238 thoughts on “Sugar and Dental Decline”

1. Since I stopped eating sweets and sugar my visits to the dentist have become an enjoyable experience instead of wondering ‘What’s wrong this time?”

2. The question is “Why are we eating so much sugar?’ One answer looking how sugar is marketed, readily available 24/7, all year round, present in all foods, including savoury dishes, and sold at most retail outlets (stationers, pharmacies and clothing stores). The other lies in the relationship we have with ourselves and why it is sugar has become the easy go to when all else in our life is not ‘sweet’ When we stop appreciating our body as a precious vessel and treat it respectfully and lovingly, we end up disregarding and using it like a garbage bin.

3. We are sold the lie we need sugar because it gives us energy and yet the opposite is true, it is a transient boost, which in the long term saps energy leaving us wanting more, and addiction steps in. The horror doesn’t end there, this toxic substance is sold legally and freely given to children from when they are infants. We are in fact feeding a dependency that creates childhood illnesses (dental decay, obesity) and chronic ill-health conditions in adults.

4. Having this awareness about food is a blessing and simplifies the weekly food shop as the range of food products open to us are limited.

5. Craving sugar signals an absence of sweetness and love in our life.

6. The body speaks louder that words. I know this to be true having observed how each time I eat sugar, pain related to a skin infection intensifies. Sugar is deadly, yet we still choose to associate it with ‘sweetness’ rather than toxicity.

7. Very interesting what you are saying here about going much deeper than just saying that we like the taste of sugar but really asking the questions what is it that sugar brings to us that we need or want so much? Even a sugar tax, whilst it will probably stem the tide will not get to the root of the problem because it will stifle the supply but not deal with the demand.

8. A great question asked here, why are we eating so much sugar? And taking that back a step, what is going on in our lives that we need to eat sugar? An inquiry such as this would lead us to greater honesty as to why we need sugar and have us considering more deeply how we live and if the way we live supports us. Given our statistics just now around lifestyle diseases, it’s time for another look at this, as despite our amazing medicine we are in fact more ill than ever.

9. We have this tendency to declare that we love/like something when in fact we are actually being dependent on it, and it can be very hard at times to go beyond that and be very honest with where we are at.

10. What surprises me is that if sugar can decay our teeth – has no one considered what else it could decay inside us? And what actually are we doing to our bodies other than pepping them up when we are consuming super non-stop?

11. Growing up any food high in sugar was a treat for children, it was the reason why parties were so looked forward to because we were indulged in so much sweet food and given a bag of sweets to take home. Then there was chocolate at Easter, cakes, sweets and desserts at Christmas, and birthday cakes year round. Even the doctor or nurse gave children a lollipop after a consult – sugar was a huge part of life and often associated with good times or being rewarded for being good. Since I growing up in the 70’s and 80’s sugar has crept into more and more foods, and I would suggest even the way we breed fruit trees and plants is to produce higher sugar content. There definitely needs to be more education about the harmful effects of sugar and from an early age so people can make more informed choices. The truth is though it’s very addictive and hard for people to give up. Without that connection to the love we are on the inside we are always going to be looking for something to make life feel better and sugar is one of those go-to’s.

12. It is truly shocking to hear how we have sabotaged ourselves so much that dentists are still having to deal with so much tooth decay and other effects of excessive sugar intake when there is irrefutable evidence of the damaging effects of sugar. However because of the corruption in the food industry so many are still blindly going down the path of increasing ill-health due to lifestyle choices including increasing amounts of sugar in their diets. We cannot leave it to governments to legislate about this but need to start making changes in our everyday lives that support us to return to a more natural diet not laced by the poison of sugar.

    1. The horror of it all hits home when we see the impact of sugary diets has on the oral health of small children. It shows a complete lack of awareness on the part of parents of the consequences of giving young children sugary drinks and sweets and irresponsibility of governments, food and drinks producers and retailers who make millions from the production of these toxic products. Society is founded on a desire to make profits, not concern for health and well-being of citizens.

13. You could say that the sugar industry is controlling the food industry, there is now sugar in almost every food product on the market so it is seen as normal to have sugar in food and drink, and we no longer consider the health implications that you have highlighted here Rachel because sugar is such an addictive substance that our taste buds over rule what our body is telling us.

14. It is scary to see what sugar is in. When I go to the supermarket and look at the back of a packet – it continues to surprise me how much of an additive it is. I have a toddler – so from very young sugar is snuck into food and drinks and packaged as healthy. It has called me to be much more aware and responsible of what I eat.

15. In the 60’s as a child sugar was a luxury, we ate fresh food that was seasonal and on special occasions we had a desert with our meal and occasionally a slice of cake. Nowadays the shelves are stacked with convenience foods, and sugar is in many of them, and it has also become a cheap commodity, and as a result we are now all hooked on sugar to give us a pick-me-up during the day, no wonder dentists are still doing fillings and extractions, and will continue to do so until we realise that we don’t actually need the sugar, we need the connection to ourselves.

16. Even though this was written 5 years ago, this topic is even more topical than it was then. There is a lot more evidence now available than ever before on the damage that over consumption of sugar is having on our bodies. But Rachel asks a very important question here, beyond the sugar is addictive, which it is. But why are we having, if not needing to have the amount of sugar we are consuming? When we begin to explore this topic honestly with ourselves and without critique we begin to unpack to reasons why we need the level of stimulation that sugar can provide. We see very clearly how it affects children, there is no reason why it affects adults any differently.

    1. Absolutely and we can each be our own science experiment if we are willing to honestly examine how we are affected by sugar.

    2. My guess is that having high levels of sugar in our diet is now seen as normal, not something we question or look at more deeply. Alcohol (also high in sugar) is another substance that is very harmful for the body that we consider normal to ingest regularly – in fact if you don’t you are considered weird. When we see something as normal we are much less likely to question it, it’s just the way life is.

17. Yes instead of trying to stop eating things that are bad for us it is better to look at the part of us that craves foods that are bad for us. Let us take a look at the logic of eating foods that are actually harming our body at every level, like sugar, because really there is none. We don’t need or use sugar and it is actually harming our body, so there is no reason for us to eat it from a logical point of view. It makes sense that there is a lack inside of us that makes us feel like covering the lack up with foods like sugar. But isn’t it more efficient to heal ourselves by starting to love ourselves again for who we are. The need for sugar will slowly fall away and there is no need to diet or be better because when we live true to ourselves that all takes care for itself.

18. “If we are to tackle not only the decline in oral health but the overall health of the population, then it makes sense that we address our level of sugar consumption, but at the same time we must surely stop and observe the way in which we are living.” I agree and it will be interesting to see how the results of the newly imposed sugar tax in the UK ( six years on from this article) pans out. However, as you say, it is also about how we are living, and this appears to be getting more extreme as the years go on.

19. The truth and harms of our ways of living are evidently well known and documented. Tobacco, drugs, sugar, fats, poor exercise etc are known to have negative effects on us. Yet we knowingly keep choosing to abuse ourselves. It shows there is more going on than just cause we have a sweet tooth or need our nicotine rush.

20. What also amazes me is the exorbitant number of sugar alternatives that are on the market today. It is almost like we just cannot do without our sweet energy boast and not question the fact that the need for it in the first place may be a sign of ill health in the first place.

21. Thank you Rachel for exposing the ills of sugar and its impact on our bodies and dental health. I’ve always felt that daily brushing of teeth, regular dental health checks and seeing a hygienist was not enough, we also have to reduce our sugar intake. To bombard our mouths with constant stimulation and over sugary foods can’t be good for the oral environment. Learning about the true nature of sugar and the harm it causes is foundational to changing our behaviour.

22. Rachel this is a brilliant article exposing the true harm of sugar on the body. Unfortunately many wait until it is too late before they reduce or stop the intake of sugar into their diets, if people began to address a sensible approach and began to eliminate or reduce their intake of sugar, I am sure we would see a decline in these statistics and dental decay, for if we don’t we are headed for even more alarming statistics.

23. Rachel you mentioned that the sugar consumption has tripled over the last 3 years, as a child 50 years ago I was brought up on fresh vegetables and meat and fish, there was no modern technology, of the likes of microwaves, and we all sat down as a family and ate at the same time, there were few treats, and pocket money only bought a handful of sweets. Parents are under a great deal of pressure with children wanting soft drinks or sweets everyday, it is not surprising that there is an increase in dental decay, as parents we need to learn to say no, and also educate our children to take more responsibility too.

24. Sugar is not fit for human consumption and strips the body of vital minerals, calcium being one of them. Small children are given soft drinks in their bottle to pacify them and tooth decay is through the roof. Is it time we addressed our addiction to sweetness and what is behind it?

    1. Put as plainly as this Gabriele, we would never pollute our children’s bodies with soft drinks. The practice of pacifying children with not just soft drinks but all things sugary is common. When parents feel needy or exhausted they turn to sugar or caffeine, the habit already formed in themselves, is passed on to their children.

25. It’s very interesting how sugar seems to have earned this undisputable place in our diets and we think sweets are reward and there’s this notion of entitlement when it comes to eating as much of it and hardly anyone dares to ask themselves these awkward questions that you are asking here – and that, despite everything that the research and our own life experience has shown us. It does feel like a drug, doesn’t it?

26. Sugar is indeed a drug and we are slowly waking up to it’s impacts. I’m interested in what you share and offer here of your experiences Rachel and in particular when you note ‘While excess sugar is thought to be a key cause of the obesity epidemic, obesity itself is not the root cause of disease but its presence is a marker for metabolic damage and changes that lead to heart disease and diabetes.’ … it highlights that we can so easily get caught in fighting the effects (obesity) while ignoring the underlying causes and indeed how we in fact live so that we ‘need’ and or ‘crave’ sugar.

27. The effects of sugar are quite plain to see yet as a whole, society chooses to ignore them. The question is, why are we choosing to poison ourselves?

