White (refined) sugar is bad for Psoriasis

White sugar (refined white sugar granules and cubes) is certainly one of the most harmful food stuffs in today’s time. If you have psoriasis, it is incredibly harmful for you. White sugar is nothing but pure chemical; just calories without any nutritional content. It is manufactured by refining of sugarcane juice using chemicals. Hence, this chemical laden, highly processed food additive has nothing good to offer to the human body. Excess sugar intake is linked to obesity, diabetes, inflammation, poor gut health and even cancer.

White sugar = 100% calorie (0% vitamins, minerals, other nutrients)

In childhood, all of us used to love those sugary food products and they were always on the top of our favorite foods list. Our mother was the only person between us and those products as she wanted to save our teeth from cavities. Now, we all have grown up and we have to make sure to avoid this highly processed, unhealthy product not just for the sake of our teeth, but, for our skin and overall well-being.

Read more: Natural sweetener for Psoriasis

White sugar is bad for Psoriasis

If you have psoriasis, white sugar is a sweet poison for you.

When we are talking about holistic healing of psoriasis, quitting white sugar is one of the fundamental dietary restriction that we all need to follow. Almost every diet regimen- Dr Pagano diet for psoriasis, Alkaline diet for psoriasis, Paleo diet or any other– they all opt for 100% sugar free diet. From detox diets to elimination diets, quitting sugar is always a prerequisite.

Avoiding refined white sugar doesn’t mean never feeling the sweet taste again. There are a lot of healthy fruits available which can surely satisfy your internal desire for sweetness and that too with a lot of health benefits. Hence, quit refined white sugar immediately and your skin would be thankful to you for that.

• White sugar is highly acidic in nature. Any food item with a good amount of added sugar would shift your body pH towards the acidic range. Higher acidic body pH can trigger psoriasis as already been discussed on this blog. Higher acidic body pH increases body toxins, promote growth of disease causing microbes in your gut, diseases the level of oxygen in your body cells and worsen leaky gut syndrome to trigger psoriasis.
• As discussed above, refined sugar is nothing but calories. It doesn’t enhance the nutritional profile of your body. Rather, to process the high amount of calories provided by sugar, your body metabolism would use the nutritional reserves of your body to cause nutritional deficiency. Psoriasis being an autoimmune disorder related to compromised digestive health, nutritional deficiency already exists. Hence, refined white sugar is going to further aggravate this problem.
• Candida (yeast overgrowth) and other unhealthy microbes in your gut love refined white sugar. The sweet taste and highly acidic pH- it is the perfect environment for their growth and proliferation. Gradually, over a period of time, they would outnumber the healthy microbes (probiotics) in your gut to wreak havoc on your skin by worsening leaky gut symptoms.
• High amount of calories in food products with added sugar can create caloric imbalance as you consume more calories and burn less. Gradually, it may cause obesity over a period of time. Moreover, added sugar encourages over eating by giving a sudden to the blood sugar levels which is again an obvious reason for obesity. According to an article published in the Time magazine, added sugar is the number one driving force for obesity and diabetes in USA. Now, obesity is a well know universal trigger for psoriasis, hence, we have one more reason to say no to food products with added sugar.
• White sugar is high in fructose which is mainly metabolized by the liver only. Only a few teaspoons of added sugar are more than enough to over-burden the already congested liver. Such a high amount of fructose would be stored in liver in the form of fat. If you keep on adding more and more sugar in your system, then it would further weaken the liver and can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver problem also.
• In our quest to cut down on white sugar, we will obviously reduce the intake of bakery products which are largely made up of refined white flour. Refined white flour means raw wheat flour minus dietary fibers. Foods made up of refined white flour causes gut issues like constipation, gas and bloating. Also, being a refined carbohydrate, it promotes the growth of Candida. Hence, cutting down on added sugar will eventually help us avoid refined white flour also.

What are the alternatives?

Satisfy your craving for sweet taste by consuming permitted fruits. Fruits not only satisfy your taste buds, but, provide micro nutrients, promote body detox by providing dietary fibers, makes your body alkaline and heal your gut. I have already discussed in detail about various permitted fruits and vegetables for psoriasis healing.

Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut will also help calm down the craving for sugar.

In case you have a sweet tooth and fruits and fermented foods don’t prove enough to satisfy your sugar cravings, then you can use natural sweeteners like stevia and raw, pure honey in small amounts occasionally. Prefer stevia over honey!

Are you addicted to sugar?

If you have an endless craving for sugar, then it can be a signal of Candida. Do you know that Candida can be a major culprit for psoriasis breakout. In such a case, it is advised to avoid all sorts of sugar- artificial (refined sugar) and natural (sweet fruits, honey, stevia etc) – from your diet for at least a month and observe any remarkable improvement in your skin health and overall well-being. Along with all types of sugar, you need to avoid starch aka refined carbohydrate (white rice, white bread, refined pasta and refined cereals) and alcohol as well.

Complete avoidance of refined white sugar- My experience

It is more than a year I have tasted anything with added sugar in it. It has not been an easy journey, of course. Cake, pastries, bakery, carbonated soft drinks, traditional Indian sweets (all Indian sweets have plenty of added sugar) – I have stopped eating all these food stuffs and many others (not listed here) as well.

Every time, I would be a part of any social gathering like a birthday party or a marriage ceremony, I would be squeezing my menu a lot to make sure I don’t feed any added sugar to my gut. It was quite painful initially, but now I am quite comfortable with it as I am getting a handsome reward in the form of psoriasis healing. The reward is really awesome. I am damn sure everyone with psoriasis flakes can imagine how it feels when you see clear skin and no itching. Apart from psoriasis healing, avoiding refined white sugar has numerous other health benefits as well.

Well, before you take “avoiding sugar” as a magical “cure” for psoriasis, let me re-affirm the fact that there is no cure for psoriasis, however, we can manage it quite well. Avoiding refined white sugar is just a part of the psoriasis healing diet protocol. The holistic healing of psoriasis includes a healthy, restricted diet; positive lifestyle; use of dietary supplements and herbs and use of stress management techniques like Yoga, meditation and physical exercise.

Make a firm decision

You know- bigger the problem, tougher the healing process. Trust me, all your anticipated problems regarding avoidance of sugar will gradually diminish once you make a firm decision. There will be moments when your mind will give all sorts of justification that consuming little amount of added sugar is not that bad. There will be moments when your near and dear ones will also encourage you to enjoy those sugary products sometimes because they have seen you enjoying those foods throughout your life. In those moments, you have to remind yourself that quitting refined white sugar has benefited a lot of people in healing psoriasis. You have to stay firm on your decision. Say NO to refined white sugar and all products with added sugar like bakery, ketchup, jams, chocolates, sweetened carbonated drinks, canned juices and many other packaged products.

References

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130201100149.htm

http://time.com/3687808/this-is-the-number-1-driver-of-diabetes-and-obesity/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-sugar-and-fat-trick-the-brain-into-wanting-more-food/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140423132427.htm