The Real Dangers of Sugar
Dangers of sugar, this is part 12 in our twenty-part series designed to help you better understand Serious Weight Loss For Women.
Part 1: Mind Body Wellness
Part 2: Secrets to Weight Loss Success
Part 3: High Intensity Interval Training 101
Part 4: Blazing Your Way to Fitness with HIIT
Part 5: Beating the Calories with Wise Dieting
Part 6: The Truth About Crash Diets
Part 7: Shave Off Pounds Without Even Trying
Part 8: Enjoy Healthy Eating…Every Day
Part 9: My Weight Loss Journey
Part 10: Lifestyle and Weight Management
Part 11: Good Health Nutrition
Part 12: You are here – Dangers of Sugar
How healthy (or unhealthy) is the food most of us consume today?
As corporations seek to uncover new ways to produce food more efficiently and at lower costs, the overall quality and nutritional value of our food remains in a state of decline.
So it’s no surprise that this has led to the creation of advocacy groups who are opposed to processed food. To many people, it would appear that food manufacturers by and large have completely overlooked any ethical obligation to contribute to better consumer health globally. They’ve heard the issues, yet choose to ignore the latest findings from medical authorities. One of the biggest issues is the amount of sugar and preservatives they add to foods.
What’s going on in the world of processed food?
Consumer wellness organizations have been monitoring the situation and have witnessed a continual increase in the amount of additives manufacturers use on everyday foods and beverages. Specifically, they’ve witnessed a steady climb in the use of additives in things like bread products, soda and yogurt.
You’re better off avoiding processed foods altogether, although that may not be practical for everyone. In any event, you should steer clear of any food or beverage product that can last for more than a week in your kitchen pantry. One can only imagine what kind of chemicals manufacturers add food with “best before” dates 2 years down the road!
The question to ask yourself is… How much sugar are you actually consuming?
Recent medical studies have revealed some of the real dangers of regularly consuming everyday table sugar. This should sound the alarm bells because sugar is hidden in a lot of different things we consume on a daily basis – without giving it much thought.
Refined sugars and it’s dangerous cousin, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is routinely found in pancake mixes, pancake syrup, cookies, crackers, muffins, hot chocolate mix, candies, cured meats, potato chips, cupcakes, marshmallows – you name it. These dangerous elements are everywhere and far too many of us are gobbling these harmful elements up.
Just one serving of regular soda contains (on average) a whopping 10 teaspoons of table sugar. That’s a crazy amount. Just imagine eating 10 teaspoons of sugar at home. Just the thought of it seems repulsive. But added to a drink many of us were first exposed to as kids, we don’t realize what we’re getting. Soda companies have been using sugar to sweeten sodas for a long time. As long as consumers keep buying – I’m sure they’ll keep supplying.
Years ago we were warned that table sugar would ruin our teeth and too much of it could lead to diabetes.
More recent studies have strongly linked sugar to a range of health conditions that negatively impact our lives, including Metabolic Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These and other dangers of sugar are reason enough to avoid this substance whenever possible.
The best foods to consume are natural, whole foods. The closer they are to nature and the less processed – the better those foods will be for your weight and your overall health.
Processed food is largely unhealthy food. And who knows what’s in store from food manufacturers? It’s time for the governments of the world to step up and do something to put an end to the excessive use of additives like refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup in supermarket foods and beverages people purchase every day.
But until that happens (and we probably shouldn’t hold our breath) you got to protect yourself. And the best way to do that is to become a more informed consumer. Being equipped with the latest information on everyday foods will help you make much better food choices.
So what are the dangers of sugar?
Sugar is one of the most harmful additives found in food today. Here’s why:
1. Heart Health – Studies show that sugar can affect the involuntary muscle movement of the heart. Scientists have pinpointed a molecule called (G6P) that exists in table sugar and negatively impacts heart tissue at the cellular level.
So it only makes sense that excessive consumption of sugar combined with an inactive or sedentary lifestyle could increase one’s risk of developing heart failure. This is serious because heart failure often leads to death in less than ten years after it was first diagnosed.
2. Belly Fat – You may have noticed the trend. There has been a shocking increase in obesity rates among teenagers and small children over the last several decades. While there are several contributing factors to this trend, an increase in the availability and consumption of fructose is a dominant factor. Fructose is a less expensive form of sugar. That’s why manufacturers like it so much and deploy this danger in soda, ice cream, cookies, and several bread products too.
One of the dangers associated with fructose consumption is that it seems to increase the amount of visceral fat around the body’s midsection. When visceral fat develops at an early age, the child has a significantly higher risk of becoming an obese adult.
3. Appetite Signals – your body is equipped to tell you when you’ve had enough food, so you can stop eating. But studies indicate that sugar impairs this natural, built-in mechanism. Consuming too much sugar can lead to leptin resistance.
With leptin resistance, you never feel fully satiated with moderate amounts of food. Your full feeling doesn’t get triggered. So naturally, you continue eating to the point where you’re overeating at every meal.
The body often has a difficult time detecting the presence of sugar in beverages. The brain doesn’t receive the signal that you’re already full on calories from soda or juice. Refined sugar is a substance that doesn’t register the way other types of food do.
4. Toxic to the Liver – One of the dangers of sugar and high fructose corn syrup is that excessive consumption can disrupt the healthy functioning of the liver. Often this leads to liver disease. Researchers have found that sugar and fructose utilize the identical metabolic channels that ethanol does. This makes sugar and HFCS every bit as dangerous as alcohol. Best to avoid whenever you can.