28. Thank you Rachel, for providing the science behind sugar and its impact on us. What I feel strongly reading this article is that we’ve been using sugar as our accepted drug of choice, as a prop and a way to avoid looking at how we in fact live and the impact of those choices on our bodies; we use sugar to hide the impact of our life choices as it keeps us racy and disconnected from our bodies, from how we are and distracts us from actually being fully present in ourselves and our lives. I know from experience that when I eat a lot of sugar I am less focused, distracted and find it hard to apply myself, as well as being giddy and not fully with myself – it’s a way for me to stay aloof and disconnected from myself and those around me, and as I address this increasingly in my life I am understanding that sugar is a crutch and one that needs to go.

    1. I agree Monica. I have several fruit trees in my garden and this year there have been huge amounts of plums. Normally I eat very little fruit and have been free of sugar for some time but I have noticed that when I succumb to eating a few plums it changes the quality of my energy and overall I get more tired and slightly irritable.

29. Posing the question of why we eat sugar is very exposing of the quality in which we choose to live on a daily basis and the stress levels that are not being addressed. Hardly surprising that exhaustion is now prevalent worldwide with the amount of sugar consumption on the rise.
    “Like the fact that we eat sugar because we are exhausted, stressed or seeking comfort. Or we are seeking a moment of pleasure, a quick buzz, and a high via a sugar rush that gets our nervous system revved up and out of balance. Or we are desperate to numb the way we feel inside and avoid dealing with life. Or we do not feel alive enough just as we are without altering our brain and body chemistry with foods”.

30. The statistics that indicate that sugar indirectly contributes to 35 million deaths per year is beyond staggering. It is ridiculous in light of this that a sugar tax has still not been introduced, especially as the costs associated with the treatment and care before death would be equally jaw dropping in considering it’s impact on the economy. It is crazy that we willingly consume something en mass that can be so detrimental to our health and then look to medicine to make better the physical fallout of our irresponsibility.

31. We all seem to be quite aware of the physiological effect our addiction to excess sugar consumption is having on our bodies and how this is compromising our health, but yet don’t seem to be waking up to the fact that we as a society really need to turn these debilitating stats around – for the burden on our health systems is significant and if we are honest, in many ways preventable.

32. Great blog Rachel, we often feel that by eliminating alcohol is beneficial to our health, yet I don’t think we have associated that sugar is really in the same league as alcohol as far as our health is concerned, it is always the ‘go to’ food when we feel down or exhausted and your blog really brings home how we need to look at how we are living, and how harmful sugar is to our health.

33. So true Doug, I am starting to realise that, without cutting out the subtle sugars and salts, the relationship with those two particular stimulants, continues. The relationship is more subtle, therefore easier to ignore but there is an underlying relationship – dare I say it – the addiction to the stimulation is still there.

    1. I’m with you here Lucy. I’m aware of compromises made and how I’ve slipped back to taking sugar in subtle and not so subtle forms. A loving detox programmes is called for like the one made over ten years ago when I eliminated all sugars from my diet to clear a health condition, and then this became my way, until recently. Now, detox is required as a way to deepen my the love I have for myself.

34. There is no doubt we have to address the corporate push to add sugar to everything by legislative means now because we have been unable to do it voluntarily. Food manufacturers are giving people what they are calling for which is a ‘sweetened’ life but this ‘sweetened’ life is contributing to chronic disease in their bodies.
    For our part we need to take a step back and ask ourselves what purpose sugar serves in our lives, what behaviour it feeds, what that behaviour is masking and why we don’t want to feel what we are feeling. These are important questions if we want to understand why we want sugar and then cut the demand so there is no call for supply. We become economists!

35. Fantastic article exposing the rot of sugar and asking us to look beyond blame (sugar industry etc.) and consider why we’re looking for sugar so much. Yes there is a great supply but there is also a demand and the questions posed here about how we are living such that sugar is our crutch are telling points for all of us to consider. In how we live we need sugar, and we convince ourselves we like it, rather than be honest about our need and how that need is destroying our bodies – a rather crazy proposition when you look at it. The question is how honest are we willing to be about how we live.

36. I used to buy smoothies occasionally thinking they were a healthy option. I even went through a phase of making my own, but ‘out of the blue’ I just stopped… something didn’t feel right in my body… how we can get misled in the outer investing in pictures, beliefs and ideals when we do not listen to our body and what it is communicating with us.

37. Sugar is like a drug, it has an alluring nature, and all products that have sugar in them are sold to appeal in one way – and just before eating the sugar do we stop and ask ourselves “What am I really feeling?”. Its hard to do at first because our will is so out of control and just wants its way, but eventually the body is loud enough that honesty becomes our friend.

38. I’m not aware of any health benefits of consuming sugar so not only is it ’empty calories’, which to be honest makes it sound pretty innocuous, but it is also pro-inflammatory and being more widely accepted as the precursor to many of the illnesses and diseases that are so common in our society today – heart disease and liver disease to name but two. Less commonly understood and acknowledged is its effect on mental health.
    My own experience is that of depression, which I can now categorically state was a direct result of consuming large quantities of sugar. As I started to reduce it and eventually cut it out entirely, I became more aware of the sensitivity of my body to other types of sugar eg. fructose in fruit, carbs in starchy veg etc., in that if I ate them, the next day or later the same day, my mood would plummet into a black hole and the despair would return.
    I now live a pretty much sugar and other carb-free life and my mood is really steady. The only time it’s not is if I make a not so great choice and eat something carby, but the true miracle here for me is that I now value myself and my steadiness and joy so much that the consequences of having a short burst of sweet taste in my mouth is simply not worth it.

    1. Beautiful and inspiring transformation Lucy, one founded on you becoming more aware of the effects of sugar on your mood and doing something about it.

39. To understand that the health effects from sugar consumption are similar to that of alcohol consumption really highlights just how dangerous sugar is to our health and yet it is not seen or treated in the same way as other drugs like alcohol.

40. This is a great expose how much we have allowed sugar to dominate our diet and how little we care to know the consequences it entails.

41. There can be no doubt about it – sugar is a public health menace of the most noxious kind. The sooner it is eradicated from our lives the better – but that is a choice only we can make as individuals, for we are the ones creating the demand that fosters the supply.

42. It seems that we are consuming food for comfort and not for nourishment; I saw a toddler, barely one year old, being given Coke in a bottle and that truly shocked me; just thinking how hard it will be for him to get off this sugar addiction, if he ever chooses to go there, as an adult.

43. Absolutely. I used to be a sugar addict, and today, whilst I still have a very very soft spot for a sweet something, by changing my lifestyle and working on big things, like how I feel about who I am, I need far less amounts of sugar/sweet things than I did before. The knock on effect of developing self awareness, self acceptance and self appreciation have been huge. In saying that it’s important to also mention that as my awareness of my body has increased, more ailments have arisen…or rather, I have become aware of them, as opposed to before when I chose (subconsciously), to ignore them, allowing me to then deal with them one at a time and actually understand why I have them.

44. “Sugar is so harmful to health that there are calls for it to be controlled and taxed in the same way as tobacco and alcohol (10,11,12).. Research indicates that sugar indirectly contributes to 35 million deaths a year worldwide, as there appear to be links to the massive rise in diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes since we began eating more sugar. The health effects of excess sugar consumption are similar to those of alcohol 13,14,15).” And yet, this issue is actually quite affordable for most of us to tackle – it is as simple as reducing or eliminating the sugar load in our diets. Simple but not so easy as most are actually addicted to sugar which triggers receptors in our brain that cause cravings; add to this most super market isles that have processed food packages rich in sugar and salt and other additives; add to this how socially accepted sugar is in all arenas, and the list goes on. We are up against a challenge for sure when we cut out the sugar, but I can speak from experience and say it opens up a whole new world of mental clarity, a more settled feeling in the body, reduced inflammation, improved immune function etc etc. The list goes on and it is well worth it…and sets up an example for someone else to be inspired by and grow from.

    1. Yes it is a challenge knocking sugar out of the diet, but worth working with – I have found my body and mind are less racy and much clearer without sugar.

45. It is a shocking statistic that sugar has tripled in the last 50 years but unfortunately one that I’m not surprised about. Sugar at the moment is cheaper than bottles of water or fresh fruit, vegetables and protein. It’s constantly talked about, advertised and promoted as ‘everything in moderation’… yet there is not much moderation going on. Connection has been replaced by sugar, treats, exciting experiences and many other past times… but non deal with the lack of connection there is. Serge Benhayon continually goes there, speaks the truth and doesn’t hide anything ever… interesting that he does not look for an ounce of treats or elevation from who he is ever.

46. It is really interesting that some countries want to introduce a ‘sugar tax’ to try and curb this rising tide of dysfunction and the resultant devastating health problems

47. Everything contains sugar these days and even the vegetables are hybridised in order to make them sweeter; it is as though our hunger for sweetness is insatiable, forever asking to be entertained and fed more of the same, just sweeter still. But, as you point out, this hunger is not food-related, it is only interpreted as a need to put something in our mouths and let our body deal with the consequences.

48. “our sugar consumption has increased in the last 50 years; over this period sugar consumption has tripled worldwide” This fact follows the same trend as illegal drugs in that as long as people are prepared to harm their health by taking it there will be those willing to make a profit from producing it and putting it into as many products as possible to feed the addiction.

49. This question – “How have we been living throughout the day that leads us to be depleted and seeking sugar?” – seems such an natural one to ask but is seems it is one that is rarely asked in today’s world. Is it – as you say – that we are not really prepared to see the answers?

50. What Rachel speaks of here is not new or already known. I can remember seeing the decayed teeth on young children as a child myself, decayed due to the constant use of sugary drinks given in bottles with teats. This I can safely say was happening, knowingly 35 years ago, yet as a society we ignore what it is showing and scoff it off, as the child will get his adult teeth and problem fixed. But in what is shared above, the problem is not fixed for the child has now a dependency on sugar that is taken to adult hood, one that is now played out in further dental issues, diabetes and obesity to name a few of the illnesses that sugar plays a part in our bodies.

51. To me it is a great question to ask ourselves as why do we need that much sugar in our diet. As you say Rachel, it is not only because we like the taste of it, but there is much more to it that we in all honesty must call the root cause of it. Until the time that we are able to become more honest with our behaviours and the true reason behind our sugar intake, the excessive sugar consumption will not stop.

