The Sweet Miracle of Xylitol

Fran Gare

Description

The average person eats one-half cup of sugar a day, more than is recommended for the average person, particularly people who suffer from diabetes, insulin resistance, and Syndrome X. Unlike sugar, xylitol does not require insulin to be metabolized. Xylitol is an all-natural sugar substitute derived from birch tree bark or from corncobs. It is teaspoon-for-teaspoon as sweet as sugar, and has the added quality of binding to saliva, leaving a sweet taste lingering in the mouth. Fran Gare explains the health benefits of using xylitol rather than sugar, aspartame, saccharin, sorbitol, or mannitol.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Diététique
• diététique
• Nutrition
• Fitness
• Syndrome métabolique
• Health
• Diet
• Syndrome X

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781591206132
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The information contained in this book is based upon the research and personal and professional experiences of the author. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or other health-care provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the direction of a health-care professional.
The publisher does not advocate the use of any particular health-care protocol but believes the information in this book should be available to the public. The publisher and author are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions, preparations, or procedures discussed in this book. Should the reader have any questions concerning the appropriateness of any procedures or preparation mentioned, the author and the publisher strongly suggest consulting a professional health-care advisor.

Basic Health Publications, Inc.
28812 Top of the World Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
949-715-7327

ISBN-13: 978-1-59120-613-2
ISBN-10: 1-59120-038-5

Copyright © 2003 by Fran Gare, N.D.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
Editor: Christopher Mariadason
Typesetter/Book design: Gary A. Rosenberg
Cover design: Mike Stromberg
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword by Martin Dayton, M.D., D.O., F.A.A.F.P.
Preface
Introduction
1. The Sweetener of Choice
2. The Healing Effects of Xylitol
3. The Sweet Miracle of Xylitol Diet
4. Frequently Asked Questions about Xylitol
Conclusion
Appendix: Xylitol Products
References
Foreword
With industrialization of the planet, refined sugar in the form of sucrose (cane or table sugar) and fructose (corn and fruit sugar) has made its way into the human diet in relatively large amounts. These sugars had traditionally been consumed as unrefined constituents of whole natural foods. Today, due to the industrialization of growing and refining food, we are inundated with sugar-rich commercial food products that are quite different from the foods our ancestors ate.
The human race has demonstrated a limited ability to slowly evolve genetically to cope with changes in environment and food supply over many millennia. For example, the Eskimos, a robust people, have historically thrived primarily on animal-based foods. Brahmans from India, who are of a different genetic stock, have thrived on a vegetarian diet. Neither group does well on the fast and packaged food of the Standard American Diet (SAD). This diet is actually fraught with health hazards for everyone regardless of heritage.
Food is being genetically engineered and chemically altered for profit by commercial interests with disregard for the long-term health of the consumer. Such adulteration of food accelerates development of chronic diseases such as dental cavities, obesity, diabetes, cancer, hardening of the arteries, and hypertension. Humans cannot genetically adapt fast enough to the commonplace, artificial changes in our diets imposed by commercial interests.
When I was a child, I watched a fair amount of television. Tony the Tiger was my mentor. I was too young to know better. I ate cornflakes so saturated with sugar toppings that it had a frosting. Sugar in such a form and quantity reduces the immune competence of white blood cells. As a child, I had my share of sinus and tonsil infections. I had rampant cavities. My dentist had lots of business drilling my teeth and filling them with toxic metals. Cereal not supersaturated with sugar would not do. I looked forward to eating sugar-frosted cereal. It “improved” my mood and made me physically more active while it simultaneously made me spacey with reduced stamina. I was addicted to the sugar rush. I would forgo eating the vital nutrient-rich, natural foods necessary for optimal development, function, and repair. In addition to changing my brain chemistry, the excess sugar changed my intestinal environment from what it would be if I had eaten natural foods to an environment that favored overgrowth of troublesome microorganisms. I had intestinal discomfort and allergies and had trouble concentrating. As I outgrew sugar-frosted cereals, I was indoctrinated with corn– or cane–sugar-rich soft drinks as part of the new “generation.”
Recently, Big Tobacco (BT) has been successfully sued numerous times for big bucks for knowingly endangering and impairing consumers’ health while addicting them to their products.
Today, obesity is overtaking tobacco as the numberone public-health hazard. The rise in obesity is associated with consumption of commercially refined foods, particularly sugars, in unprecedented quantities. We crave sugar to give us quick fixes of mental or physical energy in order to overcome our deficiencies in diet, rest, and exercise. We store away much of the excess calories of the sugar fix as fat. Should Big Sugar (BS) also answer for knowingly promoting ill health and premature demise of its consumers? Should promotion of sugar-laden health-robbing foods be banned on cartoons and other kids’ television shows? How much more BS can we stand?
Lifestyles have changed irrevocably for most of us. We are unlikely to forgo our habituated use of convenience foods and refrigerators to go back to nature to forage for wildly grown nutrition in the woods. We are unlikely to eliminate the habituated joys of sweetened food for less tasty alternatives. We have choices. We can include more natural organically grown whole foods in our diets and take nutritional supplements. We can use nontoxic substitutes for corn- and cane-derived sweeteners. One such substitute is Xylitol. Xylitol is naturally occurring and has additional health benefits beyond that of simply replacing sucrose and fructose sugars.
The Sweet Miracle of Xylitol is best told by one of the world’s foremost public communicators and scientific experts on Xylitol, Fran Gare, N.D., M.S. Although Xylitol has been in use for quite a while, it has never been used to its greatest potential. Until recently, the technology was lacking to make Xylitol economically practical, and qualified communicators were unavailable to tell the world how to take advantage of what it has to offer. Fortunately, both are now available. With our health under siege from sugar-related diseases, this availability could hardly be more timely.
Thank you, Dr. Gare, for bringing the Xylitol story to light. Thank you for your many years of relentless dedication to nutritional research and developing ways to make the world a healthier place.

