Wellness Coaching – Effects of the Sugar Epidemic
In 1850, the average American consumed about 20 pounds of sugar annually. Today, the average American currently consumes 141 lbs of sugar (an overflowing wheelbarrow full) annually. The 2011 USDA estimates the average American consumes about two tons of sugar (enough to fill up a dumpster) in a lifetime. Yes, that’s per person.
The average person is consuming about 1/3 of a pound of sugar each and every day, half of which is fructose that comes from corn syrup. And the trend continues to rise. As a result of this sugar epidemic, diabetes is up from 1.6 million in 1958 to 15.1 million in 2004. Heart disease occurs in 75% of the U.S. population. And cancer has just surpassed heart disease as the number one leading cause of death in the U.S..
In 1931, Dr. Otto H. Warburg was awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering oxygen’s relationship to the pH of cancer cells. His findings concluded that cancer cells always maintained a lower (more acidic) pH level, as low as 6.0 due to the high CO2 and lactic acid production. Dr. Warburg proved that there was a direct relationship between oxygen in the blood, pH levels, and thriving cancer cells.
Cancer cells form in your body everyday and have been, every day, since you were born. A healthy body’s immune defense reaction seeks out and destroys the cancer cells whenever they appear on the scene. As long as the body is able to maintain a healthy pH level of slightly alkaline (7.35 to 7.45), then it will be able to protect itself from cancer. However, when the blood pH lowers, the risk of cancer will increase. Sugar and processed foods do a great job of lowering the pH in the blood.
Currently, 90 cents out of every U.S. food dollar is spent on sugar-dense processed foods which are contaminated with high fructose corn syrup. Cancer loves sugar. It thrives on it and actually depends on it to survive. Sugar turns the blood more acidic and this is how cancer thrives. If we continue to saturate our bodies with sugar-dense processed foods accompanied by a high carbohydrate diet consisting of mainly starchy foods such as potatoes, pasta, bread, and cereal, we will continue to see our cancer rates soar.
Even the “healthy” carbohydrate foods such as rice, beans, peas, and whole grains are all about 60% starch. And starch turns to sugar in the bloodstream. When we begin eliminating all the sugary, starch foods from our diet, we will naturally be replacing them with high fibrous vegetables such as peppers, broccoli, squash, artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, kale, cabbage, and other nutrient-dense foods that are teaming with beneficial antioxidants. And unlike the starchy foods, the fiber-rich vegetables are highly alkaline forming in the blood, raising your pH level, and creating a healthy balance of oxygen and anti-oxidants in your cells. This, above all, is the most powerful defense against cancer.
Jason Lincoln Jeffers is a Wellness Coach, Spiritual Life Coach and the founder of The Art of Transformation, a company devoted to teaching Spiritual Enlightenment to the masses. His Spiritual Life Coaching practice uniquely synthesizes spiritual wisdom with self transcendence, holistic wellness, life path astrology, heart-based intention, the power of presence, and the law of attraction.