52. So true Bryony. Many people have not had any freedom from sugar and so they do not know all that they are missing out on. This was true for me up until a week ago!

53. I’m pretty stunned by what you share here Rachel. How amazing it is that just a few decades ago they were predicting the end of decay and yet now we have more of it than ever? Sugar has become essential to life for so many people, it would be a very different (and much healthier) world without it but at the moment there are not many that willingly go there. Without the support I have had from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I am sure I would still be addicted to sugar in a big way, it is only through addressing what makes us want sugar in the first place that we can really heal this addiction.

54. Knowing that what you share in your blog was known and proved by science in 2012 and it is now 2017 and it is still the same. Huge amounts of sugar are being sold and many of them are hidden. This shows it is not about quitting sugar but about seeing why we want to eat the sugar and are not listening to the evidence that sugar is not good for us.

55. I heard today that for someone eating a bowl of a popular brand of cereal and glass of juice for breakfast they are effectively eating nearly a half a kilo of sugar. I knew that this was a sugary breakfast choice and something that I myself chose for many years. But to learn that it was nearly half a kilo stopped me in my tracks. I also heard that we used to eat 1 kilo of sugar per person over 1 year, now we eat the same over 1 week, although considering the standard Australian diet, it could very well be one day.

    The other thing that has always baffled me is that we have always known that sugar was bad for our teeth – no argument there. But we somehow have not equated that our teeth are part of our body and that if our teeth are rotting and falling out, then our bodies must not be travelling too well either. I began to get fillings from a young age because of my sugar intake, which when I think back on it now, was pretty high. I have also had long term issues with my gums and I did reach a point with my health where I felt dull, listless, fat, bloated, constipated and just plain old exhausted. Which creates the vicious cycle of sugar consumption. I still need sugar, but I am much more aware now of its effects and am making inroads into changing this long term choice that I have made.

56. I haven’t eaten sugar for a while and the other day I had some.The effects in my body were really horrible, I felt like my body had been poisoned and could feel how this had also altered the state of my mind (like a drug) and this lasted for a few days, in fact I would still say I am feeling the effects of this now. So how are people that have sugar every single day, it is like being on a drug constantly!
    We are living in the 21st century, yet this is one example that is showing we clearly have currently not evolved to living a more loving way, instead in many cases it has become more disregarding. In a meeting I went to the other day, a local London Borough Authority I work for shared how with children under 5 years old there had been an increase in dental ill-health with decay. Under 5!!!! So yes clearly something is not working. I didn’t know this ‘Sugar is so harmful to health that there are calls for it to be controlled and taxed in the same way as tobacco and alcohol (10,11,12).’ It is a start but we have a long way to go.

57. Sugar addiction is strong, so why, what is it giving people that they choose to pollute their body’s with this poison, as opposed to connecting to their gorgeous inner essence? ‘What if there was a way to live that meant we could live from what is naturally inside by simply connecting to the “real you”, a real you that once experienced, you would never want to dull, compromise or alter in any way?’

58. These days the added sugar in food products has gone crazy, and gone are the days when you can just buy something and think there is no need for them to put sugar in this, whereas now we have to read every packet if we want to be sure. But it must be because the consumers are asking for more sugar otherwise the products would be sitting on the shelf, and many would be complaining but that isn’t happening – in fact quite the opposite.

59. We are choosing to eat these foods so we are aware of it. We can see around us there is an increase obesity etc etc. We know what is going on and it hurts. The issue I see is our willingness to be honest. I always hear the same response ‘I like eating chocolate’, ‘I like eating pineapple’. We cleverly eat what food will numb us best and cleverly have our lifestyle to confirm it.

60. We cannot sugar-coat the truth. Perhaps one of the reasons that many delay a visit to the dentist is because we know that our oral health will expose the choices we have been making in what we consume.

61. Sugar = white poison. When we will recognise it as such and ban it from consumption!

    1. It totally is Deborah, I can remember having such an awful reaction to eating a cake full of sugar one day at work, around 18 years ago…. It felt similar to drinking alcohol. It took a few hours for my body to calm down and balance out again. The biggest thing was that I didn’t like not feeling like me.

62. It has got so much worse since you wrote this blog Rachel! The trajectory has got everyone scrambling for solutions but not that many people really asking the questions as you do in this blog. Unless we look at why we are eating the sugar, we are at the mercy of the industries that have a vested interest in us being addicted.

63. A wonderful reminder of the harm, on all levels, poor eating habits have on our teeth and our bodies. Thank you Rachel for sharing your knowledge, experiences and wisdom. Humanity’s addiction to sugar is indeed causing a health crisis.

    1. I’ve seen with my two boys and their friends how shop assistants are with them… they will give them discounts on sugary food and drinks, believing thats being nice but all that does is confirms that you can buy more and eat and drink more because it’s cheaper. It’s interesting what we as a human race have demanded we have access to.

64. Thanks Rachel great to discuss this. Fortunately, which seemed unfortunate at the time, we as children did not have sugary sweets or desserts as they were believed to contribute to tooth decay and our parents did not want to have to continuously be paying dentistry bills. When I had children I also did not allow them sugar or any processed food. They accused me of denying them as everyone else was eating sugar rich diets. Over 30 years ago a book came out ‘Sugar, pure white and deadly’ by a British professor’s warning us about the dangers of sugar. It was written after extensive and thorough research. It has now resurfaced as perhaps we as a society are ready to hear what you are saying here and what the professor tried to say all that time ago . . . although for me, even 35 years ago, it was enough to take a look at a regular child’s birthday party where the kids were fed lollies, cake and fizzy drinks loaded with sugar to see how damaging sugar is . . .It was as though they all just got drunk and gone completely crazy!. . . so I decided that was not the path I would be taking with my children. But because this was considered the norm as soon as they could my children found a way to get their fix also..

65. Move over Alcohol, you thought you had first place as the world’s most socially acceptable drug, sugar has been creeping up on you and snuck into nearly every packaged food on the supermarket shelf and taken the lead. Not to mention has now got people consuming large amounts of high sugar fruit such as watermelon all year round in the name of health.
    We have so many ways that makes us feel better about consuming mass amounts of this buzzy substance. One of my favourites is the saying “I have a sweet tooth”, in truth we do need to stop romanticising this health issue and look deeper into the cause, this article supports greatly with that process.

66. If we are to arise out of this current health crisis, which shows no sign of improving if we continue on as we are, we need to get very, very honest with ourselves and deeply ponder the questions you have posed in the article Rachel, as to why it is we ‘like’ sugar. Why do we like and indeed so willingly choose a deadly sweet substance to override our innate sweetness that would otherwise be felt if we had not numbed ourselves to its presence?

67. A very sobering read Rachel, thank you. Something has indeed gone drastically wrong. We are a world addicted to sugar and all our advances in modern medicine are being used to repair the damage we are causing by the way in which we choose to live, counter to the wisdom of the body that tells us daily how damaging these substances like sugar that we are addicted to, are to our bodies. These shocking health statistics confirm that our bodies are suffering from all that we impose on them and into them that is not in support of the health and vitality of them. We have become a society of ‘body abusers’ but because it is our own bodies we are abusing and because of the ‘everyone else is doing it so it must be fine’ attitude – we are killing ourselves in complete arrogance and seeming ignorance. Forget the plagues of the past, it seems we have invented far more elaborate ways to dispose of our bodies.

68. Awesome expose on sugar Rachel; it may be four years since you wrote it but we as a society are still eating way too much sugar, probably more than the statistics you provided, and the rates of associated illness and disease are rising even higher, and beginning to cripple the health system. I agree that “we should be asking ourselves, why are we eating so much sugar?’ but sadly I feel that many do not really want to know the answer, for then they may have to make a few healthy lifestyles changes, and that for many is way too hard, it is much easier to bury their heads, not in the proverbial sand, but in the ever increasing sugar pile.

69. A very real read Rachel, I do hope this article is on display in your surgery waiting room, for the content could well be the words needed for many to begin to consider the reality of what sugar does to our bodies and the very real consequences, the immediate ones and the long term ones, that affect our body when we choose to follow the crowd and increase the intake of sugar in our diet. Considering that we don’t need sugar in our diet, what you share above is truly revealing just how addictive it is.

70. It is sobering to read that honey and fruit were indeed our main sources of sugar in days gone by, and to understand the depth and breadth of sugar’s infiltration into the matrix of our society, and the addiction that has grown with this, and the havoc that it is wreaking.

71. The relationship many people have with sugar is no different to other addictions and this one you don’t even have to hide, it’s also cheap, accessible and possible to avoid the ‘come down’ most substance abuse entails because there is no issue with supply.

72. You nailed it Rachel with ‘Perhaps we should be asking ourselves, why are we eating so much sugar?‘ How can we reduce sugar consumption when we don’t understand in full why it is commonly overeaten? This line of enquiry holds the answer to the sugar induced health epidemic.

73. It is socially accepted that sugar, similar to alcohol in small amounts does not seem to be detrimental to health, so its consumption is justified and we don’t consider if a lot could ruin our health, then perhaps a little could have a detrimental effect too. More on point however, is the globally skewed perception of how much sugar is ‘a little’.

74. As a parent, we just have to observe birthday parties for a readout on society… If you provide really balanced Food & Drink then the odds are everyone will have a lovely time then leave feeling pretty good… But we all know that normally kids birthday parties are an absolute sugar fest and everyone ends up bouncing off the walls… Sugar has a lot to answer for!

    1. Yes it does Chris as the information in the blog confirms

    2. The psychology behind this is interesting especially from a parenting perspective. When children come home from a birthday party parents after a while wise up and put two and two together, that is, a tantrum or different behaviours after a birthday party is to be expected. Are parents resigned to this? Have they accepted this is just the way it is? I know parents that have tried a few other things to lessen the stress that birthday parties can put on the whole family. I have known one to give their child a wholesome meal beforehand so there is less room to fill up with party foods, another has taken along a plate of food with healthier options for everyone to share and another has taken along other food so their child can eat with the others and not feel like they are missing out. A little odd you might say but is it really when we consider what we call a celebration takes a toll on health, wellbeing and harmony in our families.

