How much sugar does the average person eat?
Many of us know that eating too much sugar is bad for us, but here I have put together a list of 25 reasons not to eat sugar. Even reducing the amount of sugar may not be good enough, you may (and probably should) need to cut it out all together. The effects of consuming sugar will vary person to person depending on how effectively you are able to produce insulin. The average American consumes approximately 20 teaspoons of sugar a day. That is a lot of sugar! According to one study, in the US added sugars account for up to 17% of an average adults caloric intake.
Why do we eat so much sugar?
Sugar is added to a good majority of foods that we buy in the grocery store. Unless you are already a label reader, you will most likely not have a clue how many foods have added sugar. Take a few minutes sometime to go through your food pantry and read some labels of your most commonly purchased items. The food industry has gotten very sneaky about hiding the added sugar to our foods. Below I will list some of the most common terms used by the food industry to hide sugar in our foods.
Another factor to consider is what type of sugar is added. It is important to know that different types of sugar are processed in our bodies differently. For example, glucose can be processed and used by the majority of the cells in our bodies, but fructose (fruit sugar) can only be broken down in the liver. That means that by eating too much fruit, we will be taxing our liver to do even more work.
Fun fact: Some restaurants will actually add sugar to their french fries (and other fried foods) before they are fried to make them taste better.
25 Reasons to not eat sugar:
1. Sugar is like a drug.
Sugar will act like a drug in the body. Our bodies are fooled into being “happy” because of dopamine production when we consume sugar. We will get that sugar “high” when we consume too much at one time, and then “crash” when our blood sugar drops back down. In the end, the sugar will actually drain our energy. Have you ever had a sugar craving? If you have then you know that sugar has an addictive property about it that makes us want more. Our bodies are designed such that we will create our glucose needs from other foods, we do not need to eat sugars or carbohydrates in order for our bodies to function properly. But our body will always process the sugars before it will use fats.
In my opinion, it is because our bodies treat sugar as an undesirable substance and “uses it up” as quickly as possible to get rid of it. Our body wont just flush it out since it is a source of food, but it doesn’t mean that our body wants sugar.
2. Diabetes
We all know that sugar causes diabetes. What we don’t know is how and why. Consuming too much sugar will eventually lead to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when our cells become resistant to the insulin that the pancreas produces. That means that our pancreas will need to produce more insulin in order for our cells to actually use the sugars. Once our bodies are insulin resistant, it will not be able to produce the insulin needed to process the sugars that we are consuming. Our bodies are over worked trying to produce insulin, and eventually gets tired and worn out. When that happens, we will have sugar in our system that cant be processed. That will eventually lead to Type 2 Diabetes where we will have to add insulin to our bodies via a shot or pill.
3. Brain
Eating sugar will cause your brain to produce dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical that will create a feel-good feeling. That is why we actually enjoy eating sugar, and why we have sugar cravings. Eating sugar along with salty and fatty foods can create an addiction, which will lead to loss of self control, overeating and weight gain. Consuming sugar can effect the way our brain actually processes information and can have a negative impact on our memory, attention span, motor speed and other cognitive functions. While our brain does require glucose to function, we do not need to eat sugar in order for it to function as it is supposed to. Our body will naturally process the foods we eat and create the glucose needed.
Eliminating sugar from your diet has been shown to reduce your risk of Alzheimers disease, Dementia, depression, and other brain related diseases.
4. Your body as a whole
Your body will get a sudden burst of energy when you consume sugar. This is known as the sugar “high” which is followed by the infamous “crash”. Sugar is directly linked to the production of deep belly fat. It will increase production of estrogen and inhibit the production of testosterone. This will lead to obesity.
If you develop diabetes, you are at a higher risk of hypoglycemia, which is caused by low glucose levels and will lead to loss of energy for brain function. By consuming more sugar than what our body can process will lead to insulin resistance which in turn causes our bodies to try to create more insulin than it is able to produce and will lead to diabetes.
5. Teeth
Just ask your dentist what happens when you eat a sugary diet. Dentists love patients that eat a high sugar diet, talk about job security. The sugar feeds the bacteria in your mouth that will break down your teeth, causing cavities, tooth loss, and many other issues.
6. Joints
Sugar is one of the leading causes of inflammation in your joints. It has been theorized that it will also increase your risk of rheumatoid arthritis. While there are many other causes of inflammation in our joints that are out of our control, sugar consumption is. If we can reduce just one cause of inflammation, it will help you feel better longer.
