Much of what you hear these days about sugar is that it is public enemy number one, when it comes to our health. Our country’s media likes to continually beat the drum over and over again about how bad sugar is for us and our children, because it makes us fat and it’s unhealthy for us to eat in general. Some so-called experts even suggest eliminating sugar from our diets, recommending that popular restaurants like McDonald’s replace their milk shakes with apples and carrots. Having said that, how much do we really know about sugars? Are these people justified in making such a broad claim about them?

I discovered that there are many different types of alternative sugars available to sugar lovers, good sugars that are completely harmless to Crohn’s, Colitis and IBS sufferers. Not only are these a lot of harmless sugars, but they have been found to actually be beneficial to us, containing valuable healing properties, vital to our good digestive health! These sugars are not only harmless to our bodies but also have healing properties in them!

It’s true that bad sugars, like so-called “table sugar” that contains corn syrup, are really bad for all of us and should be avoided at all costs, especially if you suffer from Crohn’s disease, colitis, or IBS. This is especially true if you take steroids for your condition. If you’re on steroids and have a high-sugar diet, you’re setting yourself up for serious trouble. Corn syrup-based sugar is one of the most toxic foods on the digestive lining and quite intolerable for all those who suffer from digestive disorders. The trickiest part about sugar is that it doesn’t cause pain or intestinal blockage like nuts or a high-fiber food can. Consequently, many people do not associate sugar consumption with their stomach attacks and, as a result, continue to suffer from not knowing the truth.

So why is sugar so bad for Crohn’s and similar illnesses? Sugar totally strips the intestines of its healthy bacteria and replaces them with an overgrowth of bad bacteria, leading to a condition known as Candida. Sugar consumption also leads to a serious PH imbalance in the body, making it difficult for us to recover from a recent outbreak. The side effects that sugar has on the intestine are that it causes gas, bloating, diarrhea and even mouth ulcers (even in people without digestive problems). To make matters worse, Sugar is obviously addictive (just ask millions) and a hard habit to break. It can be especially difficult for children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease to cut off sugar because they see their peers eating it all the time without similar side effects. In addition to staying away from table sugar, even imitation sugars, like NutraSweet and sorbital, should be avoided, as they’ve been shown to upset digestion for almost everyone, even those without Crohn’s disease. Alcohol also behaves like sugar when in the body and should be consumed in moderation, if not at all, depending on the severity of your digestive condition.

So what are the good sugar alternatives available for Crohn’s patients and what are their positive effects on your body? These types of sugars are found naturally in fruits and vegetables, including honey. Although honey can cause allergic reactions in some people and trigger attacks in people with ADD/ADHD, it is harmless to most people and healthy to consume. Honey is actually much easier to digest than regular sugar, can promote wound healing, kill bacteria, ease digestive upset, and even lessen allergy symptoms. The sugar found in the fruit called wolfberry contains complex sugars called polysaccharides or complex sugars, clinically shown to help support the pancreas, boost immunity, build and tone muscle, and actually help you lose weight! Also, this fruit speeds up your metabolism, which makes it strengthen the immune system, which leads to better and faster healing of Crohn’s induced flare-ups that you have. Sugar polysaccharides have been shown to break down tumors and fight free radicals in the body. These are the toxins we ingest from polluted air, pesticides, and carbon monoxide fumes from gasoline and diesel vehicles, to name a few.

Another healthy sugar alternative to use in your Crohn’s diet that also doesn’t have the bad effects that traditional table sugar has on your health is xylitol. Like the polysaccharides found in Wolfberry, xylitol is also completely natural and comes from fibrous vegetables and fruits, as well as ears of corn and various hardwood trees such as birch. In reality, amounts of xylitol are naturally produced in our bodies…up to 15 grams a day. It occurs daily as the natural glucose metabolism of man and animals, as well as various plants and microorganisms. While the sugar derived from corn syrup wreaks havoc on the digestive system, xylitol actually helps heal and repair it. It does so by strengthening our immune system, which allows it to improve or protect us against chronic degenerative diseases that we suffer from, such as Crohn’s disease, colitis or IBS. Xylitol is considered a five carbon sugar, which means that it is an antimicrobial that prevents the growth of bacteria. It actually makes the cell walls of our digestive system slippery for viruses and germs, allowing them to slide off and be removed. Xylitol also has no known toxic levels. Xylitol has even been credited with helping to slow down the aging process! But most of all, xylitol tastes and looks exactly like sugar and doesn’t leave an unpleasant aftertaste! It is available in many forms. In its crystalline form, it can replace sugar in cooking, baking, or as a sweetener for beverages. It is also included as an ingredient in chewing gum, mints, and nasal sprays. In fact, it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1963.

Another good sugar on the list is called acetylglucosamine. A more common name for this saccharide is glucosamine, which is found in supplements to relieve the symptoms of joint and muscle pain associated with arthritis. Arthritis is a byproduct of many Crohn’s sufferers. Glucosamine actually repairs cartilage and reduces swelling in the joints. This is just another sugar that challenges the critics’ claim that we should eliminate sugar from our diets.

So while there are sugars (processed sugars) that we really should steer clear of as Crohn’s patients, there are a plethora of sugars, natural sugars, some of which have not been included in this article, that it would be foolish not to educate. going forward, especially with the vast access we have to the internet today. We can really have our cake and eat it too (pardon the pun), getting all the benefits of good sugar, namely the good taste, but we still don’t have to be guilty of a food we suspect is bad for us. our Crohn’s disease. illness.