Learn the dangers of sugar and how you can avoid it

Nowadays it seems inevitable to eat sugar, its practically everywhere, some times more obvious than others, I take a look at sweet breads or maybe some strawberry jam and I know it has loads of sugar in it, but what if I told you that potato chips, soups, ketchup and most of the processed foods you find in the supermarket contain added sugar that is bad for your health.

It should be pretty easy to find out the amount of sugar every product has, that’s what the labels are for, right? But if your expecting to find a clear sign that says “Sugar: too much for your own good” or something like that, you’re in for a surprise, there are different names for added sugars like; sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, barley malt, dextrose, maltose syrup, cane juice, honey molasses, rice syrup and those are only the ones I remember.

The American Heart Association recommends we consume less than 10 teaspoons of sugar a day. The average American adult consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, kids on the other hand consume an average of 32 teaspoons of added sugar a day.

So, why is sugar bad for your health?

Sugar contains a lot of calories but no nutrients at all, No vitamins, No minerals, No enzymes, No fiber, and guess what? It’s also addictive. But wait, you do get something out of it, Energy!!!, energy that if not used is stored as fat, leading to a body fat percentage increase, weight gain, obesity and a fatty liver, and lets face it, if you’re chugging down 2 cans of soda a day its not so you get more energy at the gym.Oh but wait, the excess fat isn’t all you get, there is a bigger trade off for all that energy you just got, yup, that energy isn’t cheep, right after that sugar energy boost, your blood sugar drops which causes fatigue, irritability, dizziness, insomnia, excessive sweating, poor concentration, excessive thirst, depression , digestive disturbance and blurred vision. Our brain releases dopamine, it makes you feel happy and euphoric, everybody wants to be happy right? You can check out my post on 9 steps to be a happy person here. The happier the better, that's why the more we eat the more we want.

Let me go down the list of what refined sugar can damage in your body and affect your health, starting with your brain, digestive system, endocrine system, cardiovascular system, skin (gives acne a nice little nudge), pancreas, liver, and if that weren’t enough, it causes water retention, OMG Yes!! Water Retention!! But I wouldn’t worry too much about that last one, you’ll probably be too busy dealing with the kidney stones.

Now lets talk about the big “D”, Diabetes, long story short, your body needs a certain amount of insulin for it to work properly, sugar makes your body have insulin spikes, you give it too much sugar and it turns into an issue, it will damage your health by going after your eyes, kidneys, nervous system, heart and pretty much every organ in your body.

Excessive sugar intake also causes inflammation resulting in wrinkles and sagging skin. Also rots your teeth, it makes the bacteria in your teeth work overtime to finish off those pearly whites. Sugar causes blood to be more acidic, that makes the body take calcium and magnesium from your bones making them weaker, and prevents copper from being absorbed, you need copper for healthy bones.

We should all be more conscious about our health and what we eat, take more care of our body. Experts advise adopting diets that make us live longer and healthier. We can start by reading the label in all our food packages, that way we know what amount of each thing we’re eating.

Also, we can stop with the sugared drinks like juices and sodas and replace them with homemade teas or plain water.Not to worry, reducing your sugar intake is a piece of cake (pun), its not like its addictive, oh wait, it is.