Sugar 101 (and 3 Easy Swaps)

our most toxic relationship

eat real food (cred: @kerrilynpamer)

If you were to take only one piece of health advice from me, it would be to stop eating sugar. 

I’m willing to bet you don’t think you consume much sugar unless it’s it’s most obvious form: dessert and sweets. We are lead to believe that sugar only goes by a few names, and only appears in the usual suspects, like soda, cookies, donuts, cake, and the like. People assume if they avoid these foods, they are eating a low-sugar diet. Some might even go as far as to say they don’t eat sugar at all and don’t have a sweet tooth. Unfortunately, there is hidden sugar in almost every category of packaged food, even so-called “health foods” like yogurt, fruit juice, and granola. It is likely you have no idea how much sugar you’re taking in daily. 

SUGAR 101:

What does sugar do to the body? Putting it extremely simply, sugar, or pure glucose, has a value of 100 on the glycemic index, meaning it enters the bloodstream very fast (a spike in blood sugar). The body then has to work hard to produce insulin in order to stabilize blood sugar levels. If we consume more and more sugar over time (or in very concentrated doses), our body’s ability to do this can diminish. This is called insulin resistance, and it is the first step towards diabetes, obesity, and chronic disease.

The effects of excessive sugar consumption are catastrophic. The problem is the QUANTITY we are consuming—sugar isn’t just “sugar” anymore. We have new, highly processed, cheaper and more dangerous versions like “high fructose corn syrup” (aka sugar on steroids), capable of delivering such an enormous and concentrated dose of fructose into the bloodstream, and so quickly, that our bodies’ are not evolved or equipped to handle it. Not to mention it has become highest source of calories in the American diet. Enter: insulin resistance, diabetes, over 60% of Americans being obese, the first generation of children with a shorter life expectancy than our parents, disrupted gut microbiome, inflammation, increased risk of Alzheimer’s, and rapidly rising rates of all types of chronic disease every year.

This is a uniquely American problem. Almost every other country has banned the excessive and reckless addition of sugar products, specifically high fructose corn syrup, to packaged foods. See below the comparisons between ingredients in America and in France in everyday products like ketchup and orange juice. Other countries do not consider ingredients like this safe for public consumption. 

graphics on sugar, cred: @maxlugavere @thefoodbabe

How is it that Prego tomato sauce has the same amount of sugar as Oreos? And orange juice the same as Coca-Cola? Whole grain cereal and a Snickers? We deserve real food standards, but since we have no sign of ever receiving these protections, it means taking ingredient safety into our own hands.

Blood sugar, hormones, and many other detrimental aspects of excess sugar consumption will be covered separately. There’s just too much.

HOW IS SUGAR ADDICTING?

We are biologically programmed to seek out sugar. Sweet flavors signal to our brains “safe to eat”, and bitter flavors signal “poison”. Our ancestors faced famine and food shortages, so our bodies’ store sugar as fat for times when food is scarce. It is an evolutionary survival mechanism, but one that might be killing us today. Today, sugar is cheap, dangerously available, and hidden in plain sight.

Sugar is known to be eight times more addictive than cocaine. In one study, rats were given the option of both and they always chose the sugar, even going back for more and more despite getting shocked.

“We are so fat because food is addictive. We are not just lazy and weak… We live in a toxic environment, like an alcoholic living inside a bar. Food brands purposefully create addictive foods, like Big Tobacco. It is a trillion dollar food industry… a Sugar Economy… 37% of ‘skinny kids’ have pre-diabetes. [Sugar] didn’t make them fat but sick… Addictive foods like sugar have the effect of opioids on the brain, stimulating dopamine, the pleasure center. Obese and cocaine-addicted brains look the same. Food and Drugs have the same level of addiction danger, yet food is completely unregulated in terms of marketing, especially to kids… Everyone is eating sugar. Go to an AA meeting and you’ll understand. ” - Mark Hyman, MD

Foods are specifically designed to be craved. Big Food conglomerates like Coca-Cola and Kraft-Heinz have entire teams of scientists, engineers and other experts whose only job is to design food products that give consumers an experience coined the “bliss point”—the right combination of sugar, salt and fat—to keep their hand returning to the bag again and again. It’s not just arbitrary—it’s specifically triggering a mechanism in our evolution that can’t say no. That is why it’s so hard to stop eating these foods—they are formulated in a lab to make it so.

The worst part is that these companies sell addictive foods, get customers hooked, and then market to the most vulnerable population: children. It’s pretty wild if you think about it… we’ve banned the marketing of Big Tobacco (now known to cause cancer and death), but we’re totally fine with Kendall Jenner marketing Coca-Cola, Serena Williams promoting Oreos, and athletes plastered on sugar-laden cereal boxes made for kids. Sugar in its modern form is just the newest iteration of addictive, money-making, and detrimental drug to long-term health that our country has chosen to turn a blind eye to. Government agencies and experts are aware of the dangers of sugar, but it has gone largely ignored. Instead, the chokehold this substance has over the public is used to sell more food that makes us sicker.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Get into the habit of checking your labels. Go through your pantry. Avoid any products with added sugar in the ingredients—don’t listen to marketing claims on the front of the package without turning it over. Below I outline the biggest culprits of hidden added sugar including exact brands and what to swap them with, how sugar disguises itself on nutrition labels, and how breaking up with this one ingredient will change your life. If you do nothing else, try this.