Sugar appears to be a harmless substance that everybody consumes. Did you know 80% of the products in a grocery store are made up of some form of added sugar or high fructose corn syrup? Did you know sugar is one of the leading causes of weight gain? Did you know that eating sugar is one of the leading signs of obesity and can cause heart disease? I didn’t know all of these facts until I recently watched The Documentary called “That Sugar Film”.
In the documentary, an Aussie man decided to go on a sugar binge after having no sugar for a full 3 years prior to the documentary. His diet consisted of mainly fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole wheat foods.
He wanted to do a 60 day test, to try and consume the same amount of sugar as an average Australian person (40 teaspoons per day) or 160 grams of sugar. But with a twist…he wouldn’t be loading up on candy or chocolate. He would be eating normal everyday food loaded with sugar unbeknownst to the naked eye. He started consuming fruit juices, low-fat yogurt, cereals, sports drinks, etc.
• Weight gain of 8.5 kilograms (19 pounds)
• Developed Pre type 2 diabetes
• Developed Heart Disease Risks
• Developed Fatty Liver Disease
• Depressed Mood and Slowed Cognitive Functions
Artificial sugars contain no nutrients and are essentially just empty calories. Empty calories meaning no essential fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals.
Sugar is also bad for your teeth. But it’s not the sugar itself that is bad. The bacteria which live in your teeth love to feed on the sugar, and it gives them more digestive energy.
Your body breaks down sugar into glucose and fructose. Glucose we need for energy and is burned off. As humans, we don’t really have a need for fructose. Your liver breaks down fructose but can only handle small amounts, most of it the liver can’t handle is then stored as fat! Usually around your belly, this fat is known as visceral fat. Visceral fat is a deep tissue fat worse than traditional belly fat; it gets wrapped around your body’s major organs such as your liver, kidneys, and pancreas.
When too much glucose (blood sugar) is consumed your body tries to regulate it by producing the hormone, insulin. However, too much insulin production results in insulin resistance. This in turn causes Types II diabetes and other diseases as well.
The dopamine center is the reward center of the brain and gives dopamine releases when you accomplish something that makes you feel good. This part of the brain also has high activity when you earn money or have sex. Sugar has the same affect. That’s why it's the pleasure associated with sugar, not that taste, that makes it so addicting.
People get so addicted to sugar, it causes them to let themselves go. Many studies have examined the link between sugar consumption and obesity and found a strong statistical association. Children who consume daily-sweetened beverages, have a 60% increased chance of obesity. In the picture below, you see a typical fruit drink that appears healthy has 42 grams of sugar, that's a little over 10 teaspoons!
Many people think trans-fat or saturated fat is responsible for heart disease. Studies have shown that sugar causes the over production of fructose, thus overproducing triglycerides in the blood. Triglycerides are small pieces of fat that float in the blood and can cause high cholesterol in the heart and obesity. People need to wake up and realize how bad sugar is!
So I’ve given you the synopsis of “That Sugar Film” documentary and the detrimental effects of sugar. What do you think now about sugar? Do you consume it daily in your lives? Do you eat 40 teaspoons as well? I guarantee you if you want to lose weight, put down that sugar and pick up those fruits in vegetables! You shouldn't eat more than 10 teaspoons of sugar in a day to be healthy. When you go to the grocery store, immediately turn right towards the produce aisle! I hope this article does not scare you, but you should seriously know the effects of artificial sugar on your body. Know what is in your diet people! 50 years from now people will widely know how bad sugar is, just like it's conventional wisdom today to know cigarettes and smoking is bad! Cheers!
