Site Search
| How to Cut Sugar Damages |
|
Excess sugar causes damage to human health. Few impartial health experts would dispute this today. How much sugar it takes to begin causing damage and how big a health threat it poses are critical questions that need to be answered. Unfortunately, we do not have precise answers for these questions yet. A great deal of research has been done on sugar’s impact on health. Dr. Richard Johnson summarizes much of this in his book, The Sugar Fix. He makes it clear that sugar causes serious damage to health. In using the term sugar here, I mean all commonly used forms of sugar, including table sugar, corn syrup, cane syrup, maple syrup, honey, fructose, and others. While sugars differ in their metabolic pathways, in excess, all sugars cause damaging effects. What are some of these effects? They include displacement of healthier foods in the diet by nutritionally “empty” sugar calories; obesity problems caused in part by high intake of “empty” calories; high build-up of triglycerides as excess fructose is converted to triglycerides by the liver; and many damaging inflammatory changes in the body. Dr. Johnson notes that excess fructose is a factor in insulin resistance, which in turn is a cause of type-2 diabetes. He shows that high fructose intake also contributes to high blood pressure, unhealthy blood fats, kidney damage, and other inflammatory disorders. Indeed, sugar may prove to be the most destructive of all foodstuffs to health. If this is so, how much should we cut back on sugar for the sake of our health? Although there is no clear definition of how much sugar intake is safe, top health experts have carefully analyzed available evidence. Based on this, the World Health Organization advises limiting sugar to ten percent of total calories, or about ten teaspoons a day for most adults - quite a drop from the fifty teaspoons a day consumed by most Americans. How can we accomplish this? I have no magic formula, but first one must be convinced that cutting down on sugar is valuable for one’s health. The evidence is strong that this is true. Then one must feel capable of cutting down on sugar consumption - not easy for anyone with high sugar intake, but definitely possible. I know, because I've been down that road. Although I have a sweet tooth, I gradually cut back on sugar over the years as I realized its dangers to health. First, I eliminated soft drinks of all kinds. They are a major source of sugar, and they have no redeeming health value. Then I quit candies and cut back on cakes, pies, donuts, and other pastries, as well as ice cream, sorbets, cookies, muffins, jams, and jellies - all common sources of sugar. Pancakes and waffles can carry a day’s worth of sugar when covered with syrup, so I rarely indulge in them anymore. My purpose in citing all this is to give an example of how one person cut down on sugar intake over the years. Has it been worth doing? Yes! I enjoy eating nutritious foods, and I’m a much healthier septuagenerian than I would be had I kept on eating sugary foods through the years. If I can make such changes, anybody can. I don’t suggest doing this on a crash basis, but almost anyone can do it faster than I did. Regardless of how long it takes, making the decision is the key factor. As a well-known ad says: “Just do it.” You’ll be glad you did!
|