Sugar – The Not So Sweet Truth
We could talk for hours about all the things sugar does to our body and why we really need to limit, if not eliminate, our sugar consumption. Let’s start with just a few powerful facts about sugar…
- Did you know that the average adult female should have no more than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) of sugar per day and adult males should aim for less than 36 grams (9 teaspoons) per day? In reality most of us end up consuming far more than that amount daily. To that point, just as an example, the average soda has more than twice that daily amount of sugar we should consume in a day.
- Many prepackaged snacks, candy bars, drinks, etc. don’t come in a single serving size. They are actually meant to be multiple servings, yet we often eat/drink the whole thing in one sitting, consuming even more sugar than we may even realize.
- Sugar has many names, so even if you are reading labels trying to cut back on your sugar consumption, most of us aren’t aware of all the “hidden” sugars in our foods. Check out this article on the 56 of the most common names for sugar in the products we eat.
- The body is only able to properly process a certain amount of sugar each day. When we consume more than that amount the excess sugar gets stored in our body in a variety of ways that then lends itself toward the development of diseases. Research has linked the consumption of too much sugar to the development of diseases like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, tooth decay, gut bacteria dysbiosis, and even cancer.
- Refined sugar (the white stuff we buy at the stores) is toxic to the liver and the brain.
- Sugar impacts the brain much like cocaine and other drugs do. It creates an addiction response, making it harder to stay away from sugar once the brain has a taste of it.
There’s so much more we could cover, but hopefully these facts help to open your eyes to some of the dangers of too much sugar. If you would like to learn more, check out these resources:
Article – The Sticky Truth: Hidden Sugars in 10 Common Foods
Article – Surprising Sources of Hidden Sugars
Article – 8 Ways Food Companies Hide the Sugar Content of Foods
Article – The Truth about Sugar
Podcast – The History of Sugar
Podcast – Gary Taubes on the Case Against Sugar