By Diana Herrington for Care2.com
OK. I admit it. I’m a little intense about the subject of sugar.
As a child I was practically raised on white sugar and feel that it had a part in my many health problems which took me decades to overcome. You can read some of my story here: Diana’s Story. It was a different time back then. There was not the awareness about nutrition that there is now.
I’m going to give you strategies to avoid sugar and the cravings, but first I must make a few points about why you would want to do such a thing. This was already dealt with briefly in my previous article on artificial sweeteners.
1. Sugar is Not Food – It is empty calories with little nutritional value and actually causes your body to steal vitamins from other vital organs in attempt to process the sugar, leaving you undernourished.
2. Sugar Makes You Fat – It is filled with calories that are stored in your fat tissues.
3. Sugar Makes You Nervous – There is a clear link between excess sugar and disorders like anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia, because of extreme levels of insulin and adrenalin.
4. Sugar Causes Diabetes, Kidney and Heart Problems – Excess sugar can damage the pancreas’s ability to function properly.
5. Sugar Kills Your Teeth – Sugar increases the bacteria in your mouth that erodes enamel. The biggest crime is that many popular toothpastes contain sugar, which is not required to be put the on the label.
6. Sugar Suppresses the Immune System – Sugar interferes with the body by overtaxing its defenses.
7. Sugar Causes Wrinkles – A high-sugar diet damages collagen.
The average American consumes 20 teaspoons of added sugar each day; that is 2-3 pounds of sugar per week! This is added sugar; not sugar naturally found in fruit, vegetables, grains and milk. The World Health Organization says no more than 10 percent of calories should come from added sweeteners; that is a maximum of 12 teaspoons of sugar for a 2,200-calorie diet. Twenty teaspoons may sound like a lot of sugar to get through in one day, but…
Consider the following:
- Low-fat fruit yogurt (125ml) contains 4 1/2 tsp of sugar.
- 2 slices white bread contains 6 tsp of sugar.
- Wheaties (1 bowl & 1/2 tsp sugar) contains 3-4 tsp sugar.
- 1 glazed donut contains 6 tsp of sugar.
- A 12 ounce Pepsi contains 10 tsp of sugar.
That is a total of 29.5 teaspoons of sugar! It is easy to see why sugar consumption is on the rise when we look at how many foods have added sugar in them.
Also Read:
10 Breakfast Foods with As Much Sugar as a Candy Bar