MIND
— THE HOLY BIBLE
Romans 12:2 "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect, will of God"
We are so glad that you are here! Let's pray! HEAVENLY FATHER, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this special moment of prayer. We pray that everyone who reads this WILL BE BLESSED LORD and that this information will be helpful in strengthening their temples so they may be even stronger christians inside and and out. IN JESUS NAME. AMEN.
We don't want to casually throw the "A" word around because addiction is a very very serious topic in regards to our prescribed pain-killers and illegal street drugs. Our hearts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters who struggle with chemical dependencies as well as to the families that suffer the pain of watching a loved-one fight for their lives and for freedom from these diseases. However, there seems to be a very clever trick the food industry employs as a whole.
We know the trick bars used to get people to buy more beer and that's having salty peanuts around for patrons to consume in order to trigger thirst. Almost the same way movie theaters used popcorn to also trigger thirst. While peanuts and popcorn use salt and butter dehydrate the body or in a small way affect your taste buds making your thirsty, keeping you buying more of their product using a different substance.....
and that substance is sugar, my friends.
This trick is a subtle form of manipulation to get a repeat customer.
Addiction can be defined as a physiological compulsive dependency on a habit-forming substance. So now we must ask ourselves could we possibly be addicted to sugar?
An early American writer facetiously described a habit as being "a shackle for the free."
We typically associate addictions with drugs, alcohol, or even gambling and in this brave new tech proliferated world of ours the list of addictions will continue to grow.
Sugar is the one problem we seem to have a problem admitting to. Diabetes in none scientific terms is simply an illness brought on by excessive consumption of sugar over time. In fact there was once a time when if someone had diabetes they were said to have the condition called "the sugars". Perfectly understandable why the sugar industry would want to rename this condition diabetes. Obviously they wouldn't want their product associated with an illness. Although sweet, sugar interferes with proper nutritional absorption.
Sugar can be linked to obesity, cancer, kidney damage, hypoglycemia, malfunctioning of the pancreas, cataracts, high blood pressure, allergies, mineral loss, emotional/mood fluctuations and let's not forget good 'ol cavities.
It's even scarier when you realize sugar is EVERYWHERE!!! And in just about every food product we eat canned or otherwise. Go ahead check the label on your favorite foods - you'll find sugar in burgers, pizza, canned vegetables and many other places either not disclosed or in another form.
The statistics of our sugar consumption is alarming. Sugar consumption in the U.S. has been tracked since 1822-1999. Earlier on, Americans consumed an average of 6.3 pounds per person - per year! THEN to a whopping 107.7 pounds per person in 1919. In 1822 the amount of sugar we ate was the equivalent of a 12 oz of soda every 5 days. Today we (and our children) eat way more sugar than that! We consume 12 oz of soda roughly every 7 hours!
So, what do we do about our sugar addiction. Maybe we can't completely stop. I just wouldn't be practical and to be fair we like these foods and products. Additionally anything in excessive amounts isn't any good for the body. Even excess water can dilute the electrolytes in the body which can be a fatal condition. The keywords here are practicality and balance. We can sort of control or limit our consumption and find alternatives. By turning to the natural sugars in our fruits and vegetables(carrots, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, beets, melon) even nuts and seeds. Switching to brown sugar or even honey can be options.
If we want a prosperous 2020 it's time to get serious. Taking giant steps is unnecessary as long as we try to remain consistent and progressive we stand a way better chance than going cold-turkey. Maybe we need to fast from sugars at least a couple of weeks a year.
having a prob w/sugar just can't quit it- don't sweat it! You really want to consider weening yourself off of sugar rather than an abrupt stop. try not to think about quitting sugar all together because to be real about it, you're really not living if you can't enjoy some things in life right? One method that may serve you well is trying a mini fast from sugar or whatever problem food or area in your life for that matter. First thing to do is set a short term goal of at least 2 weeks and in that two-week window substitute your sweets with healthy alternatives.
If you haven't already, check out: Temptation
