Sugar: Between a rock and a sweet place
Written by Clark Zimmerman, LAc.
I remember a few things about childhood better than others: summer vacation, creek stomping with the neighbors and mom’s chocolate chip cookies. The cookies especially stand out. Hot from the oven, the melted chocolate making a mess of my hands, and the sweetness that lingered in my mouth and instantly widened my smile. When we were good kids, mom rewarded us with fresh cookies.
These childhood associations of sugar as a reward or as a universal expression of love, stay with most of us throughout our entire life. But sugar has its dark side. Sugar is physically addictive, operating in our brain in a similar fashion to opiates. This is why people with a sweet tooth get grumpy when they go without their sugar fix. Some science says that sugar and other sweeteners are the single biggest cause of illness in the world. It is a subject that I have been studying lately. I recently read two very well written opinions on the topic: National Geographic August 2013 issue and Mother Earth Living November/December 2013 both have featured articles on sugar. Both of these articles mention that consumption of sweeteners worldwide has dramatically increased over the past 100 years, especially in the USA. It is no surprise that during this time the incidence of sugar related illnesses has also increased.
Part of our honeymoon was spent on a picture perfect Fijian island paradise. We ended up in a very remote village at the end the road where they offered an “eco-tourism” hike to a waterfall and a village stay. When we arrived in this jungle beach village there were no other tourists, only very friendly and easy going Fijians that spoke fairly good english. They were living a traditional Fijian subsistance lifestyle, with no electricity. During our hike to the waterfall we shared with our guide that we are healers.