Between 1970 and 2005, our intake of added sugars jumped 20%. The average American now consumes 350-475 empty calories from added sugars each day!The American Heart Association recommends that we limit our intake of added sugars to 100 calories per day for women and 150 calories per day for men.
Understanding how sugar influences your body can be the added incentive you need to cut back.
An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body’s blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep your blood sugar at a constant and safe level.
Increased insulin levels can inhibit the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. This is definitely something to avoid if you want to prevent disease.
Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so when you eat sweets high in sugar, you’re making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease.
Besides promoting obesity & heart disease, high sugar intake can lead to diabetes, gout & high blood pressure.
How challenging or easy is it for YOU to limit your sugar intake? What obstacles are you dealing with? What strategies do you use to limit your sugar intake? Click "comment" below to share your thoughts.
I have sugar with my tea in the morning and afternoon. But not much, just enough to give it a hint of sweetness. I use brown sugar whenever possible. And I don't bake nearly as often as I used to, only for special occasions. My challenge these days is sodium. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteHi Camille, Great job on cutting back on added sugar. As long as you're staying within the 100 calorie limit of added sugar per day, you're good. For sodium, start to cut back slowly to give your tastebuds a chance to adjust. Stop using the salt shaker and use herbs & spices instead. Look for sodium-free spice blends at the store. Trader Joe's has a good blend called "21 Seasoning Salute". They also have a sodium-free curry blend. Whole Foods has some good blends too. The next step is to cut back on salt in any canned or packaged foods. Soups are a huge culprit. Buy no-salt or low-salt soups. They won't taste good unless you add your herbs and spices, so be sure to do that. Look at the sodium content of any can, bottle or package you buy and always choose the lowest in sodium. Good luck & let us know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteSugar is totally my go-to food when I'm emotionally eating. In fact, I often dream of cupcakes... seriously. My company's theme right now is "More Birthdays" as in A World with Less Cancer is a World With More Birthdays." This means that there are pictures of cake and cupcakes everywhere, and all our volunteers bring them to meetings to fit with the theme. Just the smell of it brings me to my knees, and if I resist the food, I think about it for days. Sigh.. My name's Danielle and I'm a Sugaraholic!
ReplyDeleteRight now, the only strategy that seems to work is to remind myself that it will only give me a few minutes of pleasure and then 30 minutes from now, I wont remember the taste and will be very sorry! That helps..
Hi Danielle, Thanks for sharing. This is an issue for many people. We like your strategy of reminding yourself that it will give you only a few minutes of pleasure. And, not only will you not remember the taste in 30 minutes, but you'll also probably be experiencing your sugar "crash" by then too, which definitely doesn't feel good!
ReplyDeleteWe like the ACS positive message of "more birthdays" but it's ironic that the staff & volunteers are interpreting that as meaning "more sugar" with cakes & cupcakes. Yes, we know this is part of our culture, but we do not have to follow the tradition of celebrating birthdays with food that poisons us!
As noted in the blog post above, too much refined sugar leads to a depressed immune system, elevated triglyceride levels, weight gain, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gout and high blood pressure. I know this is not what ACS wants to promote! In fact, ACS is great about promoting a healthy lifestyle & good eating habits.
What if you use this as an opportunity to educate your staff & volunteers about healthier ways to celebrate birthdays? How about insisting on fresh fruit salad instead of cakes? Or a small piece of organic dark chocolate?
If you try it, let us know how it goes! It will not only help you to stick to your healthy eating habits, but will be an inspiration to many others as well.