7. Skin
Another side affect of the inflammation shows up in your skin. Sugar will attach to advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that will actually age your skin. They will damage the collagen and elastin creating the wrinkles that nobody wants. It has also been linked to acne. Consuming excess sugar causes androgen secretion, oil production and inflammation in the pores, which will in turn become acne. This study showed that teens whom consumed a lot of sugar had a 30% greater risk of developing acne. Excess sugar has also been linked to skin tags.
8. Liver
This is a big one. Too much sugar will cause your liver to become insulin resistant. When you become insulin resistant, your liver is no longer able to control how much sugar is in your blood stream. The liver “talks” to your pancreas to let it know how much insulin needs to be produced. Essentially, it is the beginning stages of becoming diabetic. Sugar will also cause the liver to create fatty tissue (Fatty Liver) to try to compensate for the extra sugar it is trying to process. Here is a study that shows that fructose can overload the liver and lead to a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
9. Heart
Excess sugar will cause your artery walls to grow faster than normal and they will become more rigid. This puts additional stress on your heart. This can lead to heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. People that eat 25% of their calories from sugar are twice as likely to die from heart disease than people that consume 10% of their calories from sugar. Just imagine how much more it would be reduced if you reduced your sugar down to next to nothing! In one study of over 30,000 people, those who consumed 17-21% of their total calories from sugar had a 38% greater risk of dying from heart disease.
10. Pancreas
Your pancreas is what produces your insulin. Your pancreas can only produce so much insulin at a time. If you continue to eat a high sugar diet, your pancreas will become fatigued and will eventually stop working. When this happens, your body can no longer control your blood sugar levels and you will be on the fast track to Type 2 Diabetes.
11. Kidneys
Your kidneys filter the sugar (and a lot of waste) in your blood. When you have excess sugar in your blood stream, your kidneys will push some of the excess into your urine. If the kidneys are over worked filtering the sugar out, they will not be as efficient in removing the other waste they are required to remove. This will in the long term cause kidney damage and possibly kidney failure. There are some that believe that excess sugar can also be a cause of kidney stones.
12. Blood vessels.
Glucose can be very harmful to your circulatory system if there is too much. It can indirectly increase your chances of having clogged arteries. It is also been linked to the hardening of arteries. All of these factors increase your risk of stroke, heart attack and other circulatory diseases.
13. Cancer.
When you consume sugary foods, it will increase your chances of obesity. I don’t think many people will argue this, but there have been studies done that correlate obesity with increased cancer risk. This study shows that obesity increases your chances of getting cancer. Another study that had 430,000 participants showed that those who consumed added sugars had an increased risk of several different cancers.
14. Body Fat
Sugar causes your pancreas to create insulin. One of the side effects of too much insulin, is that your body will break down some of the excess insulin and create estrogen. Too much estrogen will cause your body to store extra fat.
Food for thought, one 16oz can of soda contains on average about 52 grams of sugar. That means that if you were on a 2000 calorie diet, that one can just made up 10% of your daily calorie requirement.
15. Inflammation
Sugar causes a very large inflammatory response in the body. This increased inflammation has also been shown to have increased your chances of getting cancer. It may also be a factor in arthritis and other inflammatory joint diseases.
16. Gout
Gout is caused by a type of inflammation. The root cause is eating too much sugar, which will in turn increase your uric acid levels in the blood.
17. Depression
Many studies have been performed that show that eating a healthy diet will positively improve your mood. So, on the opposite side of the spectrum, if you eat a diet filled with carbs and sugars, you are more prone to developing depression. It is believed that the sugar “high” and “crash” disrupt the way our neurons communicate with each other. Here is a study that followed 69,000 women and found that those whom consumed greater amounts of sugar were more likely to develop depression.
18. Our cells actually age faster.
Yes, the cells that make up our entire bodies will have a shorter lifespan because of sugar consumption. Here is a study talks about how consuming sugars can actually add YEARS on us. It is believed that the sugar causes an oxidation process in our cells which shortens their life cycle, and in turn shortens the life cycle of body part where that cell belongs (ie Heart, lungs, skin, etc.)
