Why You Should Avoid Sugar

From your breakfast cereal to the bread you eat, sugar is an ingredient that can be found in nearly every food product. With thousands of pe...

From your breakfast cereal to the bread you eat, sugar is an ingredient that can be found in nearly every food product. With thousands of people often relying on quick-fix, fast foods, and snacks - sugar intake is at an all-time high. In the USA, added sugar makes up an alarming 17% of the average adult’s calorie intake (14% for children). This has contributed to the high obesity rates and several other health conditions that could be caused by this sweet additive. To combat this unhealthy trend, more and more people try to lead more wholesome lifestyles by incorporating exercise, balanced diets and nutritional supplements to their daily lives. Reviewy will tell you more about various blood sugar and other dietary aids that are available on the market.

Sugar Health Choices

By now, you should have heard that sugar is bad for you, but do you know why?

What Exactly Is Sugar?

Existing in many different forms, sugar is a simple carbohydrate that is categorized into a class of sweet-tasting chemical substances.
In essence, there are three types of sugar.

Sucrose: Common table sugar.
Lactose: Sugar found in milk and various other dairy products.
Fructose: Fruit sugar, found in plants.

Added sugar does not add any nutritional value to your daily diet and is known as ‘empty calories’.

How Much Sugar Should You Consume Daily?

According to the American Health Association, there are certain guidelines to follow when it comes to a person’s average daily sugar intake. The maximum sugar you should consume as a man is 9 teaspoons (150 calories) and as a woman, you should eat no more than 6 teaspoons (100 calories) of sugar a day. This might seem like a doable task but when you consider that there are already 140 calories of sugar in a can of Coke, things start to fall into perspective.

Sugar In Food

Knowing exactly how much added-sugar is contained in the foods and drinks we consume on a daily basis is important to your overall health. With more and more food/drink items ladened with this sweet substance, you have to take extra steps to steer clear of it.

Below is a list of common foods and drinks, and their sugar content:

Milky Way (58 g): 7.02 teaspoons of sugar
Snickers (57 g): 5.83 teaspoons of sugar
3 Musketeers bars (60 g): 8.14 teaspoons of sugar
Butterfinger bar (60 g): 5.58 teaspoons of sugar
Milk chocolate M&M's (42 g): 5.68 teaspoons of sugar
Coca-Cola (330 ml): 7.25 teaspoons of sugar
Red Bull (one can): 5.35 teaspoons of sugar
Froot Loops: (100g serving) 8.46 teaspoons of sugar
Raisin Bran: (100g serving) 6.35 teaspoons of sugar
Frosted Flakes: (100g serving) 7.12 teaspoons of sugar
Honey Smacks:(100g serving) 11.4 teaspoons of sugar
Trix: (100g serving) 6.49 teaspoons of sugar
Lucky Charms:(100g serving) 7.33 teaspoons of sugar
Cocoa Puffs: (100g serving) 7.55 teaspoons of sugar
Cookie Crisp: (100g serving) 7.06 teaspoons of sugar
Cocoa Pebbles:(100g serving) 7.26 teaspoons of sugar
Banana Nut Crunch: (100g serving) 3.55 teaspoons of sugar.
Mangos: (100g serving) 2.77 teaspoons of sugar
Bananas:(100g serving) 2.48 teaspoons of sugar
Apples: (100g serving) 2.11 teaspoons of sugar
Pineapples: (100g serving) 2 teaspoons of sugar
Grapes: (100g serving) 3.14 teaspoons of sugar

Sugar

Why Sugar Is Bad For You

According to official dietary guidelines, you should be limiting your sugar consumption to less than 10% of your total caloric intake per day. This is because industry experts believe that sugar is directly linked to many chronic diseases and obesity.

Weight Gain

The global obesity rate is rising at an alarming speed, with sugar believed to be one of the main contributors to this trend.

Juices and sodas are full of fructose, and when this simple sugar is consumed, it increases your want of foods rich in glucose (which is another sugar found in starchy foods). Another side effect of fructose consumption is that it may result in a leptin resistance.

Leptin is a hormone that regulates hunger and signals satiety to your body so that you can stop eating. When this hormone is not functioning as it should, it is easier to overeat and gain weight.

When you regularly drink sugar-dense drinks, you are at risk of developing more visceral fat that can lead to more serious health concerns.

Heart Disease

People who eat high-sugar diets have an increased risk of contracting and developing heart disease.

Going hand-in-hand with obesity, sugar causes inflammation, high triglyceride, blood sugar, and blood pressure levels. These are all red flags of heart disease.

Sugar can also trigger a condition known as atherosclerosis, where the arteries become clogged by fatty deposits.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a growing concern the world over with numbers doubling over the last few decades. While there are several contributing factors to the development of diabetes, there is a direct link between excessive sugar consumption and this chronic disease.

High sugar intake also makes your body insulin resistant. Insulin is a hormone that helps to maintain blood sugar levels. When you have a resistance to insulin, the amount of sugar in your blood easily spikes, putting you at further risk of becoming a diabetic.

Cancer

When you consume large amounts of sugar, there is evidence to suggest that you are at risk of developing certain types of cancers.

Obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance all increase the risk of cancer development. Esophageal cancer, pleural cancer, and cancer of the small intestine are only some of the conditions that can be caused by consuming added sugar.

Contributed By: Joseph

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