—Martin Dayton,
D.O., M.D., F.A.A.F.P.
Preface
I
s Xylitol a sweet miracle? Yes! In my sixty-two years of living (half of which I have spent as a health practitioner), I have not experienced too many miraculous happenings. But there was that Saturday afternoon a few years back when I attended a medical seminar.
As I was leaving the meeting, I saw a booth outside advertising all-natural, sugar-free gums and mints. I’ve always believed that sugar-free is the way to live and have tried every sugar substitute imaginable, from those that tasted fine but were laden with chemicals to those that were all-natural but make you cringe upon contact with your tongue. I didn’t expect much from this new product, but I felt obligated to give it a go and reluctantly walked over to the booth.
During my years as director of nutrition of The Atkins Center for Clinical Nutrition and in private practice, I have treated thousands of patients who wanted to lose weight (many of whom had diabetes). Giving up sugar was a personal anguish for almost every patient, and it saddened me that I could not healthfully and “tastefully” satisfy their sweet cravings. In a way, it had become a life’s dream to find a sweet substance that was free of chemicals, healthful, and looked and tasted just like sugar.
And then the “sweet miracle” happened. The sweetener used in the gums and mints at the booth was an all-natural substance called Xylitol ( xyl is Greek for “wood”)—a sugar substitute from Finland originally made from the bark of birch trees. And I learned it had been approved by the FDA as a food additive for more than twenty-five years!
My first surprise was that Xylitol looked exactly like sugar. My excitement grew when I tasted it. While I knew that this was not sugar, my taste buds were convinced that it was. Believe it or not, the best was still to come. There was an aftertaste that lasted about ten minutes—the aftertaste was the sweetness of sugar!
I know that I sound like a runaway advertisement for Xylitol, and the truth is that I extol its praises whenever I can. When you begin to use Xylitol as your sweetener, it will change your life. That is why I am writing this book. I want you and your family to enjoy the sweet miracle of decadently delicious treats that can help you become healthier, thinner, and virtually younger as you enjoy eating them.
Introduction
T
he evidence is undeniable: Sugar can make you overweight and sick. The latest research and media reports show that diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates make us fat and unhealthy!
“What if Fat Doesn’t Make You Fat? What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” These provoking words graced the cover of the New York Times Magazine on July 7, 2002. The article examined the current American Diabetes Association (ADA) Pyramid and the American diet and reached a very specific conclusion: the low-fat, high-carbohydrate, high-sugar diet of most Americans is causing obesity and disease.
A recent ABC News report that featured an interview with Dr. Walter Willett, Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University, also brought to light some serious questions about our diet and nutrition. In particu