One thing that causes blood sugar to spike is sugar. That is, straight pure sugar, not eaten with any other substances like fat or protein around it.

It's best to eat as few simple sugars as possible, but if you do eat them, you should always be sure not to eat that candy bar or cookie dough by itself. Have a handful of nuts (6 walnut halves is ideal) or some olive oil with bread first, which will slow your stomach from emptying and will keep sugar levels from creating a pyrotechnical effect in your blood.
Source: Manual for Waist Management by Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.

I know it's not good to eat a lot of sugar, but I find it interesting that eating sugar is better when eaten with something rather than by itself. It makes sense that blood sugar will rise when eaten alone, but why is it bad for your blood sugar to rise? What can happen to you if you have high blood sugar levels? Is that what makes you diabetic?

Yep, I think that's what makes you diabetic.

This booklet I am reading says:

Having too much sugar in your blood can:

1) Weaken the junctions between those smooth endothelial cells lining your arteries, making the Teflon-like lining more vulnerable to nicks.

2) Increase the power of the hammer, to cause high blood pressure. (Sugar turns the hammer into a sledgehammer).

3) Cause your white blood cells to stop fighting infections, thus weakening your immune system.

4) Trigger a chemical process in your red blood cells, which transport oxygen into your bloodstream, that causes the cells to want to hold on to oxygen more tightly. That keeps oxygen from getting to your tissues. When that happens, the glucose, like a lost puppy, attaches to whatever it can find, most likely, proteins in your blood and tissues. These proteins deposit in tissues, leading to the development of cataracts, joint abnormalities, and lung problems.

5) Get into your nerves and cause a reaction that makes your nerves swell, become compressed, and lose their ability to function, usually in the parts of your body farthest from your brain - your hands and feet.

6) Flip off a switch in your small blood vessels. Normally, your body automatically regulates the flow of nutrients into your small blood vessels. They sort of work on backup (like a generator for when the power goes out), so they can function even when your big vessels might be experiencing problems. But high levels of glucose turn off that automatic regulation, and let a little high blood pressure make more of those nicks and tears in the junctions between cells in your small blood vessels. This is like asking someone to use a sledgehammer to do the job of a jeweler's tool - it magnifies that effect and magnifies the size of the nick.

But here's the good news...

To keep blood sugar levels down, avoid foods with simple sugar and lousy aging fats (trans and saturated fats). And about 1,000 calories' worth of activity a week causes your muscles to be so much more sensitive to insulin, which allows sugar to do it duty inside your cells, rather than cause havoc in your bloodstream. A little physical activity goes a long way.
Source: Manual for Waist Management by Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.

Cutting down from a 2-liter of soda a day to a 2-liter once a week or two is probably the best thing I've done health-wise next to giving up smoking.

My skin was the first to thank me.

And probably your teeth were the second, right?

So what did you notice about your skin when you cut down on drinking pop?

My forehead doesn't get greasy and feel like I have sunblock on all the time, that's the major diffrence. Also it seemed no matter how much I scrubbed my shoulders or what kind of soap I used, my shoulders would still break out, apparently all I needed to do was cut back on sugar because my shoulders don't break out like they did for awhile.

Yeah, I was reading on the internet about soda pop giving a lot of people skin problems, acne, and whatever else problems, but I never thought of sugar as being one of the culprits, so thanks for the info.

I have also read that you can eat whatever you want and it won't cause acne, but I don't know if I agree with that. But I do know that everyone is different, and diet can effect some of us - and not others - with unpleasant skin problems.

I found this on the internet on the www.naturopathyclinic.com site...

Reasons to avoid soft drinks:

1) Soft drinks steal water from the body. To replace the water stolen by soft drinks, you need to drink 8 to 12 glasses of water for every one glass of soft drinks that you consume!

2) Soft drinks never quench your thirst, certainly not your body's need for water. Constantly denying your body an adequate amount can lead to chronic cellular dehydration, a condition that weakens your body at the cellular level. This, in turn, can lead to a weakened immune system.

3) The elevated levels of phosphates in soft drinks leach vital minerals from your body. Soft drinks are made with purified water that also leach vital minerals from your body. A severe lack of minerals can lead to heart disease (lack of magnesium), osteoporosis (lack of calcium) and many other diseases.

4) Soft drinks can remove rust from a car bumper or other metal surfaces. Imagine what it's doing to your digestive tract as well as the rest of your body.

5) Soft drinks severely interfere with digestion. Caffeine and high amounts of sugar virtually shut down the digestive process. That means your body is essentially taking in no nutrients from the food you may have just eaten, or even eaten hours earlier.

6) Diet soft drinks contain aspartame, which has been linked to depression, insomnia, neurological disease and a plethora of other illness.

7) Soft drinks are extremely acidic, so much so that they can eat through the liner of an aluminum can and leach aluminum from the can if it sits on the shelf too long. Alzheimer patients who have been autopsied all have high levels of aluminum in their brains. Heavy metals in the body can lead to many neurological and other diseases.

8) Another word on acidity: The human body naturally exists at a pH of about 7.0. Soft drinks have a pH of about 2.5, which means you are putting something into your body that is hundred of thousands of times more acidic that your body is! Diseases flourish in an acidic environment. Soft drinks and other acidic food deposit acid waste in the body which accumulates over time in the joints and around the organs. For example, the Body pH of cancer or arthritis patients is always low. The sicker the person, the lower the Body pH.

9) Don't even think of taking a sip of a soft drink when you are sick with a cold, flu or something worse. It will only make it that much harder for your body to fight the illness.

10) The high amounts of sugar in soft drinks cause your pancreas to produce an abundance of insulin, which leads to a "sugar crash." Chronic elevation and depletion of sugar and insulin can lead to diabetes and other imbalance related diseases. This is particularly disruptive to growing children which can lead to life-long health problems.

What do ya all think about all that info!?!? Whoa, sounds pretty scary to me. Some sounds far fetched, though, like the reason #1, but I'm not a doctor, so maybe it could be true. Maybe they just need to quit making soda pop.

I think it all sounds true to me! Soda pop is not good for you! It's like drinking pure sugar and calories. I used to drink pop all the time as a child, but I never drink it anymore. Water is my drink of choice. Sometimes I'll have juice or milk, but never soda pop. I'd rather eat my calories anyway, then drink them!

Ever try to quench your thirst with soda when you've gone for hours without a drink or just finished doing something exausting ?

The carbonation burns my chest, and rather than feel refreshed I feel flushed with an upset stomach. I think the influx of easily absorbed sugars shocks on body or something.

Just to drink soda after not having it in months or years is painful! The carbonation really gets to you. If I do try and drink a pop, I have to drink it super slow!

There's four kinds of soda that I find especially harsh, refreshment-wise.

1. Cocacola (extremely foamy)
2. Sprite (burn)
3. 7-Up (burn)
4. Gingerale (burn, god forbid any bubbles get into my sinuses)

Drinking Sprite, 7-Up, or Gingerale slow actually helps settle my stomach when I catch a bug though, so they're not all bad.

Then that eliminates the # 9 theory!! Or is Sprite, 7-Up, and Gingerale not soft drinks?

Maybe the fact only applies to colds that don't include nausea ?

I'm pretty sure they're soft drinks.

I had the same doctor untill I was 10 or so, he used to say I could have soda as long as it was either "clear or gingerale" to settle my stomach when I would get sick. He was pretty old and a doctor, so I never thought to question it.

Come to think of it, wasn't "Dr. Pepper" originally thought to help with stomach ailments ?