75. I love the questions you raise in this article, Rachel. We all know what sugar does to our body, our teeth and to our whole well-being and yet so many people (me included for a long time) consciously choose to ignore what our body is telling us and don’t take responsibility for their health. I have found sugar to be a very strong addiction and a hard one to let go. Without Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I wouldn’t have changed this need and my behavior.

76. I knew the harmful effect of sugar on teeth and diet but did not know that it increases the risk of non communicable diseases as well. It reflects the state of our society in constant search of stimulants to maintain our level of energy. And yet when do give sugar up we can feel the vitality and joy of our body liberated from this addiction.

77. Sugar is so addictive because we crave energy. It is a vicious cycle of seeking energy outside ourselves instead of looking after ourselves and offering our bodies the balance of good nutrition and rest that we need. The sugar addiction makes it feel unpleasant when we stop taking sugar, but after the withdrawal is over, we feel very grounded, focussed and joyful. Sugar only satiates short term. It is not worth it!

78. A film I was recently inspired by for the truth that it reveals around sugar is “That Sugar Film” by Damon Gameau. It highlights the dark side of sugar, as does this blog, and creates a deeper awareness of the impact choosing to eat excessive sugar has on our overall health and well being.

79. Sugar related diseases are becoming an epidemic and the addictive nature of sugar is often overlooked. Having given up all processed sugars, and not so long ago honey, I am aware of how addictive and numbing sugar is to our natural sense of taste and overall well being.
    I am happy to say I now can really taste food and the natural sweetness available in vegetables!! This was not possible when I was eating honey or sugar, for my natural sense of taste was dulled, leaving me reaching for the more extreme sugar hit to fulfil that sense of sweetness I craved and felt very addicted and controlled by.
    Today I feel free of my sugar addiction and my body is smiling from the inside out.

80. Very alarming statistics and facts you have presented about the harm of sugar, how is it that the medical and health authorities are not telling us about the extent of harm that sugar is responsible for.

81. Wow what an education right there Rachel 🙂 I’ve had my fair share of dental issues from consuming way too much sugar in my youth and am so glad to have begun making healthier food choices for myself now. It is truly scary that sugar consumption has tripled in the last 50 years because it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any with a continuous stream of new sugar-filled drinks and foods coming onto the shelves. With sugar contributing to 35 million deaths per year worldwide when is the world going to take notice?

82. Has our sugar intake literally become ‘Sickening Sweet’

83. Some powerful points here Rachel, it reflects how much as a society we have chosen to use sugar as a crutch to fill us up, comfort us and get us through our days. To think we have hit these staggering levels of sugar consumption is clearly indicating something has got to change. I know for myself I still struggle to keep sugar out of my diet, but like so many before and so many to come it is showing that there is a deeper level of responsibility for the choices I am making that needs to be taken. A thought provoking read.

84. “Something has gone drastically wrong when despite our remarkable medical advances and vast knowledge of the body, nutrition and illness and disease, the statistics show that we are fighting a losing battle as the prevalence of heart disease, diabetes and cancer continue to rise.” This is very true, Rachel so it is definitely time to look at all choices in our lives.

85. Stop eating sugar and then it becomes apparent how many foods contain sugar, it is staggering. Having been a sugar addict for only, say all of my life! giving it up has been a lengthy process and I can still feel the pull to eat sugar, which is nothing to do with my ‘sweet tooth’, but to do with filling the emptiness I feel inside, in other words, emotional eating. Ouch!

    1. I can relate to this comment, Mark, having been a sugar addict too. To fill emptiness, to not feel anger or another emotion, to stay in my comfort, to say no to evolution and also to not take responsibility for myself and my life and the impact of that on others.

86. I was at the petrol station yesterday, an ambulance pulled in to fill up, when the ambulance driver came inside to pay he selected an array of chocolate bars, as he put them on the counter he asked “Well, how else are we going to get through our day?”

    I stopped for a moment to imagine these ambulance men and women arriving at the scene of an accident, the combined effects of sugar and adrenaline that would be running through their bodies and the impact this would have on their natural awareness and presence under the duress of these situations.

    1. Lucindag I have shared the same experience of a nurse starting her shift that morning. It is not surprising then that these high sugar drinks and food are often situated near the paying counter.

87. Thanks, Rachel, it is good to consider why we eat so much sugar and why it is so prevalent in processed foods. Basically, it is added for taste, not because it is nutritious. If it tastes good, people will buy it, and that means profits. It is all about making money, and not about feeding us nutritious, healthy foods. But we have a choice to not eat it. It is addictive, so hard to give up, especially if we do not address the cause of our exhaustion that leaves us craving sweet tasting foods.

    1. So true Carmel – food chains will continue to produce products containing sugar because of taste – sweetness is addictive and makes you want to eat more of the same food, therefore – more profit. But we do indeed have a choice to buy products containing sugar or not. Even better – cook our own food without sugar. And yes, if we do not address what is causing us as a nation to be so exhausted, we will continue to crave sweet tasting foods. And the obesity problem will continue to exist, and the potential for chronic illness.

88. The way humanity is out of rhythm with what is natural and harmonious for the human body’s well being is well documented, with the rising rates of everything from coffee, to illness, to stress. What is not so well known is that we have within us, and always have had, the resolution to all these ills and that it would be possible, in one generation, to return to a state of connection and harmony.

89. This is a great expose of the insidious nature of sugar and how rife it is in our food today. I found sugar was an ingredient in a packet of smoked salmon…it is yummy on its own without the need for sugar or even salt! Thank you for also exposing fructose within the sugar conversation – this is one that is often not connected to sugar consumption but has just as detrimental an effect. Having commenced a fructose free diet earlier this year for various health reasons (sugar was already gone) I can honestly say it has been the best thing for my body…my body feels so light – no more bloating or heaviness after meals. Fructose is out, and it was simply a process of trialling a fructose free diet for a month and then feeling the result within my body – there was such a significant difference – it felt too good to go back to the old ways – simple.

90. This is a real education, just reading your blog Rachel. I was shocked to read that Sugar consumption has tripled in the last 50 years and also shocked to read that sugar contributes to 35 million deaths a year worldwide. This is a huge problem.

    1. Indeed it is a huge problem Heidi and one which does not seem to be going away or even diminishing. For every research paper exposing the ills of sugar another appears with an opposing view. Once addicted it is very difficult for most to reduce their sugar intake, especially those who are raised with a high sugar diet from young. Too often sweets, chocolate and the like are given as treat or reward, so there is also an emotional attachment to sugar. It is great to see well researched blogs like the one Rachel has written, slowly chip away at the mass sugar addiction.

91. Wonderful informative article Rachel, I was surprised and alarmed at some of the statistics.
    I grew up with my Mum saying, almost daily, “sugar for strength”; hence my families sugar consumption was huge.
    For some time now I have known, and felt, the effects of sugar on our health and well-being.
    It took quite a number of attempts to cut out sugar altogether from my diet and to feel the real benefits of being sugar free.

92. I love how you have taking the sugar topic much deeper than that it causes tooth decay and we need to fix that. Your statement: “Something has gone drastically wrong when despite our remarkable medical advances and vast knowledge of the body, nutrition and illness and disease, the statistics show that we are fighting a losing battle as the prevalence of heart disease, diabetes and cancer continue to rise.” is very true and is needed to be made. We can keep ignoring what is going on but it is actually what is going on if you have an honest look at society and the rates of illness and disease but also the general feeling of well being experienced by many is not as it could be. I have found for myself too that looking inside myself at why I was needing sugar has been profound. I found this amazing beauty in me which is actually all I ever wanted, sugar is not needed if I feel this. I am not perfect but it is for sure the way to go.

93. To get off sugar for me was very difficult. I tried many times but only when I came across Universal Medicine and actually asked myself some of the questions you have addressed here in your blog, did I manage to go sugar-free. It is a strong addiction and has to fill in for the many things that we miss in life, basically because we miss ourselves. Admitting that and then choosing to get to know myself made all the difference.

94. Great informative article Rachel. I was shocked to see the statistics stating that sugar is very harmful, and leads not only to tooth decay. Most people would justify that a little sugar is ok. Great to nominate possible reasons why sugar is on the increase and addictive.
    “We eat sugar because we are exhausted, stressed or seeking comfort. Or we are seeking a moment of pleasure, a quick buzz, and a high via a sugar rush that gets our nervous system revved up and out of balance. Or we are desperate to numb the way we feel inside and avoid dealing with life. Or we do not feel alive enough just as we are without altering our brain and body chemistry with foods.”

95. Rachel I was surprised that the dental decay etc. is worse now than it was years ago.But when you explained how there is sugar added to so many things that we eat, and quite often in food that wouldn’t be considered to have sugar in it, I could understand. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

96. Growing up in a family where sugar is everyone’s ‘best friend,’ and everybody goes often to the dentist does not make it easy to truly appreciate the fact that we harmed ourselves through it. You simply think that this is all normal. Yet, it is not. That is why is so important to tell the truth about sugar and dental decay.

97. If you research the background of the industrialised sugar industry, you’ll find they’ve discredited early doctors and scientists who had proven the severity of sugar on our health and employed nearly all of the same tactics that big tobacco did back in the day… All for the sake of a handful of people to make big profits, we have a few billion people suffering and dying due to the pasta sauce, soft drink and or almost any other processed food they consume (blind to the subtle addiction they feed). Why we choose to eat these foods is the real question though: why is everyone seeking a kick from sweet food, that they don’t get from their greens?

    1. Oliver you raise the obvious question here, “why is everyone seeking a kick from sweet food, that they don’t get from their greens?” Growing up we were regularly allowed sweets as a reward or treat. We also had regular visits to the dentist to have cavities filled! At that time there was little or no knowledge that sugar was in fact a poison to the body. Since the 50s, much more information is available about the negative effects of sugar on the body, yet why do otherwise loving and caring parents still allow their children to eat the amount of sugar that many do? Imagine an advertisement with a mother giving a child a sweet and the caption “Why is this woman choosing to poison her child”. That would make people sit up and reconsider!

