Are We Eating too Much Sugar?

Are we eating too much sugar?

Based on these stats below the answer would be YES!

In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
In 2009, more than 50 percent of all Americans consume one-half pound of sugar PER DAY—translating to a whopping 180 pounds of sugar per year!

We are eating too much sugar and people wonder why it is so hard to stay at a healthy weight. Nearly everyone is facing this awful fact. We see sweets, cakes, cookies, pies, candy bars, soda, fruit drinks, donuts everywhere we go. They are in the gas stations, grocery stores, rest stops, at social events and most everywhere else. Even if you are watching your sugar intake, you can be eating sugar and not even know it. If you go out to restaurants sugar is most likely being put in to the food. Or if you buy process foods there will be sugar there.

Plus with increase in weight there are numerous other health issues that develop as a result. These include trying to reverse heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and the list goes on and on.

Here is a list of many of the negative effects of sugar on our health:

Sugar can suppress the immune system.
Sugar can upset the body’s mineral balance.
Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.
Sugar can cause kidney damage.
Sugar can increase risk of coronary heart disease.
Sugar can promote tooth decay.
Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and grey hair.
Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
Sugar causes food allergies.
Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.
Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.
Sugar feeds Cancer – It gives Cancer the ability to grow due to the anaerobic environment (see Otto Warburg and the cause of cancer).
Sugar can contribute to Heart Disease.

There are many more ways that sugar can effect your health. These are just a few….. The way to reduce these health risks is of course limit your intake of sugar to only about 40 grams pre-day. This works out to about 30 pounds of sugar per year. That is a MAJOR improvement from 180 pounds a year!

My husband, just this week, was traveling on business. He stopped by a place to purchase what he hoped was a low-car low sugar meal. It consisted of baked chicken, green beans and spinach. He took it back to the hotel room. While eating he noticed that the chicken tasted sweet. He and I spoke on Skype and he told me he was a bit concerned about the sugar content. The next day he started retaining water – his urine flow reduced. Come to find out, this chain is owned McDonald’s. They have found that people love their food if they put sugar into about everything they produce. Everything has sugar in it. It is another reason that we need to avoid these chains if we can. Not doing so is really a problem to our health. Lots of folks would run to the doctor – get some “Flo-Max” and consider the problem solved. Wrong!

We could try to go back to 1700 standards of 4 pounds of sugar a year. But nowadays that would be hard, even for the most die hard health nut.

So what can we do to reduce these health risks produced by sugar? Well, of course, eat less sugar – but how?.

Here is what you can do to cut back.

1. Eliminate Soft Drinks – this contributes more sugar to a person’s diet than anything else. Find other substitutions to soft drinks like iced water with slices of lemon, limes and oranges.
2. Choose high fiber foods for energy – foods with a lot of sugar will give you a quick burst of energy, however, you can experience quite a let down within a short time. Choose whole grains, whole fruits and vegetables for sustained energy.
3. Eat mini-meals every 3-4 hours – this will keep your blood sugar levels stable and reduce cravings for sugar.
4. Make sure you get your essential oils (the correct combination of Omega 3 and 6 and only from parent sources). We’ve written about this elsewhere – contact me if you have any questions.
5. Watch out for FAT-FREE foods – these tend to have quite a bit of sugar when all the fat is taken out of the product.
6. Stay away from processed foods – choose whole foods at every meal and find ways to add them to every meal throughout your day.
7. If eating out, learn to share with your significant other. If you must eat dessert, then share it with someone to help reduce your intake of sugar and you will not feel deprived.
8. Get good quality protein at every meal – this will help you NOT crave sugar throughout your day.
9. Have a CHEAT day – if you completely deny yourself, then you can set yourself up for a binge of the wrong foods. None of us can be totally good ALL the Time.

Like most people I can’t completely cut sugar out. I like desserts too much to do that. But what I can do is implement the above suggestions. Also, by reading the labels we can really keep a handle on our sugar intake. I just bought Cottage Cheese which you wouldn’t think there is sugar in that, but there is, it’s called (Guar Gum). Wow. We really need to be at cause over this. It’s so easy to eat too much sugar and not know it.

Along with watching that sugar intake, we need to give the body what it needs to repair and heal itself. This is handle with Orthomolecular Nutrition which can be cheap and easy to include in our daily lives. Doing this, along with the Essential Oils, really helps us not want the sweets yet to help handle the body when we choose to indulge a bit more than we should.

Like any other health improvement, it’s never to late to start. Cutting back on sugar is easy to do and can be done at any age