Our Sugar Epidemic
Have you ever heard of the term, sugar epidemic? This term is becoming more and more popular today as we find ourselves consuming more sugar than ever before. Here’s a brief history on sugar and how to reduce your overall consumption of sugar.
In the 1600s, sugar production occurred largely in part due to the colonization of the Caribbean islands by the English. Sugar was then traded (I won’t go into the brutal history that comes along with it), but back then, only the wealthy could afford to have sugar. Over time, the cost of sugar production decreased, thus allowing the masses to be introduced to it. At first, consumption of sugar only averaged to about a few pounds per person per year. But today, we are consuming a shocking 100 pounds of sugar per person per year.
This increase in consumption of sugar, which has absolutely zero nutritional value to us, has lead to a rise in health issues like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, obesity, metabolic disorders, and tooth decay.
So why is this becoming an epidemic? Sugar can be found in almost everything we eat today. It’s in fast food, processed and packaged foods, and beverages. Sugar goes by many names, so if you’re not reading the labels closely, you may miss that it’s in the food you’re buying. And, most of us are consuming a large amount of these foods daily just because they are easy and readily available AND they taste good. We are also becoming addicted sugar, because it releases dopamine, giving us a “high” and leaving us wanting more and more sugar.
Ok, before I move forward, I need to clear the air on the bad wrap fruits get. I’ve heard it time and time again. Fruit has sugar, so we should be careful not to eat too many fruits. Yes, it has sugar. But this sugar is natural and not refined and the whole food form means that it contains fiber and other nutrients our bodies need. Our bodies know how to process and utilize this sugar better than the sugars we find in foods that shouldn’t contain sugar. So don’t let that scare tactic keep you from consuming REAL food. Eat the fruit and enjoy it.
What can we do to help lower our sugar consumption? First and foremost, reduce your intake of processed and packaged foods. This means boxed food items like cereals, pastries, and even breads. Try to cook more or if you are using pre-made foods, read the ingredients over. If there is an ingredient list that takes up half of the back of the box, it’s probably got sugar and a host of other unwanted ingredients. Less is more in that case. If you can, avoid or reduce the amount of fast foods you consume. Skip the Starbies and make your own coffee using real cream or sugar free Nut Pods. And if you really want to cut out the worst offender of sugar, then skip soda all together. It’s hard at first, but the beautiful thing about our bodies is that when we remove or reduce sugar, then our sugar control circuits recalibrate leading us to not crave sugar as much. It is possible!
Today, I ask you to read the ingredients list on some of your packaged foods. Look out for: high fructose corn syrup, fructose, unflavored fruit juice, maltose, maple syrup, brown sugar, agave nectar, sucrose, molasses, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, crystalline fructose, syrup, invert sugar, honey, cane crystals, malt syrup, cane sugar, colored sugar, raw sugar, glucose, sucrose with added molasses, fruit juice concentrate, evaporated cane juice. If these come up in the first few ingredients, that means there is a lot of sugar in that product. Actively reading ingredients will become your new best friend if you’re trying to reduce your sugar intake.
