The blessed month of Ramadan is upon us… the holiest month of Islam. It falls on the 9th month of the Muslim calendar, and the fast of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. During this beautiful month “the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hell are closed and the rebellious devils are chained”. It is the time of the purification of body and mind, devoted to prayers, charity, patience, kindness and sacrifice. One thing we do not sacrifice is the delectable desserts, traditionally served during this holy month. There are over 36 kinds of sweets served in India and at least 18 in the Middle East, but indulgence in the consumption of these excessively sugar-laden morsels is, to put it mildly, hazardous to your health. Excessive sugar has a strong mal-effect on the body, contributing to several diseases, so think twice before you reach for a second serving of that delectable ”konafa”. The urge to get a sugar rush is intensely habit-forming. Simon Capewell, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Liverpool, UK says: “Sugar is the new tobacco” while researchers at Princeton University call sweet drinks: “Children's alcohol”. Sugar and alcohol have similar toxic liver effects on the body. Sugar contains no essential nutrients, no essential fats, vitamins or minerals. Besides being bad for your teeth, it overloads the liver, forcing it to turn the fructose into fat, leading to fatty liver and other serious problems. Fortunately this does not apply to fruit. We are a race prone to sugar addiction. In experiments with rats offered nutritious meals of their favourite grains, accompanied by a sugary drink, within a month the rats had doubled their intake of their sweet drink and reduced their intake of healthy grains. Do we behave like rats? We do say scientists! Are we sugar addicts? We are, says science! Practically 95 per cent of the human race is addicted to sugar to some degree or another. 250 scientists have concluded that: ”While smoking reduces life expectancy by 10 years, sugar reduces life expectancy by 15 years. Sugar causes a release of dopamine in the reward centre of the brain, just like abusive drugs. Massive dopamine causes addiction, and to addicts : “Everything in moderation” is not good enough… Abstinence is the only hope for any addicts! How can you expect that from a fasting Muslim? The temptation is great, fasting depletes energy and sugar is quick energy. Sugar addicts are weak, but to protect your health abstinence is the answer. It does not help to count calories any more. Not all calories are created equal! Because the calories from sugar are not fulfilling, this translates into an increased calorie intake. Sweets do not cause satiety in the brain or lower ‘ghrelin', the hunger hormone. “So what”, says the sugar addict: ”I must get my dose of sugar.” Grab a fruit instead and benefit from its rich offerings. Sugar drains the body of precious vitamins and minerals provided by that fruit and other nutritious foods. More and more minerals are required from deep into the body in its attempt to rectify the imbalance. So much calcium is taken from the bones, decaying your teeth and weakening every organ in the body, causing loss of ability to calculate, loss of memory, cardio-vascular diseases, raising triglycerides, insulin resistance, depression, osteoporosis, kidney damage, elevation and increase in systolic blood pressure not to mention obesity, diabetes and cancer. Why cancer? cancer is the uncontrolled growth and multiplication of cells and constantly elevated insulin levels feeds cancer cells. Read on! Sugar promotes premature aging, causing skin discoloration, wrinkles and grey hair. That should do it! If sugar is that bad, can it be considered poisonous! Some years ago scientists hesitated to define it as such, but with further research they hesitate no longer. When is a food a poison — when it exerts a harmful, even fatal effect on your body! Sugar is now compared to heroin. It starts off as a plant, like sugar cane. It is stripped of all minerals, vitamins, proteins, enzymes and other nutrients, reducing it to an unnatural chemical substance humans are unable to handle. To produce heroin, the opium is first extracted from the poppy, refined into morphine, and further refined into the deadly heroin. Chemists were cheered for their great discovery of a supreme pain killer that is not addictive. Now we know better. Sugar cane is pressed as a juice, refined into molasses, refined again into brown sugar and finally into those gleaming white crystals known as C12 H22 O—a chemical alien to humans — and addictive! How can something so pure, so harmless, so snowy-white be considered equal to heroin? In fact it wreaks more damage than all the narcotics combined. Scientists have counted 38 diseases, resulting from the excessive intake of that wicked chemical. Consumed from birth to adulthood it has enough time to destroy the pancreas, the adrenal glands, endocrine system and on and on. The ancients had no need for it. The Greeks have no word for it. Beet sugar has been available for thousands of years but was an insignificant part of their diet. “Added sugar is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet.” Try to avoid, at least limit your intake of that vicious, pernicious unnatural substance so deleterious to one's health, and devote the sweet month of Ramadan to sweet and charitable deeds! “Every sweet has its sour, every evil its good” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