19. Cholesterol
Sugar has been shown to lower the “good” HDL cholesterol and raise the “bad” LDL cholesterol. This can lead to clogged arteries, heart disease among other related problems.
20. Hunger
When you are consuming a sugary diet, you will tend to get hungry more often. I believe that this is a 2 fold problem. The first is that our blood sugar has dropped. When it gets low, we will start to have brain fog, feel lethargic and our moods tend to go sour. We know that if we just eat a candy bar or have a soda that those issues will go away, for a short while at least. So we end up eating when we do not need nutrition, but have low blood sugar. The second part of this issue is that sugar creates dopamine in the brain. dopamine is the neurotransmitter that makes us feel good. So, we inadvertently eat more often to get that “good” feeling.
21. Stress
Eating sugary foods can lower the stress hormone cortisol short term. Cortisol is a type of steroid hormone. The cortisol will come back in higher levels. Cortisol is responsible for a whole range of bad things in our body, most notably fat production. Cortisol is good at preventing the release of substances that cause inflammation, so it is needed in the body but we want to control how much we have. Cortisol is one of those hormones that is extremely important, but can be harmful when we have too much.
22. Sugar will allow us to over eat.
Recently researchers have figured out that continually eating sugary foods will actually affect the sensors in our brain that tell us that we are full. To get a bit more technical, it will affect the brain’s anorexigenic oxytocin system. That explains so much. I have noticed that since I have been on a low sugar (Keto) diet I have been eating less. I always attributed it to eating more fiber (vegetables), but now I see that there was a physiological change too.
23. Slower learning and difficulty forming new memories.
Sugar will affect the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). The BDNF is responsible for allowing us to learn new things and to create new memories. When it is low, we will have difficulty learning new things. Possibly the last time you had “brain fog” your BDNF was low?
24. Male health
Excess sugar can even cause males to become impotent. This is caused by the chain of events from above that affect the circulatory system, which ultimately controls blood flow. Sugar will also affect your hormones, and can raise estrogen levels throwing the natural balance off. There is also a link to sugar consumption and prostrate cancer.
25. Female health
There have been some research that is linking too much sugar with fertility problems. Sugar is also one of the biggest hormone disrupters along with alcohol, caffeine, and dairy. So if you are wanting to get pregnant, you may want to pay a lot of attention to what you are eating. There is also evidence that sugar is linked to endometriosis, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and more PMS. Sugar can also reduce your chances of getting pregnant because of the hormone imbalances caused by too many sweets. Cutting out sugar can also increase your libido.
Ever had a chocolate craving?? Your body is telling you something. No, it is not that you NEED chocolate. Chocolate is high in magnesium, which you may be lacking during your cycle, but it also has sugar which has an effect of dopamine production.
Conclusion
After researching all of these side affects of sugar, I have come to the conclusion that sugar is one of the worst things that we put into our bodies. Everyone knows that tobacco is bad and has horrible side affects, but in my opinion, sugar just as bad if not worse. AND WE GIVE IT TO OUR KIDS! You wouldn’t give your 3 year old a cigarette, but you will give them a can of soda or glass of apple juice? What logic does that make? I don’t know of any studies that have been done yet that show how sugar affects the growth of kids, but I am sure that some of the health issues that they develop in the future could have been prevented.
The sooner you cut out sugar from your diet, the sooner your body can start repairing years of damage caused by sugar. Please pass this on to others so that we can get the message out that we can fix a lot of health issues just by cutting one thing out of our diets. I am not a health professional, but common sense dictates that there is something wrong with the way our society eats. I am not judging, I was one of those many. I actually thought I was eating healthier, I switched from white bread to whole wheat, started eating more vegetables, reduced the number of sodas a week, started eating low fat foods. All of the things most doctors recommend. What a load of crap. The food pyramid that we all grew up with, was based on 1 research study that has since been proven to have been altered to give the results the doctor wanted.
The Seven Countries study by Ancel Keys actually started out with 22 countries. He cut out the countries that did not have the results that he was looking for and then created this study that had very skewed results. This report was then adopted by the American Heart Association as a basis for what we should be eating for a healthy heart. Keys single handedly changed the eating habits of Americans by creating this inaccurate report. That information made its way into the schools that our doctors have attended for years. Fortunately, this misinformation has been getting fixed in the schools, but many of the doctors that we went to for years were giving us bad advice because that is what they were taught in medical school. Wow, what a mess.
