If you are suffering from systemic lupus or any auto-immune disease, you should try to eat less sugar or completely take sugar out of your diet. Refined sugar is not a nutritious food, it contains only calories with no vitamins, minerals, fiber or other health promoting nutrients. When I was suffering from lupus joint pain, eating sugar made it worst because sugar also suppresses the immune system. If you’re suffering from an auto immune disease like lupus, sugar may not be the best for you for some of the reasons listed below. Sugar contributes to:
- A weakened defense against infections.
- Stimulation of
immune cells to release inflammatory molecules causing damage and inflammation. - Interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium and promotes bone loss, tooth decay and hair loss.
- Acidifies the blood, destroys B vitamins, and depletes the body of minerals.
William Duffy the author of the book Sugar Blues stated “Like heroin, cocaine and caffeine, sugar is an addictive, destructive drug, yet we consume it daily in everything from cigarettes to bread” .
What is Sugar?
- Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that occurs naturally in foods such as grains, beans, vegetables and fruit
- By “sugar”, we usually the granulated table sugar or the syrup form.
Why is sugar useful? In it’s unprocessed form, sugar contains a variety of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and proteins. These become fuel for the muscles, nerves, and brain and the principal source of energy for all bodily function. However, in the processed form it contains no nutrients. Be mindful and learn to read labels. Anything that ends in “ose” contains sugar. Such as:
- Dextrose, Raw sugar
- Sucrose (table sugar)
- Brown Sugar
- Frutose
- High Frutose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
- Latose
- Maltose
Strawberries. Be mindful of your fruit intake and use a tongue scrapper to scrap away residue from your tongue, doing this will help you curb your cravings.
If you have an auto-immune disease know that eating processed sugar can cause inflammation in the body, and cause you to have low energy and feel unbalanced. Sugar impairs the ability of white cells to destroy biological agents which reduces immune function by 50%. Let’s stay healthy together by getting rid or using a healthier alternative to sugar. You’ll be happy you did!
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