Addicted to Sugar? Read This! 

by Lyndsy Moffatt

Addicted to Sugar? Read This 

In the United States, the average person consumes more than 126 grams of sugar per day. Can you believe that?

According to the AHA (American Heart Association), women should have no more than 6 teaspoons per day, which is 25 grams of sugar. And as a man, you can have up to 9 teaspoons of sugar daily or 38 grams of sugar. And a child should have no more than 3-4 tsp. added sugar each day.

Actually, just one can of Coca-Cola will put you over the daily recommended limit. One 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains 39 grams of sugar, which is about 9 1/3 teaspoons.

Can you imagine filling up a 12-ounce glass with carbonated water, and then dumping almost 10 teaspoons of sugar in it? Or rather high fructose corn syrup, and then drinking it? Gross. 

Fruit smoothies have sugar in them too, but at least it's natural, real food grown from our Earth with lots of nutrients and enzymes that benefit us as well. Of course, I still recommend limiting fruit intake because of natural sugars, but I think if you're going to have sugar, it is going to be most nutritious and beneficial for you in the form of fresh organic fruit. 

According to the latest statistics, experts say that most Americans are consuming over five times the recommended amount, which means that the majority of the excess sugar becomes metabolized into body fat – leading to all the debilitating chronic metabolic diseases many people are struggling with today. It's unfortunate because most people don't even know that they're eating that much sugar. I've seen people say "I don't eat sugar," that actually eat added sugars in just about every meal. Whether it's from their pasteurized orange juice, their salad dressing, or ketchup. Just a single tablespoon of ketchup has about one teaspoon of added sugar and is 11% of the daily limit for a man, 16% for a woman, and over 33% for an eight-year-old child!

It's really up to the parents to find better options for their children. And in this day and age, it can be tough when schools and daycares hand out loads of candy on each holiday, bring cupcakes and donuts for birthdays every other week, and reward good behavior with cookies. It can be exhausting dealing with family members that don't get it too. I remember last Christmas I was talking to my father about Dominic's gluten-free, GAPS diet and five minutes later I caught him giving Dominic a peanut butter cookie! Not out of spite, but out of physically forgetting that Dominic couldn't eat the cookie. To many grandparents out there, giving a child a cookie is just second nature. They don't do it to harm, they just don't realize that food isn't made like it used to be. Not much is.

This study found that the risk of cardiovascular disease is positively associated with consumption of increasing amounts of high fructose corn syrup in young adults. And yet it's found in Heinz ketchup, Coca-Cola, Capri-Sun Juice Drink, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Life Savers, Pop-Tarts, Oreos, Yoplait Yogurts, Campbell's Vegetable Soup, Oscar Meyer Lunchables, you name it. It's everywhere and I bet most people don't even know they're consuming it or the risks associated. 

Sugar is very addicting. If you begin to reduce or remove it from your lifestyle, you may start to find yourself craving it unusually. So many of us are addicted but don't realize it until we actually start consciously and actively removing it. The reason for this is because we don't realize how often or how much we're actually eating it. Many of us don't realize that sugar is added to nearly everything, not just cookies and candies. These days sugar is added to nearly all processed foods, even things like spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, ketchup, granola, waffles, yogurt, orange juice, etc. The good news is that if you start making these things yourself, you'll realize that these foods not only taste better homemade but will make you feel better too. Also, the less sugar we eat the more flavorful other natural foods will start to taste. 

Your taste buds will actually change. The less you eat added sugars, the sweeter everything else will begin to taste. Your appreciation for whole foods' flavors will grow. It's a beautiful thing, really.

Sugar releases opioids and dopamine similar to morphine and heroin. And it also has serious impacts on the brain. When rats were studied, sugar dependency caused “bingeing”, opiate-like “withdrawals” indicated by signs of anxiety and behavioral depression.

The only ways to avoid added sugars are either to make everything yourself or know how to read ingredient labels. That means you'll have to understand that added sugar can be listed as over 61 different names on a label.

There are 61 Different Names Just For Sugar!

They are:

Agave nectar

Barbados sugar

Barley malt

Barley malt syrup

Beet sugar

Brown sugar

Buttered syrup

Cane juice

Cane juice crystals

Cane sugar

Caramel

Carob syrup

Castor sugar

Coconut palm sugar

Coconut sugar

Confectioner's sugar

Corn sweetener

Corn syrup

Corn syrup solids

Date sugar

Dehydrated cane juice

Demerara sugar

Dextrin

Dextrose

Evaporated cane juice

Free-flowing brown sugars

Fructose

Fruit juice

Fruit juice concentrate

Glucose

Glucose solids

Golden sugar

Golden syrup

Grape sugar

HFCS (High-Fructose Corn Syrup)

Honey

Icing Sugar

Malt Syrup

Maltodextrin

Maltol

Maltose

Mannose

Maple syrup

Molasses

Muscovado

Palm sugar

Panocha

Powdered sugar

Raw sugar

Refiner's syrup

Rice syrup

Saccharose

Sorghum Syrup

Sucrose

Sugar (granulated)

Sweet sorghum

Syrup

Treacle

Turbinado sugar

Yellow sugar

Whew! That's a lot of sugar. I think I may get a cavity just writing all of that. 

In our home, the main sweeteners we use are Raw Honey, Coconut Nectar, Maple Syrup, Date Nectar, Assorted Fruits and pure, organic, additive-free Stevia. However, we try to use them sparingly. The less sugar you eat, the less sugar you crave and the sweeter things taste naturally on their own.

In my opinion, the best way to eat your sugar is in the form of fresh organic fruit! Like blending 2 frozen bananas and a cup of frozen raspberries to make delicious nice cream! Or just eating a bowl of fresh raspberries and blueberries or a big juicy watermelon is a great way to quench those cravings too!