Sugar Sin


I have been reading up on the effects of sugar and simple carbs (same diff) on the body's hormones. Whereas conventional nutritionists posit that a calorie is a calorie, contrarian research is showing that to view food only in terms of calories is missing the effects of foods on the body beyond mere calorie count. If we correlate our diets with obesity, we are consuming all time highs of sugars and simple carbs. One does't have to be a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry to think there may be a link between the two. I saw a "Big Chill" soda on a sale sign at a convenience store the other day. It is one of those 32 oz sodas. I thought 'Big Chill?" How about "Big Kill?" Calories are surely part of the equation but it is not the only variable.  

I am not a fan of low carb diets because such plans cannot be sustained for long. The body needs carbs for energy but the right types of carbs (complex, high fiber like oats) that burn slow in the body. Simple carbs like sugar and white flour are like throwing gobs of paper on the fire. It flares up but it is no way to feed a flame. The insulin response in the body to the carbs needs to be low and slow. Essentially what happens is that too many sugars and simple carbs causes the body to store the excess as fat. Think of the gas pump over-flowing into the gut and being contained there. The hunger cycle is provoked by sugar and simple carbs, and it is very common for people to eat more and more and feel less and less satiated (as in chips or candy).

I want to make an analogy between sugar/simple carbs and the Body of Christ. We place an enormous emphasis in the Church on being sweet. Think of all the sugary praise songs pouring out of the speaker like acoustical Sugar Smacks. People want to feel good and sugary/simple carb music and sermons  make people high temporarily but it is like the spiritual insulin spike. A Holy Honeycomb Hide-Out crashing to the ground.

The crash comes because parishioners are not getting real food--doctrinal protein and their vegetables and healthy fruit--and then working it out in service. I don't think a coincidence that many in the Church struggle with obesity. We have a hunger that is not being addressed spiritually or nutritionally. Jesus is continually illustrates spiritual lessons through physical phenomenon in a very profound manner; the physical world teaches us deep spiritual truths that otherwise we might not be able to understand.

Job 20:12-14

New International Version (NIV)
12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth
 and he hides it under his tongue, 
13  though he cannot bear to let it go
 and lets it linger in his mouth, 
14  yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; 
  it will become the venom of serpents within him.          

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