Did you know that consumption of various sweeteners, often in calorie dense foods and drinks, has risen in the United States from an estimated 113 pounds per person in 1966 to over 147 pounds in 2001(USDA)? Just think about where this statistic is now!!
Wherever we look, we are constantly being bombarded with sugar. It’s literally in just about everything from health foods like kombucha to ketchup to salad dressings, breads. It is everywhere. We are all obviously aware of the fact that sugar is bad for us, but let me list some of the gifts that just keep on giving from sugar consumption:
- Sugar decreases the body’s production of leptin, a hormone critical in appetite regulation
- Sugar creates a lot of oxidative stress in the body
- Sugar promotes fat storage and weight gain
- Sugar contributes to tooth decay, obesity, nutrient deficiencies, and hypoglycemia
- Sugar fuels cancer cells
- Sugar stimulates a physiological stressor-reaction that causes an adrenaline and cortisol release and thickens your blood
- Sugar impairs white blood cells’ functioning and weakens your immune system
- Sugar plays a role in increasing total cholesterol levels, decreasing HDL(good cholesterol) and continued consumption eventually leads to diabetes.
Sugar is one insanely powerful drug. What’s worse – it’s addictive. The more sugar you consume the more that you’ll crave it! It’s a vicious cycle that keeps most people overweight. If you’ve been stuck in this cycle, it’s not your fault – but you DO have the power to change.
You see, the “system” doesn’t want us to be healthy. There’s no money in having humans be healthy. So the job of food designers is to create foods that hook the brain, just like addictive drugs – seriously! New research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine demonstrates that sugar has a similar effect on the brain just like that of cocaine… Cocaine!!!
Sugar is an addiction, and just like its counterpart illegal drugs, leads to serious health problems. It really is killing us.
If you haven’t yet taken action to remove sugar from your diet, start NOW. It will be one of the best decisions of your life. However, don’t just try and cut it out completely – that change is much to drastic and will lead to relapse and a return to your old eating habits. The key to create any kind of lasting change is to slowly introduce new routines and habits to replace your old ones. Just one small action needs to be taken every day. That’s it.
A good first step to overcoming this sugar addiction is to start replacing the unhealthy, processed, refined carbs and sugary foods like donuts, cakes, biscuits, and cookies with fruits like strawberries, avocados, blueberries, etc. Making this change alone will bring you so much more energy, focus, and vitality in your life.
What to watch out for
While sugar used to be sold only under the name of sugar, companies have caught on to everyone’s attempts to stop their addictions – so what did they do? They expertly changed the names, so that it can be hard to recognize that the ingredient is actually sugar. Here’s the truth about all of those sugars:
The Worst
Artificial Sweeteners like NutraSweet, Splenda, Acesulfame, and Sweet N’Low all disrupt the body’s hormones, are extremely irritating to the gut, and screw up the bodies ability to gauge calories – leading to overeating. Lots of allergic reactions have been associated with the use of these sweeteners and they encourage our taste buds to crave more sweet foods (there’s that vicious, addicting cycle of sugar consumption again). They are all made up of purely chemicals and can trigger various autoimmune problems, serious bloating, and devastating inflammation of the gut.
Some facts on artificial sweeteners
Aspartame (i.e NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful) was approved over the objections of the FDA’s Board of Inquiry. In all, there have been 92 different adverse reactions reported to the FDA including headaches, dizziness, difficulty breathing, memory loss, blindness, and even death. Not only that, but aspartame has been shown to cause cancer in rats at levels approved for human consumption!
Acesulfame-K(Ace-K) causes cancer and elevated cholesterol in lab animals. It has absolutely not been adequately tested for safety.
Splenda is chlorinated sugar. In animal studies, it has caused shrunken thymus glands, enlarged liver and kidneys, miscarriage, and diarrhea. Only six human studies have ever been done as of 2006, and the longest was only three months… No studies have ever been done with children or pregnant women.
High fructose corn syrup is among the worst of the worst artificial sweeteners. HFCS is a thick liquid made from corn starch that contains about 40-50% fructose and the rest is glucose. It’s often genetically modified and goes through intense chemical processing. It ranks super high on the glycemic-index meaning as soon as it enters your bloodstream, you get a rapid insulin spike which leads to insidious weight gain and hormonal problems – this stuff should be completely avoided.
The Bad
Raw Cane Sugar – This sugar may appear to be clean, but it still undergoes intense processing and is essentially the same exact thing as normal table sugar.
Stevia(only certain forms!) – Stevia is a zero calorie sweetener and all natural, but if you’re not careful, it does has its evils. Stevia can be processed as many as 42 times so make sure you are getting only raw, organic, and unbleached stevia. Like most other sweeteners, the intense chemical processing can have harmful hormone disrupting effects. Stevia does have a low glycemic-index, so it is a fairly good alternative to other artificial sweeteners, but just make sure you get the good stuff!
Brown Rice Syrup – This stuff can only be made through breaking down the starches of cooked rice and adding enzymes to turn it into small sugar molecules – this means it’s processed! Even worse, in most cases barley enzymes are used which makes the product full of GLUTEN!
What To Use
After about three years of cleaning up my diet and lifestyle and eating habits, my body no longer craves sugar or sweets – and because I know how bad it all is, I try to keep away from it in all forms. If I need to add sweetness to anything though, I’ll use the following:
Raw honey – Raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered honey is the way to go. It has lots of health benefits like antioxidants and when consumed in moderation, no adverse affects. My go to honey is this Manuka honey!
Organic Dates – Completely unprocessed, high in fiber, and delicious, dates are a great sweetening agent.
Wrap-Up
Refined, processed, artificial sugar is often responsible for many common chronic complaints. If you remove it from your diet, you’ll notice in a matter of days or weeks that some of your long-standing symptoms have disappeared. Energy, joint or muscle pains may improve, headaches will disappear, and you’ll sleep better. Now that you have the information to make smart sweetener choices, start using it to live a happier, healthier life!
If you’re interested in going paleo, I wrote a tutorial that will explain everything and help you get started right now. In college? I’ve got a super detailed guide on how to maintain your diet and find the resources you need to stay healthy ! Have any questions about anything? I’m happy to help!
