONS–A high sucrose diet did not adversely affect glycemia or lipemia in type II diabetic subjects.”
- Diabetologia 1992 Feb;35(2):165-72. Long-term effects of linoleic-acid-enriched diet on albuminuria and lipid levels in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with elevated urinary albumin excretion. Dullaart RP, Beusekamp BJ, Meijer S, Hoogenberg K, van Doormaal JJ, Sluiter WJ. “We conducted a 2-year prospective randomised study to investigate the effects of a linoleic-acid-enriched diet on albuminuria and lipid levels in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with elevated urinary albumin excretion (overnight urinary albumin excretion rate between 10 and 200 micrograms/min).” “Clinical characteristics, albuminuria, blood pressure, glomerular filtration rate, metabolic control and dietary composition were similar in the two groups at baseline. In the high linoleic acid diet group, linoleic intake rose from 7 +/- 4 to 11 +/- 2 energy % and polyunsaturated:saturated fatty acids ratio rose from 0.60 +/- 0.28 to 0.96 +/- 0.16 (p less than 0.001 compared to usual diet group). The median increase albuminuria was 58% (95% confidence interval, 13 to 109) during the first year (p less than 0.02) and 55% (95% confidence interval, 11 to 127) (p less than 0.01) during the second year.”