8 things we should know about sugar

Why sugar is bad for health

In case you haven’t heard, sugar is quite bad for a healthy diet. Part of the reason for this is because the more sugar you consume, the more you crave it. And while sugar is an ingredient that is definitely worth indulging in once in a while, overindulging can cause many health problems, both in the short term and the long term.

Why, however, has it become such a problem? Today we share 8 things you need to know about sugar that show us why sugar causes so many diseases today and help us understand why we should eliminate sugar from your healthy diet.

1. Today’s sugar consumption

Today, an average person consumes 1 kg of sugar each week. While at the end of the 19th century the average people consumed only about 2 kgs per year.

2. A continual rise of sugar intake

Over the last 20 years, sugar consumption in the United States has increased from 12 kgs to more than 60 kilos of sugar per person per year. Just a can of any soft drink contains more than 30 grams of sugar.

3. Sugar is part of more foods than we think

Sugar consumption includes highly refined sugars that are incorporated into many of the foods we eat (bread, peanut butter, condiments, sauces, etc.). Some of these are better known as sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup.

4. Four types of sugar

There are 4 classes of simple sugars (sucrose, fructose, honey, and malts) are deemed “harmful” to optimal health when long-term consumption is over 15% of carbohydrate calories ingested. Our advice: eating complex carbohydrates (veggies, beans, legumes, whole grains) is the best way to keep this number below 15%.

5. Sugar is a health issue

Simple sugars have been documented to contribute to and/or aggravate health problems, including: asthma, mood disorders, mental illness, nervous disorders, diabetes, heart disease, gallstones, hypertension, and arthritis.

6. Insulin impacts and sugar

Sugar raises insulin levels, inhibiting the release of growth hormones which depresses the immune system. Further, too much insulin promotes the storage of fat, so that when you eat foods that are high in sugar, you’re enabling rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease.

7. Sugar and degenerative disease

Sugar has no real nutritional value (no minerals, no vitamins, no fibre) and as a result, it has a deteriorating effect on the endocrine system, causing sugar consumption to be one of the 3 major causes of degenerative disease.

8. Sugar & Cancer

Turns out that cancer’s preferred fuel is none other than glucose. Controlling one’s blood-glucose levels through diet, exercise, supplements, meditation and prescription drugs – when necessary – can be extremely important to a cancer treatment program.

Any other reason for avoiding sugar?