The Most Dangerous Food In America…
Breaking Bread. Making a toast. Celebrating a birthday.
Our lives are inundated with sugar in one way or another.
With the epidemic of cancer, child obesity, and diabetes; more researchers are looking carefully at how the sugar epidemic began… and how we can put it to rest.
But did you know that 300 years ago – many people didn’t even know that sugar existed?
It only became a global commodity about 250 years ago via trade by sea.
That’s right – sugar is relatively NEW to the human diet.
However, it’s so pervasive that almost every event we mark, celebrate, mourn or commemorate has sugar or alcohol as an integral part of its ritual.
How We Got Our Global Sweet-Tooth
250 years ago trade on the seas was booming.
Sugar, alcohol, tobacco, and opium became, for the first time ever, profitable global commodities.
Our lives, and our bodies, have changed significantly in the past 300 years.
And for the latter; they haven’t improved much.
What doesn’t kill us via famine or plague now kills us more slowly via coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancers.
Sugar Is Pervasive In Our Diets…
What was once a guilty pleasure is now a part of our morning beverage ritual, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and after-dinner night cap.
Ask yourself: have you ever gone a single day in your life without either tobacco, sugar, or alcohol?
It’s likely that you have not.
That’s because sugar takes many forms, and it isn’t just something reserved for cookies, cakes, and sweets.
In the U.S. it is the most popular addition to foods across the board.
And MOST processed foods have it.
It’s known as sugar, raw sugar, dextrose, maltose, glucose, fructose, corn sweetener, honey, corn syrup, sucrose, sorghum syrup, sorbitol, brown sugar, lactose, molasses, syrup, and fruit juice concentrate.
ALL of the above are empty calories and should be avoided!
Why Sugar Makes You Gain Weight
How bad can sugar be?
Well consider this: one measly teaspoon of white sugar has 15 calories.
A teaspoon of corn syrup has 20 calories.
And the average can of soda has 11 TEASPOONS of sugar… translating to between 165 and 220 calories just from sugar.
A couple hundred years ago when sugar started to creep into the American diet, people only ate about 2 lbs per year.
Today the average American eats over 150 pounds of sugar per year.
That’s 3 POUNDS of sugar per WEEK!
The average American even consumes more than 40 teaspoons DAILY of sugar.
Imagine setting 40 teaspoons of anything in front of you.
It’s overwhelming… and indeed it’s a scary thought!
Your Brain on Sugar…
When you consume sugar; taste receptors signal different areas of the brain, one being the cerebral cortex.
Your brain rewards you for it and tells you to have more sugar.
The same thing happens when people experience sex or take certain drugs.
That’s why people want more and more of these things and become addicted.
And yes, your brain’s reaction to sugar does lead to sugar addiction.
That’s the reason dieting can be so hard!
Either you aren’t avoiding sugars that sneak into restaurant and processed foods…
Or you’re having legitimate sugar withdrawal!
Your Gut On Sugar…
Your gut has sugar receptors, just like your brain.
When you eat sugar – your gut will actually send a warning up to your brain.
Your brain responds in one of two ways:
1) You feel full
2) Your insulin spikes in response to excess sugar.
The more insulin your body releases to process sugar, the more we store sugar as fat.
The insulin is meant to regulate blood sugar.
Abusing your body’s insulin response can actually cause your body to become resistant to insulin; thereby unable to regulate blood sugar.
This isn’t just a way to store excess body fat, but it’s dangerous for your overall health and wellness.
The Not-So-Sweet Side of Sugar…
Eating sugar is unique in your brain.
You see, when you eat broccoli, you don’t get the same reaction in your brain as you do when you consume sugar.
What makes sugar ‘feel’ so good?
The answer is dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good.
Dopamine is released when we consume alcohol, nicotine, heroine, and sugar.
That’s one of the reasons people become addicted to one or all of the above.
How Your Brain Regulates Nutrition…
Just because dopamine is associated with all of the above-mentioned ‘risky’ business doesn’t mean that dopamine is inherently bad.
In fact, dopamine can help you be MORE nutritious.
That’s because when you eat the same thing over and over, you don’t react with as much dopamine.
This causes our bodies to constantly seek new foods and different tastes.
Food and drink variety begets more dopamine; which causes us to try new foods and have more balanced nutrition.
How We Can Become Addicted to Sugar?
When you eat sugary foods, dopamine doesn’t level out like it does with normal foods.
When you eat sugar, the reward in your brain persists.
That’s how people get addicted to sugar – you keep eating it and it keeps feeling good!
One of the biggest offenders of sugar overload is SODA POP.
But you’ll be shocked to know how much is in tomato sauce, ketchup, even in healthy protein and cereal bars!
How To Lose Weight Naturally and Easily…
There are a lot of benefits to most diets out there.
But there’s ONE thing that all healthy diets have in common: the absence of high-sugar foods and beverages.
In March, Okuma will be hosting a 90-Day SLIM TEA CHALLENGE for Okuma readers.
During this challenge – we will be replacing sodas, diet drinks, fruit juices, and creamy coffee drinks with Wu-Long Tea.
If you want to join us – keep reading my blog and I’ll share more info with you.
If you want to get started NOW while we’re still in the beginning of the year – go here NOW and grab your Wu-Long Tea.
Cut sodas, toxic diet water and mineral drinks, creamy sugary lattes, and even alcohol.
Replace them all with Wu-Long to rev up your metabolism and TORCH body and belly fat.
Go here today and get started!
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Nancy T
Hi Stephanie,
I’m really glad to see more articles like this being published. I recently wrote an article about yogurt and the myth of low and non-fat varieties. I compared a Bulgarian style yogurt made by Trimona Foods with a non-fat greek variety by Yoplait. The Bulgarian yogurt is made with milk and yogurt cultures only… and has a total count of 10 carbohydrates per serving.
Yoplait, on the other hand, starts with non-fat milk which has more lactose per ounce than full fat milk. Then they add sugar, corn starch, fructose, and Acesulfame Potassium (artificial sweetener). The final tally in an equivalent serving is a whopping 22 grams!
This is one of the many ways we are getting way too much sugar in our diets.
Thanks for letting me post this comment.
What’s really discouraging is that the Yoplait has a weight watchers rating which suggests it’s endorsed by this organization.
Stephanie
Wow – yes weight watchers has helped a lot of people… but unless you’re taking responsibility to avoid processed foods and high-sugar items… you can still eat a lot of junk on it.
I’m recently looking into the book It Starts With Food to help train myself to avoid processed foods even more than I already do and stick to whole foods. Thanks for the comment!