Holistic Nourishment

Does Sugar Decrease Your Health?
Yes! Because of Advanced Glycation End-Products

 The more sugar you eat, the more it coats the surface of cell membranes, causing life-changing damage.  One of the main issues with sugar consumption is a process called glycation.  The sugar creates cross links between cellular parts (usually proteins) that are normally mobile.  Unfortunately, all cellular activity is impaired when this occurs.  Moreover, cross-linking prevents white blood cells and other cells from getting to the location they are trying to go, thus disrupting chemical messages from being transmitted.  As you can imagine, this creates impaired function throughout the body.

(more…)

Are You Mineral Deficient?

Minerals are crucial elements of the biological processes that govern blood sugar metabolism in the body.  Individuals with blood sugar imbalances and diabetes often exhibit mineral deficiencies and have a weakened ability to regulate glucose levels.  Supplementing with high quality, bioavailable minerals improves the body’s ability to modulate glucose levels and can be extremely therapeutic for individuals with deficiencies.

To reduce inflammation and oxidative damage, key antioxidants and minerals are key to fighting these inflammatory and destructive reactions. Therefore, individuals with mineral deficiencies should supplement their diet in order to restore optimal vitamin and mineral levels, thus controlling oxidative damage and inflammation.  Minerals are especially important for reducing the occurrence of comorbid conditions common in diabetic individuals such as pancreatic insufficiency, renal disease, neuropathy, and retinopathy.

Minerals are also required for proper insulin function.  Insulin is the hormone that brings blood glucose into cells and therefore lowers blood glucose levels.  Of primary importance to glucose metabolism, inflammation, free radical scavenging, and immune health are the minerals zinc, magnesium, chromium, manganese, vanandium, and copper. 

(more…)

Sugar is one of the leading causes of metabolic syndrome. The average American eats sugar at every meal.  Learn why even if your food is “low-fat,” it’s still making you fat!    (more…)

What happens when you digest carbohydrates? How does that affect my blood sugar levels? And what is insulin? If you or someone you know is suffering with diabetes, understanding the condition and learning how to modulate insulin levels is key to reversing illness and restoring health.  (more…)

When you eat sugar candy, do you notice how the sugar sticks to your teeth? This is the result of a process called glycation.  Once sugars are dissolved in water, the molecules form chemical bonds with other molecules, namely proteins.  These bonds are easily broken, but if they are exposed to hot temperatures and remain intact for long periods of time, these bonds become more and more difficult to break due to oxidation reactions.  Advanced glycation end products (AGE’s) wreak havoc on your body.  AGE’s make you age faster.  (more…)

Consuming refined sugar and processed foods will damage your intestinal lining and prevent healthy absorption.  This can cause a myriad of health problems throughout your body:

• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
• Inflammation throughout your body, especially in joints, join pain
• increased allergies
• Poor digestion: gas, constipation and diarrhea
• Increased intestinal permeability (which allows big, toxic and foreign molecules to enter our blood stream, resulting in inflammation and other immune-related problems)
• Obesity
• Weakened immunity, depression, anxiety
• Tooth decay
• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria in the gut (Dysbiosis)
• Increased frequency/severity of bad moods
• Loss of tissue elasticity
• Osteoporosis
• Arthritis
• ADD, ADHD