21 Aug Sugar: Humanity’s Greatest Addiction
My name is Brad. And I am an addict.
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Tyrone Biggums, Cokehead
No it’s not coke, heroin, or meth. It is something much more socially acceptable.
Like many Americans, I am addicted to sugar.
The pleasurably toxic little substance that helped take our primordial ancestors to the top of the evolutionary ladder is now slowly killing us.
The average American today consumes 77 pounds of added sugar each year; that boils down to roughly 22 teaspoons a day.
Go in your kitchen and look at a teaspoon for a second and imagine 22 of them full of sugar gross.
Sugar is a major behind the scenes player in disease development. In terms of disease, sugar can be linked back to the rise of diabetes and heart disease to name a couple big ones.
“It seems like every time I study an illness and trace a path to the first cause, I find my way back to sugar.” -Nephrologist Richard Johnson, University of Colorado-Denver
Worldwide, one third of adults have high blood pressure as compared to only 5% in 1900. In 1980, there were 153 million people with diabetes, and today there are 347 million.
As early as the 1960s, experiments were being performed which showed high sugar diets led to increased levels of fat and insulin in the blood.
Today, despite fat being a lower portion of one’s daily diet (unless you listen to us) the obesity rates in America have only increased.
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Obesity rates state by state
For us today, the particular culprit responsible for these increases: fructose.
Early in our evolutionary climb from the canopy in Africa, our ancient ape ancestors relied on the fructose naturally occurring in the fruit they ate. As the Ice Age moved in, there was a mutation that allowed our ancient ancestors to store even small amounts of fructose as fat to help them survive the lean times.
Now, the times aren’t so lean.
But why is it so hard and so bad?
First and foremost, it’s addictive.
“Sugar consumption also leads to release of endogenousopioids in the brain; leading to a rush of pleasure, similar (although not of the same magnitude) as injecting heroin. Interestingly, heroin addicts show increased cravings for sweets when they are first abstinent. This effect, known as cross-tolerance, shows that addiction to one substance makes it easier to become addicted to another substance that may use the same brain chemistry.” (Psychology Today: Why Our Brains Love Sugar and Why Our Bodies Don’t)
So sugar has been shown to stimulate the same pleasure centers of the brain as heroin and cocaine. Never met anyone who said these were okay to have in small amounts?
It’s tied to our memories. Taste and smell are two of the most powerful senses tied to memory. How many of your really good memories are tied to a meal or particular food? How many of the meals have a sweet, sugary food in them?
For me, it’s going to my grandma’s house and having a sugary candy or desert (big chocolate brownies) for getting good grades when I was young.
Fructose (the main culprit) is so bad for us because of what it has to do once it is in our bodies.
Sucrose, table sugar, is equal parts glucose and fructose. Glucose is metabolized by all cells in your body, but fructose, however, is a different story entirely.
Fructose is primarily processed by your liver, which stores it as fat called triglycerides. Some stay in the liver, which long term can turn it fatty and non-functional. But more triglycerides are forced into our blood stream.
Over time, this influx of triglycerides increases blood pressure and makes our tissues more and more resistant to insulin.
In an attempt to even things out, the pancreas pumps out more and more insulin and eventually metabolic syndrome sets in.
According to Mayoclinic.com,
“Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions – increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.”
It has been stated that as many as one third of the American adult population could meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome set by the National Institutes of Health.
To make matters even worse, refined fructose like in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) doesn’t come with fiber like it does in natural fruits.
The fiber gives your body the satiated feel and can help prevent bingeing, something refined sugars (fructose) lacks causing increased bingeing behaviors. (read: overeating)
And HFCS is literally everywhere.
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HFCS is in many of our everyday foods and we don’t even realize it.
It is super easy to manufacture and equally cheap making it ideal to keep snacks and food low cost.
We are better off staying away from it.
Well, thanks Brad. Now I get it, but how do I quell my sugar cravings?
Picking smarter snacks is a huge win.
Dark, low carb chocolate instead of snickers.
A strawberry or blueberries instead of candy.
A healthy smoothie (Berry Almond Protein Shake – Faster Fitness) rather than sugary drinks.
You can go cold turkey. Just quit. Remembering your goals and how hard you have worked to get this far is a pretty good incentive when you want to splurge.
Ideally, we would even cut out the fruit. If you have body fat to lose, getting fructose out of your diet completely is a critical step to help you accomplish your goals.
If you find that you are suffering from any of the symptoms associated with Metabolic Syndrome, eliminating fructose from your well managed diet and a quality strength training program will help you achieve the lean body and healthy life you want.
I’d love to hear some feedback at the bottom in the comments or on our facebook page about your favorite healthy alternative snacks and ways you work to beat the sugar cravings.
Remember, the first step is admitting you have a problem. I’m going to work to deal with mine.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