98. I find it intriguing that we turn to sugar to pep ourselves up, but it actually has the effect of exhausting our bodies in the long run. No wonder the food industry is literally making a killing out of it. It’s a horrible vicious cycle.

99. It has been great for me to read this blog again as recently my sugar consumption has been increasing again whereas it was nearly out of my diet for a while. This just shows to me how addictive sugar is, and how difficult it is to permanently give it up. I can see how it should be compared to alcohol and tobacco.

100. When I was a kid it was well known that sugar was bad for you, particularly your teeth. It seems we have had this knowledge for a long time but the consumption of sugar is increasing. I have been gob-smacked working in the health products industry just how much sugar is championed as part of a healthy diet … Healthy sweet treats laced with concentrated fruit sugars and honey. No one seems to want to give sugar up. We seem to be forever looking for alternatives instead of feeling what it is doing to our bodies.

101. Sugar is the new drug for the masses, and doing a great job in destroying the population’s health and ability to be still. We have to ask why we as world population have such an huge appetite for it, the answers lie in greed, and exhaustion.

102. Thank-you Rachel for another very informative article on the detriments of consuming sugar and its far reaching effects on our health.

103. There is so much artificial food in the world. Even the prebaked, prepackaged stuff that doesn’t look artificial is full of artificial ingredients. If sugar is as addictive as cocaine, what are we choosing to ignore to allow such a substance to be used to make our foods? Could it be that we are using it to push ourselves to be something we are not?

104. A recent documentary in New Zealand showed children as young as 3 or 4 and older having rotten teeth extracted under general anaesthetic as a result of excess sugar consumption, mainly from ‘soft drinks’. This wasn’t just one or two teeth but most of them. The dental surgeons were imploring people to take note and take action as this is a daily occurrence for them now, virtually unheard of in the past.

105. Thanks Rachel for a very informative blog, they are very alarming statistics you have presented about the harm sugar causes.

106. Rachel, thanks for a clearly presented blog with loads of information and great questions for us to ask ourselves. I am often disappointed when I see a new item in a supermarket that looks appealing only to check the ingredients to find that sugar has been added somewhere along the way. It (and salt) seem to have crept into most commercially available foods and the population aren’t stopping to consider just how much sugar they are consuming, either openly or unknowingly. No wonder dental problems are on the increase worldwide.

107. More and more in the news there are articles showing how addictive and damaging sugar is to the human body, but this blog digs a bit deeper under the ‘I like it or I can’t live without it’ sayings that often follow sugary foods. My diet has drastically reduced in sugar over the past four years and at the start I couldn’t see my life without my fruit pastels or Halva but from experience I have learnt that that little pick-me-up is short lived compared the more stable energy I gain from leaving the sugar out of my diet. What if a persons mental and emotional and situational states were recorded before eating a sugary food, what would that result in? Like you say Rachel sugar is a great way to rev ourselves up or comfort emotional disturbances which is how I have used foods, sweet ones especially, in the past.

     1. Thank you Rachel and Leigh, I agree the ‘pick-me-up’ is not only short-lived but leaves you feeling excessively tired.

108. What you say is very true Rachel. I was a sugar and carbohydrate consuming person. Eating lots of it on any given day. The results of this were showing on my waistline and in my gums, having extensive gum disease. It makes sense that our teeth and gums will be giving us an indication to the state of health of the rest of our body. I ignored my oral health for a long time. Now it’s part of the very dedicated way that I care for myself. My teeth, gums and health are showing the results of this too.

     1. Thank you Rachel, Jennifer and Universal Medicine. I agree even after giving up all sugar, my carbohydrate intake was extraordinarily high. My carbohydrate intake was effectively a sugar replacement that exacerbated all my health irregularities plus excessive bloating and teeth and gum disorders.

109. I agree that we need to deeply explore why we reach for so much sugar. I know for me, it is often when I am exhausted that I crave the (temporary) ‘pick-me-up’ of sugar, but inevitably, this leads to a crash.

110. Thanks Rachel. This was a most informative article – on many levels. Prior to Universal Medicine, I was highly addicted to sugar, so much so that I did not even register the fact. I thought it was natural and normal. 8 Years on and my diet is almost sugar free, with the occasional daily apple or two – and the difference in the level of vitality I now experience is through the roof. I have never had so much energy, or zest for life, and the emotional and physical lows I used to experience every day have completely disappeared. Of course, the removal of sugar from my diet was only part of the reason for this turnaround, but without looking at sugar I could never have gotten my body to where it is today – fact.

111. Great blog Rachel, it really brings it home the extent of how much sugar we as a society are consuming and how acceptable this has become, not to mention the health problems we are facing. I can only imagine how much money would be saved within the healthcare sector alone, if sugar was taken out of our diets.

112. It is quite shocking to find that sugar is in absolutely everything today, from baked beans to peanut butter and so the list goes on. This must surely mean that we are addicted, why else would it be happening?

     1. It is shocking Gabriele and most people don’t realise how much they are consuming, often thinking that if they don’t put sugar in their tea, coffee or cereal then they don’t consume it. It’s very insidious.

        1. Thank you Rachel, Gabriele, Jennifer and Serge Benhayon. Sugar is ridiculous, insidious and all about making money, with no consideration of what it is doing to humanity’s health.

113. Thanks for this detailed well researched blog Rachel.
     Whenever I crave something sweet to eat, I know I am ignoring messages from my feelings and body. It is an ’emptyness’ that I am avoiding, when I feel into it I know that “empty calories” will never fill that void.
     Simply, “connecting to and living the love I am, creates a natural balance and harmony”, then, I am in my ‘full’ ness.

114. IT seems absolutely crazy but understandable that all the tooth decay and diseases such as heart disease and diabetes etc could be reduced greatly by just taking sugar out of the equation.

115. Definitely time to look more deeply at the reasons WHY sugar is so desired.

116. Rachel this is a powerful and comprehensive look at our relationship with sugar and it’s effects on our health. In our area there has been a push from some to address dental decay prevention by adding fluoride to the water supply … sounds like looking at our sugar consumption and what drives that desire would be a far more effective approach.

     1. As you say if we can begin looking at the ‘drives and desire’ we will not only get a solution, but as I have found we will get a way of living that is self sustaining and supports us in living a life that offers us all an equal and amazing opportunity to change and embrace life fully. Everyday can be a day to celebrate life where we no longer have the need for sugar as a reward as the day will be enough in itself.

117. Very powerful statistics, speaking very loudly about the outcome of the choices we make everyday. I am still a work in progress and being tripped up occasionally by challenges where I will seek something sweet. The Truth in what has been presented here cannot be over looked and when connected and living the real me – the buzz in that, far out weighs everything else. Thanks Rachel

118. I know for me I did not often feel alive enough without altering my brain and body chemistry with sugar or food. There was no question that my relationship with sugar was linked to exhaustion and seeking comfort in those moments of pleasure. Through the work of Serge Benhayon I deepened my understanding and awareness and naturally began taking better care of myself by connecting to the “real me”. In that connection I immediately noticed I became more sensitive to smaller and smaller quantities of sugar and when I would have it it would race my mind and body and my connection would either be disturbed or lost altogether. It was so true Rachel that once I rediscovered and experienced a connection with the real me, I became reluctant to want to dull, compromise or alter that in any way with sugar.

119. Rachel, I found your article very thought provoking. So much money is poured into research and health prevention aimed at reducing obesity and sugar intake and curing other health conditions, but it really seems like it is all destined to ultimately fail, as the right questions are not being asked to begin with.

120. Awesome article Rachel, the patterns that are set up in young kids today by the loading of sugar in all processed food creates an addiction to, not just sugar, but a way of life that relies on an external driving energy – whether it be plugged in to music, drugs, boot camp exercise, the internet, entertainment, TV, computer games, pornography – to just get through a day, with all the anxiety of not being present in that day; and at its end not being able to sleep deeply, with a mind that is racing from all that it has been fed throughout the day by what has been sought; and so waking again exhausted and needing a jolt from outside and so the cycle starts again. This is torture on a mass scale that leads to broken people with broken lives .

121. This was really informative to read. It makes sense that sugar and alcohol are having similar ill effects on the body, as alcohol is loaded with sugar. I was amazed when a specialist shared with me that the substance they inject into people to find cancer cells is basically sugar. Apparently cancer cells love it and it helps them to rapidly multiply. This should be enough to stop people in their tracks and think twice about all the added sugar that is now in our diets.

     1. I didn’t know that Fiona, fascinating. A friend who has cancer was asking her specialist what she should and shouldn’t eat. He said something like…don’t worry about that now eat what you like, or what you can and we can address this when your treatments are complete. Why isn’t this fact enough to stop people (and doctors too) in their tracks?

        1. Thank you Fiona and Jennifer. This makes perfect sense to why we feel hung over after too much sugar or carbohydrates. Imagine that, sugar an unnatural substance to the body supports another unnatural thing in the body cancer!

122. Thank you Rachel for a very interesting article on the effects of sugar in our diet. Here’s hoping it will be banned one day along with cigarettes, as it is very much a poison to the body.

     1. Yes Jill, it will be interesting to see if sugar will be treated the same as cigarettes were many years ago, the health and well being of humanity is at stake here so there needs to be more care and responsibility with this.

123. Thanks Rachel for such an informative, well researched and honest article about the damaging facts sugar has on our health and wellbeing. The figures are definitely alarming. Sugar is such a comforting, pleasurable food consumed by so many people. Unless confronted by ill health the majority of people would rather stay in denial, than to take responsibility for their own life choices, and lovingly make changes. Articles like this need to be made front page news to let humanity know what is really going on!

124. “Perhaps we should be asking ourselves, why are we eating so much sugar? What are we getting from it? Why do we need the kick or boost it provides? How have we been living throughout the day that leads us to be depleted and seeking sugar? These are all excellent questions and really deserve to be considered deeply by all of us. We often just assume that the way we are living is the only way we can live. Universal Medicine presents that there is another way to live that does not deplete us in any way and from my experience it works.

