Sugar is seriously acid forming encouraging pain, highly addictive, interferes with digestion and your immune system. It is so addictive that most people find it hard to give it up, in most of its forms. It is found in one form or another in so many products today. You are probably consuming much more than you realize.

Consuming sugar puts an enormous strain on your immune system, it continually evokes an auto-immune response (not what you want when you suffer any form of arthritis) putting our whole system out of balance and causing it considerable extra wear and tear.

Sugar enters the blood stream too quickly, raising our blood sugar levels. This in turn triggers the pancreas to produce insulin to bring the blood sugar levels down again. It does its job rather too well, and brings blood sugar levels down too much. This causes a yo-yo effect, making most people reach for something that will raise their blood sugar levels again, something containing some form of sugar and/or caffeine. They are totally void of nutrients (empty calories) and therefore our bodies will rob nutrients from other systems to enable it to deal with this constant influx.

Sugar is converted into triglycerides by the liver and then stored as fat. Sugar encourages osteoporosis as it is so highly acidic. The body will draw on its reserve of calcium to help neutralize the higher acid levels in the body. The more sweet foods we eat the more addicted we become and the more accustomed we become to that sweet taste.

Many people are totally reliant on refined sugars of one description or another in foods and drinks to give them their energy to help them cope through their day. They have become victims caught in a vicious circle that is difficult to get out of. The more you rely on sugar and stimulants the more tired you will become and the more stimulants you will use and the more deficient you will become. Eventually life becomes very hard work, without them.

Steps to remove sugar (and sugar in its many disguises) –

1) Start cutting down drastically on all refined sweeteners/sugars today, instead use a little honey.

2) Gradually, begin to reduce the amount of honey, eventually your taste buds will begin to get use to less.

3) Begin to use dried fruit instead of the natural sweeteners. Soak over night in water and add to oatmeal etc.

4) Then less dried fruit and more fresh fruit. You are gradually re-educating your taste buds to expect less sweetness. Eventually fresh fruit will seem sweet enough.

For those of you who are using artificial sweeteners, start using Stevia (a more natural no-calorie sweetener), straight away. Then gradually reduce your dependency on Stevia.

Two supplements that will help with this addiction are – L-glutamine and chromium.

It is important at this time to keep your blood sugar levels balanced – eat regularly, never skip meals.