How Sweet it is...

Too much of anything is not good for us -- right? Well, especially when it comes to sugar. Most of you reading my blog are probably not like most Americans (other parts of the world are plagued by this dilemma as well-see Infographic below), but just in case you have some sweet tooth tendencies, as I myself do, here it goes.

According to Laura Schimdt of UCSF, School of Medicine, "The average American is consuming 22 teaspoons a day." That's about 400 calories. Many of those sugar calories are hidden in foods that we wouldn't think contain sugar like tomato sauce, yogurt, crackers, peanut butter, etc. Many of them are also disguised by other names sucrose, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, just to name a few.

The American Heart Association recommends that we not have more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day, which is approximately 24 grams. My son was drinking an "all natural" pre-sweetened tea that contained 3 servings.  Each serving contained 23 grams of sugar, which meant that he was consuming 69 grams or 17 teaspoons of sugar by drinking the entire can. YIKES! I won't be buying that again.

Is sugar addictive? According to many scientists around the globe, animals' brains, including humans, will choose sugar over fat and protein given the chance. Research also tells us that we'd be better off with only water than sugar water. Something to ponder.

For more on the dangers of sugar, The One "Crazy" Thing All Nutritionists Agree Is a Good Idea, by Corrie Pikul

infographic courtesy of www.hcs.harvard.edu

 Refined sugar consumption has been linked to:

• weight gain
• tooth decay
• skin issues
• sleep disturbance
• ADD/HDD
• diabetes
• high cholesterol
• heart disease
• malnutrition 
• the list goes on  

I've known for some time the pull that sugar has had on me. More recently though after completing one of my month-long cleanses, I realized that I couldn't ignore the changes that took place in my body and mind without sugar. Of course during the cleanse, I was eliminating more than just sugar. I felt more energetic, slept better, lost a little weight and a lot of bloating, and I just felt great. More importantly, I noticed the chaos sugar created in my body when I decided to take it back. I became irritable, felt bloated and got a pretty intense headache. It was easy to know the culprit because I didn't add anything other new food substance in.

Eve Schaub recently published a book, Year of No Sugar, about her family's experience. As reported by the Huffington Post, 'Year Of No Sugar': The Schaub Family Went Sugar Free For An Entire Year by Sarah Klein. Inspired by research and writings by prolific food-industry researchers like professor Robert Lustig, M.D., and journalist Michael Moss, Eve Schaub decided to try an experiment. She, along with her husband and daughters Greta and Ilsa, spent all of 2011 eating no added sugar.  Read more.

So what can we do?

• Read labels; if you don't know the words look them up or only buy things that you know what the words are.
• Drink fewer pre-sweetened drinks.
• Enjoy a small sweetened treat on special occasions.
• Consume unsweetened fresh or dried fruit for your sweet fix.
• If you give in, don't beat yourself up. 
• Make your own sweets using sweeteners closer to their natural source like maple syrup 
• Dates are one of my favorite sweet treat--you might try my date-nut balls 

Feel free to share any stories or recipes. Enjoy! We can still have an amazingly wonderful, sweet life without refined sugar.