125. Rachel, this is a very informative sharing about sugar and the long string of consequences from having an excess in our diet. I have very little sugar in my diet now but at times still feel like something sweet. When I feel into why I want something sweet it is usually as a “pick me up” or a comfort thing. At times I have deluded myself into thinking that having a piece of fruit is okay, but this has sugar, however natural we like to think it is. Sugar ingestion is a deeper issue than just enjoying something sweet – there are many energetic layers to uncover and own before this issue will be sorted. At the moment we are being very exposed in this area!

     1. Thank you Anne, it is so important that we start to look at our eating patterns and study in all honesty why we choose for some foods. As Rachel mentions in this article, we can choose food to change our mental and physical state of being, but why do we need this change in our bodies in the first place? That should be the question, since we do not need any additional sugar in our diets, other than to change our state of being, as is so clearly stated above.

126. The research is there about the ill effects of sugar on health and there is very little health promotion in Australia regarding the relationship between disease and sugar. The prevailing attitude by health professionals and the lay person is ‘a little bit of sugar won’t hurt’, the problem here is the distorted and possibly ignorant perception of how much is ‘a little bit’. Rachel thank you for getting to the crux of the issue by asking questions about why people are consuming high amounts of sugar. The addictive nature of sugar is such that sheer will power to stay away may keep people across the globe in the cycle of poor health and continued high sugar consumption unless there can be more understanding given in particular to the psychology of sugar consumption. The questions to ask are here in this post.

     1. I agree Dianne that willpower alone will not keep people away from the white poison. It can only come from questioning and then understanding why it’s “needed” in the first place.

127. Thank you for sharing this Rachel. It calls for a high degree of responsibility, self care and honesty to answer and act on the questions you pose. I have looked at these things in my life and continue to do so. The health benefits have been profound.

128. “….and instead keep pouring it in, in the mistaken belief that we just like it”. This describes exactly how honest I was willing to be about my sugar intake a few years ago. My only admitted reasons for eating lots of sweet things were “because I like it” & “I have a naturally sweet tooth”. As I have committed to being more honest, I have come to understand that I was totally exhausted & used sugar to make it through the day, regularly having to start with a sweet breakfast for a kick start. As I have been able to lovingly look at how my constant busyness & lack of self care was exhausting me, I have been able to reduce my sugar intake to occasional fruit & honey – still a work in progress. Because of this, my skin has cleared up, the black rings under my eyes have reduced, the pain in my wrists, fingers & toes has stopped. Thank you for exposing the dangers of sugar consumption, Rachel.

     1. Carmin thanks for bringing up such an interesting and valid point. When we make comments such as “because I like it” or “I just have a little bit so it not that bad”. We are still playing the game rather then being honest about what is really going on in our bodies in the first pace for the craving to start.
        When a person has a craving to have a cigarette we often see a concern on other peoples faces about the harm this is causing. Why is it any different with sugar!

129. Thank you Rachel for exposing the harm that sugar causes. It’s addictiveness should not be underestimated.

130. Great article Rachel.For many of us I feel we are so used to eating a lot of sugar that we are numb to the effect it has in our body, this has certainly been the case for me.
     These days I eat very little sugar and feel the hardening effect it has on me when I do; as I continue to refine my diet I am finding that my body is waking up and its messages of what to eat and the way different foods affect my body are loud and clear. The Universal Medicine presentations have been inspirational in this regard.

     1. I agree Tim, because we consume sugar so normally we often don’t realise what affect it is having on the body, like you as I have less sugar in my diet when I do have something sweet I instantly feel the affect that it has. It worries me that if such a small amount can affect me so hugely now, what was going on inside in the past?

131. “For the first time in human history, non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, pose a greater health burden worldwide than infectious disease (16).”
     This is enormous and quite shocking if you stop to really contemplate it. It is something that cannot be denied yet somehow we seem to continue to do so. (In the past, at about this point I would have felt the urge to go off and make myself a nice comforting milo and some toast and jam and bury this information in the furthest recesses of my mind. Not any more.)
     I work in palliative care, end of life, and we are seeing the results of the above quoted statement play out daily. Many of our patients no longer present with simply a cancer or a heart failure, but with the burden of the cancer, PLUS heart disease and diabetes and all their permutations together. Not to be forgotten are the respiratory diseases which are also on an alarming rise and contribute to the multi symptomatic issues many of our patient now face. This will be deemed to be anecdotal evidence no doubt but it is what we are living with at the ‘coal face’ daily.
     Recently in Britain it was proposed that cancer is becoming a fact for 1 in every 2 people! Feel that! It’s either you or me.
     A couple of years ago the statistics were 1 in 4, not a decade or so before that they were 1 in 20. A rich seam developing in this particular coal face it seems.

     Is it possible that in order to not really be aware of what is going on we have developed a process of ‘normalising’ illness and disease, even down to the media telling us that getting cancer is just ‘bad luck’ when there is ample proof and research showing us the opposite is true.
     There are proven pathways to illness and disease, we are not powerless nor ignorant of these (though we can choose to be) and the fact is we can make some of those needed changes whether they be diet or lifestlye or our way of being and attitudes in life; all it takes is are simple choices.
     How horrible if it got to every 1 in 1 and that you and I and every other human being on the planet had a cancer, a form of heart disease and/or diabetes. Would we still pass it off as ‘just bad luck’ and then quietly roll over and die because it has become forgotten that each of us has the capacity to make different choices?
     Let us never forget that we are not choice-less.
     Simple, loving, lifestyle and body supportive choices to return to a true well being are right there within us, waiting for us to claim them.
     Maybe we could start with sugar?

     1. Great points that you highlight Jeanette, and I agree sugar is a good point to start. Lets also introduce or ” implement more self-caring lifestyle choices” so humanity starts to understand health, through self-loving actions which have a positive effect on us.

        1. Love how you have added that Greg, I agree.

        2. So true Greg, that way we are simply making choices to support ourselves, rather than give up something we love. The more self-caring and therefore more self-loving I am and the more honest I am with myself as to why I have needed sugar – the likely I am to simply no longer choose to eat sugar, no big deal. This is so empowering for I am not missing out on anything. In fact I am gaining much more of me, which is worth so much more and very beautiful to discover.

        3. Thank you Jeanette and Jennifer. It is absolutely true how we used to feel the need for sugar and by a simple self-loving choice it is ‘no big deal’. Sugar has become an indulgence that is now touted as being far worse than salt. I categorically understand how we become more from being free of not only sugar but things that create excess sugar in the body’s system. Excess sugar in any situation makes our body racy then lethargic because it is false energy to the body. I feel this every time I over indulge in anything that is overstimulating in my diet and this has become a sliding scale I feel consistently from my body !

132. A very enlightening and thought provoking article, which starts the important conversation about the amount of sugar we as a society consume. This article should be published.
     Thank you Rachel.

133. The statistics and data presented in this article are very alarming indeed. I fully agree with Rachel, “sugar” needs to be focused a lot more than it currently is. This is a hugely important article that should be published in every newspaper, magazine, and etc. Thank you so much Rachel for writing this.

134. Sugar consumption is so normal in our society, “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, in the most delightful way” I think were the words of the old Mary Poppins song. Along these lines the thought of giving up sugar can seem so radical and stripping life of one of it’s major pleasures. After all we reward ourselves with sweet “treats”, foods we consider a little bit naughty and a little bit nice but cushion ourselves from the fact that we are “rewarding” ourselves with something that is in fact very damaging to our health. Now there is something very perverse in that behaviour if examined closely.

135. Great article Rachel – it is definitely worth going deeper than simply labeling sugar as the problem and instead looking at why society is needing to reach for it in ever-increasing amounts.

136. This is a great blog Rachel and one I enjoyed reading enormously, your research and the way you lay it out is so true and so informative at the same time. Why are we needing so much sugar? Is it the sweetness of ourselves that we are missing?

     1. I love this question that you pose Josephine: ” Is it the sweetness of ourselves that we are missing?”. Reading the figures of the consumption of sugar in the world, it sure looks like we are!

        1. Yes, I would agree with you Ingrid for when we do connect with that exquisite feeling of sweetness and/or tenderness, even if briefly, there is nothing in that moment we can take in from outside ourselves that comes close and so there is simply no need or desire for anything unnecessary or actually harming. So would we be eating sugar? I don’t think so.

137. Great question to ask ourselves, why are people in the world eating so much sugar, and why has this increased so dramatically in the last few years? I know it took my some time to recognise and own how I felt about sugar, I had not even considered myself a sugar fan but slowly started to realise that it is hidden in so much food and drink. Slowly the world seems to be recognising that it is so much more than ’empty calories’ This blog is so comprehensive and supportive – Thank you.

138. Sugar is so insidious and in nearly every manufactured food. Suse T your comment is right onto it – Thanks Rachel great read.

139. An awesome presentation on the havoc that sugar wreaks on our bodies and the reasons why we continue to let it, despite the evidence. We need to ask why, if ‘Sugar is so harmful to health that there are calls for it to be controlled and taxed in the same way as tobacco and alcohol’ then why isn’t this happening at a rate of knots in order to maximise the health and wellbeing of nations and remove the bankrupting financial burden we have placed on our healthcare systems globally?

140. As you have clearly illustrated Rachel, sugar is the fuel of choice of many to feed the emptiness of living in a way that is totally depleting and dishonouring of our physical bodies. Excellent article.

141. Thanks Rachel for a very informing article. Sugar consumption is probably in these modern times one of humanities biggest perils, with it in nearly all processed foods. Scientifically more addictive than cocaine as when tested on rats shown in the movie “Fed Up “, it proves that people are literally running around managing there lives in between there next hits. With the scary statistics of the increase in diabetes as well all fingers are pointing for us to make better choices in our diets and lifestyle. I am glad that I too have been able to kick the sugar habit, and live a more harmonious and consistant life because of the that choice. Ps it wasn’t done over night, adjustments over time, and my body being my guide.

