All the little Easter treats are out (give me all the mini eggs!) 😉 and while having some in moderation is ok, too much sugar on a regular basis can have negative effects on our health.
The world health organization recommends that only 5% of our total caloric intake should come from added sugars. That essentially means that we should consume no more than 6 tsp. of added sugar a day, roughly 24g of sugar total. Unfortunately, the average person consumes 18 tsp of added sugar daily (a total of 72g of sugar) 48g more than the recommended intake. Too much sugar on a regular basis leads to tooth decay and promotes obesity, but there are many other reasons as to why we should be limiting the amount of sugar we consume.
Here are just a few reasons as to why we should practice moderation with sugar consumption:
- Too much sugar can suppress your immune system. -Yup that’s right, a poor diet actually leads you to feeling ill and more prone to bacterial and viral infections.
- Too much sugar affects the collagen in your skin. – “Hello wrinkles!”
- Too much sugar causes food allergies. – I have said it time and time again the poor diets that our children are on will only cause them future problems.
- Sugar overload contributes to diabetes. – Nothing new here!
- Too much sugar leads to osteoporosis.
- Sugar can create the urge to binge.
- Too much sugar in your diet increases your chances of getting gout. – What’s gout? Gout is a condition where you have an increase in uric acid in your blood and the uric acid deposits in your joints; usually your feet/toes. VERY painful!
- Sugar makes your blood acidic. – What does that mean? Well let me put it this way, when you are alkaline you are less likely to have cancerous cells in your body. Soo, acidic blood = cancer.
- Too much sugar causes depression.
- Sugar contributes to eczema.
- Too much sugar causes headaches and migraines.
- Too much sugar leads to kidney stones.
- Too much sugar decreases your healthy cholesterol levels. (HDL- High Density Lipoproteins)
- Too much sugar inhibits the production of glucagon. – Glucagon is a hormone secreted in our bodies when sugar is absent and burns fat. So, ++Sugar = 0 Glucagon = ++ Fat Storage!
When looking at added sugars look at all sources not just the one teaspoon of sugar you add in your coffee once a day; it’s all the added sugars that quickly add up in everything that we eat. Look at everything; it can be in the foods that you may not even think to look at. Essentially sugar can and usually is added into almost anything processed. Like mentioned earlier, try and stay within the 6 tbsp or 24g of added sugar daily. When wanting to cut back on added sugars remember that 4g is equal to 1 tsp and take time to read labels. Look at not only the grams but read the ingredients list as well. There are over twenty words that mean sugar, most of which end in “ose” so a little detective work goes a long way here. On the flip side, I understand that sometimes we just want a treat small or large and in moderation it’s perfectly okay.
