Spring is around the corner with its promise of lush greenery and warmer temperatures. Traditionally, it’s a time of year to begin clearing out winter’s clutter. Ahh, images of freshness and renewal come to mind when thinking about spring cleaning. Spring is also a great time to renew your kitchen and go through your cupboards, rooting out the foods that cause inflammation.
Where To Start?
One of the first things to look at is soda. Whether sugared or sugar-free, these carbonated beverages cause harm. After antibiotics, sugar is the biggest disrupter of digestion and bringer of inflammation. And artificial sweeteners are nearly as bad. Aside from setting an expectation of sweets in the brain, causing you to crave (and consume) more sweets, these powders contain no nutrition and what’s worse, are foreign to the body. When you take in chemicals such as these, the immune system cannot recognize them as nutrition and issues a protect command to the body. What does that mean? Inflammation… systemic inflammation, which we know to be the foundation for most disease.
Not only that, but the phosphoric acid (in all soda, regular and diet) binds magnesium, zinc and calcium in your lower intestine and high levels of artificial sweeteners (like aspartame) or sugar increases excretion of calcium via urine. Sometimes I wonder if the proliferation of thinning bones has to do with all the soda we women have consumed that has helped to leach calcium from our bodies.
Most of us want to sweeten our beverages and food and there are some great alternatives to sugar. Try 100% Stevia (read the label, they’re not all pure stevia!) Honey is a wonderful alternative as is Coconut Palm Sugar, which digests more slowly and does not have the same glycemic load that sugar and high fructose corn syrup have. You can bake with it too.
Be a Savvy Senior. Start your spring cleaning in the pantry and throw away the soda. Choose clean filtered water flavored with your favorite fruit or with a dash of fruit juice. Your body will thank you.
This article is intended for informational purposes only. If you have any questions or are considering any recommendations, please consult your health practitioner.