142. Since I have mostly cut sugar out of my diet, I have become acutely aware of how it acts in my body on the occasions that I do eat sugar. I feel what a strong drug it is – I have a tiny amount and I just want more and more and more. The other strange thing that has happened lately is that I become lethargic and grumpy within about 30 minutes of eating sugar. I’m on the couch needed a nap. It has such a dramatic impact on our bodies, yet sadly most people are not even aware of how much they consume.

143. Wow – to read the statistics on sugar consumption having tripled! I feel this has a lot to do with the rise in many sugar-related illnesses and disease but also I have a feeling it would be contributing to a lot more than that too. Just looking at how the nervous system gets affected by dietary sugar, and the roller coaster effect on blood sugar levels and then the effects on adrenaline and other hormones in the body – no wonder we also have a rise in endocrine conditions that are also happening! One thing leads to another – but how far do we let things go as a society before we are actually willing to make the changes that are needed…As for many people, I did get a brief medical scare in my twenties before I began looking at making changes in my diet for the better. Now, we don’t actually have to do it that way (wait for a diagnosis or a medical scare before we make a change), it can be done well before we head down the track of a medical condition. And when we make the changes simply because we want to care for ourselves more, then this is really self empowering.

144. The statistics on sugar consumption is astonishing. I remember that when I was growing up our main sugar intake probably came from breakfast cereal and fruit. We never had fruit juice, very rarely had sweets and chocolate and cakes and biscuits were a treat that happened on the odd occasion or at birthday parties. It is alarming to see the amount of sugar our children are now exposed to.

145. Working in a super market I get to see what people are buying and I have noticed there are trends that happens at certain times of the year. Christmas and the celebrations for 2015 have just come and gone and I have noticed an unusual amount of soft drinks such as cola and energy drinks, along with pain killers are being bought at the moment. Many are tired and exhausted after the long build up to the festive season but rather than stopping and seeing this they are pushing their bodies to do more at a time when they should be resting. Sugar is being used as a ‘pick me up’ to keep everyone going.

146. It doesn’t bare thinking about how many young children have to have their baby teeth removed due to tooth decay – especially in this day and age where it is well known that sugary drinks contribute towards tooth decay. Years ago I remember it was common to send the child to sleep with a bottle of sugary blackcurrent drink until they found out that the sugar content was ridiculously high and then the company reduced the sugar to gain back its popularity.

147. Often when someone says they have a healthy diet if you inquire further it reveals that what is considered ‘healthy’ by a large proportion of those asked, is in fact packed with sugars and carbohydrates. For example fruit, smoothies, juices all in the name of getting your ‘5-a -day’. I was really interested to read that there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that “fructose (one component of table sugar) can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases (17,18)”. It is not surprising that with this incomplete understanding and misunderstanding of sugar – in all its forms, that we have a society that continues to suffer the consequences of ill health, oral or otherwise, from sugar consumption.

148. My 6 year old granddaughter announced to me the other week that she is now refusing to eat tomato ketchup or drink coke because it has sugar in it – a dentist visited them in school and gave a talk on what sugar does to their teeth and it would be very supportive for healthy teeth if they did not eat sugar! All schools would benefit from this kind of sharing from a dentist.

     1. Wow Stephanie that’s quite amazing and inspiring to read! I’ve seen the videos of what coca-cola does to the teeth.. quite scary!

     2. Informing children of the facts about sugar is just what is required to help them make better choices in the future – I used to drink fizzy drinks even though the after effects were very unpleasant. I was watching a programme once and it showed that if you put a coin in coke for a few hours it would come out shiny clean. What did this do to my digestive system? and my teeth?
        Thank you Rachel for a great article.

     3. Yes, it would be great if children were educated about sugar, what it does and the so-called healthy foods it is hidden in. I notice that a lot of parents think that they are giving their children a healthy diet when they are loading them up with snacks of fruit, dried fruit and drinks of fruit juice. It is easy to see the effects all this sugar has on small bodies, within minutes they are racing around, acting silly, a bit drunk and generally showing all the characteristics of being high on sugar. Tears soon follow.

149. “What if there was a way to live that meant we could live from what is naturally inside by simply connecting to the “real you”, a real you that once experienced, you would never want to dull, compromise or alter in any way? ”
     When are we ever asked this? We should be, all the time, it’s a great question. Isn’t that kind of similar to how they sell drugs, a way to alter how you’re feeling for the better? But this way you get to feel like it all the time, naturally, at no cost to your health or your pocket! I’m pretty sure the answer would be a resounding YES if people were asked. I for one cannot imagine reintroducing certain food or drinks into my system having felt the distinct advantages of not consuming them anymore.

150. Rachel what strikes me about this is that when you studied at Dental School it sounds like they already knew what the issues were and how to treat them. Hence why they predicted less fillings and gum disease. It shows clearly that even when this information is known (another example smoking kills) it does not stop or in the case of dental disease it actually increases with the increase in visible and hidden sugar. I know I certainly was never aware of the level of sugar I was eating! For many people advertising gives people false truths about what we are actually consuming making us think it is healthy when the opposite could be true. Thank you for sharing your insight.

151. Absolutely . Let’s look at what we are eating and why?

152. It’s ironic that these days there are so many ‘better eating’ programs, diets, choices ect ect…and yet – our health is declining.
     We’re letting manufacturers tell us what to eat, we’re trusting them with processed foods and no longer eat what our body feels too, or bringing it back to the raw basics.
     Which only calls for the opportunity to be more aware of what we are eating and why. This article is an absolute confirmation of that – thank you for sharing Rachel.

153. Fantastic blog Rachel. Amazing references and insight. I am so aware of my intake of sugar, but it doesn’t stop it sneaking in sometimes when I let my guard down so to speak. Why is that…well I let myself get too tired in the first instance and then rather than listening to that actual feeling I always choose to “push on”. Sometimes as a guy I even think its my duty. But the truth is when the result is a big tummy and the shakes then clearly that is my body saying “screw the duty”…insight by professionals such as yourself like this is key to helping us all become aware in this way. Thank you.

154. This article deserves to be published as it holds so much well researched information that the general public are Not aware of. The fact that sugar is now being recognised as a posion to the body like cigarettes and alcohol is a big fat sign.
     The sugar industry is growing fast and equally the rise in sugar related illnesses and dis-eases and we ALL deserve to know there is another way. I was a sugarholic without any doubt and today not craving or needing sugar confirms that it is possible.
     Thanks to the life and work of Serge Benhayon and Dr. Rachel Hall and all the contributors on this real blogsite.

155. Having further refined my diet I am now able to really feel the very hooking quality of sugars. Without them in my body, I do not feel the need to eat 3 large meals a day and can now discern when I really need to eat, what to eat. My vitality has improved and I am very glad to day the quality of my sleep has much improved.

156. Thank you Rachel a very informative article. I used to be so very addicted to sugar looking back now I can see now how it controlled me and how my life revolved around my next hit!

157. This is a great question indeed Tricia ‘where is the integrity in making healthy food so sweet’?

158. Brilliant article Rachel so informative and true linking so much together that is not always so obvious or that people want to see.
     I have struggled with sugar cravings most of my life and feel so much better on reducing it more and more over the years.
     I have been quite shocked recently to see the enormous increase in sugar and sweets in the supermarkets and everywhere espcially added to basic foods like breakfast cereals and in yogurt for example as standard for children’s diets and made so attractive and appealing to them.
     Where is the integrity in making healthy food so sweet and attractive and really unhealthy and harmful and it is all out there increasing when health ,obesity , medicine and dental health is in such a decline and crisis.
     With the medical advances in dental health this should be improving not declining!

     Maybe it is time to really look at our diets and life style and way of living first and foremost and those making these loving changes and the amazing turnarounds.
     Thank you Rachel for sharing all you have done so clearly.

     1. Great point Tricia, the medical field and government are aware that there is too much sugar in our foods and that it brings unwanted health risks but there is no pressure put on the manufacturers that provide these foods. Why? Could it be that, as with a lot of things, the health and wellbeing of people will always take a backseat to that most insidious driving force…Money.

        1. Working away from home recently, I attempted to buy unadulterated food and found by reading the labels or the allergy files in restaurant just how much sugar is added to the most basics. Do you know anybody who uses sugar when roasting chicken or cooking salmon? – most of the major supermarkets’ suppliers do.

           When I asked why I was told that it keeps it fresher for longer. Guess that’s just not my type definition of freshness

159. Thank you for this very informative article Rachel, which explains a lot about our current state of oral health and what is behind our desire to eat sugar.

160. I have people in my life who have made the choice to completely remove processed sugars from their diets. I have never met such energetic, lively people before – which completely goes against the grain of what I’m used to seeing in society, where caffeine and sugar are amongst the top most traded commodities in the world.

     1. Amazing, Jane. I’ve been realising lately just how exhausting I have been living – as reflected by the amount of sugar I consume. It’s very revealing when you actually take stock of exactly how much goes in!

161. I have spent much of my life overweight and from choosing to drop sugar from my diet, it has affected the way I eat and I have dropped around 12 kgs in a 3 month period. Once during this I went on a ‘cake binge’ and can honestly say that the sugar felt like a drug and I wasn’t able to feel full. I agree that it is important for us to look at the reasons why we choose it in the first place and for me it has been a way to numb the uncomfortable feelings that arise.
     Now with greater honesty and awareness I am feeling the urges to eat sugary foods less and less and often when presented with them feel no draw to them at all. What used to once appeal to me often repulses me these days.
     Great article thank you Rachel.

162. This is a great expose on what is going on with sugar. As you say, we all know that sugar is bad for our teeth, something I think most of us learnt at primary school, so looking at those statistics, knowing sugar is bad really isn’t making a difference and there are more questions we need to start asking. Why are we eating so much sugar? is a great place to start…

163. Thank you for pulling all this together into one well researched blog Rachel. The evidence is massive that sugar is hugely damaging the health of our societies, yet the food manufacturers keep adding it to virtually every processed food. Over time I have found that I gradually stopped buying their products to the point now where I only purchase fresh food so they receive zero of my food budget.

164. Rachel this is a great blog just begging to be written. Statistics of how sugar is affecting health are a shock. It is also shocking to note that for the first time in history non-communicable diseases are more prevelant than infectious diseases. Yes, we can see this, but not many are asking why or taking too much note of it. Great that you are pointing out the answer. My diet used to be very sugar heavy. I knew deep down that consuming lots of chocolate, biscuits and sweet desserts was not a good idea but can totally attest to the addictiveness and hunger pangs that eating these foods afforded. It did not occur to me to question too deeply why I was “needing” these foods, but am so glad that I came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine so that I could start to address the issues that were making me reach for these foods. If anything sugary passes my lips now my body instantly reacts and starts to go racy. This is not a feeling I enjoy!

165. I have experienced the deleterious effects of sugar in my body and can also attest to the effect sugary food has on my mind. Eating high sugar food always made my concentration lapse and my energy flag, this in addition to the effects on our physiology, makes sugar such a no brainer to avoid whenever possible. However, it is a challenge to try and pick up a snack on the go that doesn’t come with added sugar, and we are not protecting the next generation of children from the harmful sugary foods that are in their faces everyday.

     1. Last week I was away from home and wanted to find something to eat. I decided I would like some cooked chicken so went to a store which I considered provided good, simple food. There was a whole aisle of cooked chicken in various forms. I found a pack of sliced, chicken breast, just checked the ingredients only to find that it contained brown sugar. I went all the way along the aisle, every variety had sugar and some also had vinegar.

        I happened to mention this at a family gathering. My brother went to the fridge and produced a pack of the straight forward cooked chicken breast. He had never read the contents before and got a surprise – everyone agreed we had never used brown sugar when cooking a chicken so wouldn’t imagine anyone else would.

        1. Hi Kathie, I have noticed the exact same thing. Foods in which you wouldn’t expect to have sugar in – do. It just goes to show how deeply rooted it is in our society if it’s being added to things that if we were honest… really don’t need it adding.

166. HI Rachel what seems insidious to me is that some of the so called sugar substitutes and sweeteners are worse than sugar. Plus all the products that parade themselves as specially produced ‘diet’ versions which are distinctly less than helpful

167. Rachel, thank you for this blog. I agree something has gone drastically wrong – The front page news in the UK – The Sunday Times (13th July, 2014) read ‘Scandal of children’s rotten teeth.’ It stated that almost 26,000 children in England aged between 5 and 9 have to be hospitalised to have ‘multiple tooth extractions’ in 2013 – 2014. That’s the equivalent of nearly 500 children every week. The honorary vice-president of the British Dental Health Foundation said, “It all relates to the consumption of sugary and fizzy drinks.” Shocking how this has become such a problem for us all now on such a large scale.

     1. Wow – those are shocking statistics and surely a reflection that something needs to change in the way sugary foods and drinks are marketed to kids (and adults).

168. No one could argue with the facts presented in this article. Sugar and why so many have a constant craving for more and more sugar is a question that deserves a full and true answer. Thank you Rachel.

169. Thank you Rachel, until I read your article I thought dental health had improved and that less people were having filings and gum disease. We have better oral care and dental awareness than at any other time and yet the health of our teeth are getting worse…it does not make sense. I know since I have taken sugar out of my diet I feel so much healthier. At 4pm I used to reach for the sugar to pep me up but since giving up sugar I no longer feel tired or get the urge to reach for the chocolate bar or packet of biscuits, and the bonus is I have not had any work done on my teeth for at least 3 or 4 years now.

170. Great article Rachel, thank you. I love how you’ve brought up about the amount of sugar in fruit juices and smoothies. I used to go for fruit smoothies or dried fruit as a ‘healthy option’ until I realised just how much sugar they contain! The teachings of Universal Medicine have helped me bring much more awareness to my relationship with food and to get underneath why I would eat things or eat in a way that didn’t support my body and mind.

171. Thanks for this informative article Rachel. I have read many articles on the dangers of sugar recently and I for one know how badly it affects me if I eat too much of it. I did used to be a real sugar addict and I was in a horrible cycle of constantly feeling the highs and then the lows, so always craving more. It was never enough. Since attending the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have started to look at how different foods affect me and have slowly eliminated sugar from my diet. I feel so much better for it and my teeth are in good shape too.

172. Well said Rachel, great article. I used to use sugar to get me through the day, to give me a pick up, and to give me a reward. I now no longer need to use sugar and can see the detrimental effects it was having on my life and is having on society. Even as a trained Nutritionist I would succumb to its temptations before I started to truly take care and responsibility for the way I am living, which has been inspired by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

173. Wow Rachel great article. I love how you weave all of the components of health and disease together. It’s so true our consumption of sugar is killing us. That we have children that weigh the same as a grown man is a tragic reflection of where we are at. But as you say we have to look deeper. Why has this happened? Why have we chosen to go against what the body needs to live its potential. To thrive and live with vitality. These are exposing questions that humanity desperately needs to face. Where to from here? The choice is ours.

     1. Great questions Anne-Marie!

174. Hi Rachel, great article and it is quite shocking to think how much sugar is consumed by most people on a daily basis without stopping to consider its harmful effects. This is something which should be added to the curriculum so that future generations at least have an understanding of the health benefits from reduced sugar intake. I too ate sugar in a big way before hearing, at Universal Medicine presentations, and then finally feeling the effect on my nervous system and slowly over time my consumption reduced until now I eat no added sugar but still a little fruit.

175. Great article Rachel. It really is staggering to find out how sugar is so prevalent in many of our foods today and how unaware many people are of this fact. As a former sugar junkie I can now say I was addicted but didn’t even know it. With the presentations of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon I gained an understanding of what sugar does to my body and why I needed it. With that understanding I was then able to make choices that supported me in reducing my sugar intake.

176. Amazing well researched article Dr Rachel Hall and I Love it.
     You make so much sense and just imagine if more people read this.
     The facts are there and I know that I was a sugarholic – I lived on it until I took note of what Serge Benhayon was presenting and teaching.
     I realised for me it was that I was deeply exhausted and unwilling to deal with my buried issues.
     Today if I even look for fruit, I know I am tired and need a nap. Its that simple.

     1. So true Bina. I’ve never added much sugar to my food, but ate lots of fruit and got my sugar rush that way. And it is that simple, have a nap, 10 minutes or so to connect back to how your body really feels. If I’m honest I have to admit that I often override this feeling. Work to be done!

     2. That is so true Bina and thanks for the tip. I will try a nap next time I crave an apple!

        1. Wow, thanks everyone. I thought I was sitting to eat, maybe I am eating to sit.

     3. So true Bina, I always know when I’ve overdone it as my mind turns to a desire for something sweet, something that never happens unless I am tired.

177. Fantastic article Rachel, thank you. Yes Sugar is so insidious and I know I still often struggle with it, I can crave it and yet I know and feel how it affects my body, slowly I’m starting to get more honest about what’s truly going on when I crave it. It’s super incidious and everywhere which is truly telling on how we live as a society. And that’s that deep honesty you and others mentioned, we reach for sugar as a way to avoid that rather than addressing the true underlying cause, yet our bodies are amazing they don’t let us away with it, hence why you and others Rachel are busy.

178. A really informative piece of writing, it is amazing when we scratch beneath the surface about why we turn to the foods we do that we know are unhealthy. This requires a deep level of honesty but the results can be awesome. Simon, that is an amazing fact about drug and lifestyle, just shows how much we have the power to change our health for the better.

179. Excellant article Rachel-thank you
     I was a vegetarian for over 20 years and believed my eating habits to be healthier than most. When I met Serge Benhayon and became a student of Universal Medicine I began to feel how certain foods affected my well being. For the past 8 years I have been ‘listerning to my body’ gently refining my diet. Having lived with anxiousness all my life I stopped using sugar quite soon. My dental health history had been one of tooth decay, root canal work, extractions, receding gums and I guess I was moving rapidly toward having no teeth left. I visited my dentist regulary and dreaded going as something always needed attention. These days I feel great after my check ups, I can’t remember the last time I needed any new work done, my hygenist compliments my healthy gums, my dentist is all smiles – and my bank balance is healthier too!

180. The article reminded me of the fact that 18 out of the top 20 pharmaceutical drugs that are used today are all related to lifestyle… that means by simply changing our lifestyle we could make enormous inroads into the health of the general population. Sugar, and its effects on health were high up on the list.

     1. Simon what you are saying is incredible. The correlation between lifestyle and drugs is something well worth noting for everyone and should be national news headlines I say !
        On the news this week a GP was saying how patients want to just get better fast and they are not interesed whatsoever in looking at making any lifestyle changes.

        1. and yet what makes headlines is celebrities opening shops in mayfair! The Macmillian Cancer Nurses charity have just had their annual raising money. It is called coffee and cake morning tea, slightly ironic as these are part of the lifestyle choices that then lead to cancer. Very peculiar but maybe not when we seem to be in a cycle of irresponsibility and blind ignorance to the facts that keep coming out.

     2. Simon, that’s shocking. It shows how far, as a population, we have traveled from true health. And the promotion of sugar laden food goes on. Just look at the cake shelves in the supermarket.

     3. That’s some statistic Simon. The first thing that comes to me is why this isn’t discussed more by the health authorities and brought to the awareness of the general public. Sadly, until peoples health becomes more important than profits, I feel it will always come down to the same thing…money.

181. Really informative article Rachel, thank you for writing about these inter-related facts – makes complete sense.

182. thank you so much! have to read about dr. weston price and his work about this in the early 1900’s? if not, you would love it. we all need to avoid sugar like the plague. i am making the commitment to myself today. all love!

183. Thank you Rachel, this explains a lot whilst asking us to examine our choices and why they are = responsibility = self loving!!!

184. Thanks for the article Rachel, I also wondered why I craved so much sugar, why I would feel like falling asleep in the afternoons. Once I starting looking for the real reasons (ie: within me), the sugar craving fell away and energy levels picked up. Its wasn’t a quick fix but rather a gradual process of ever deepening honesty about why I was eating what I was.

     Miranda Behnayon said it best ‘Feel what to eat, don’t eat what you feel’

     1. This is a similar experience to myself Joel and what I have found is that it is in the real dedication to ourselves and willingness to be self-honest that supports making changes and dropping the need and desire for sugar.

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