Why I’ll Never Sugarcoat The Truth

I’m not going to sugarcoat this, because sugar is downright horrible for your health!

Most people that I talk to still believe that they can eat the Standard American Diet (SAD), exercise here and there and be healthy.

This simply is not true! And I’m not going to sugarcoat the truth just so you can eat a candy bar without the guilt!

The biggest misunderstanding in all of this is that most people probably think they’re eating healthy and believe it’s their lack of exercise that is making them fat. 9 times out of 10, it’s someone’s diet that is causing them to gain weight year after year and for disease to start showing up.

Sugar is toxic…

Especially for Americans because they ingest a whopping 130 pounds of added sugars a year. Even if you try to cut down on the obvious sugars in our Standard American Diets, it is intentionally hidden in almost all the foods that line the supermarket shelves.

We need to wake up because it is way more dangerous than you think! It’s why even our very active children are suffering from obesity and Type II Diabetes.

Sugar is not just “empty calories.” Like I mentioned before, it is toxic and literally rusting us from the inside out.

Here are just a few facts about sugar and what it does to your body. When you want to reach for that Blueberry Yogurt, consider these facts before you do!

Be educated…make better decisions:

Sugar triggers your liver to store fat more efficiently, and in weird places. Overtime, a diet that is high in fructose could lead to globules of fat building up around your liver, causing fatty liver disease. You’re well aware you only have one liver, correct?

Heart disease and diabetes are intricately related. Heart disease and stroke are the number one cause of death among people with Type II Diabetes. The average person consumes about 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, but the American Heart Association recommends no more than 5 teaspoons for women and 3 for children. Chances are, you’re overdoing it and so are your kiddos!

There is a serious connection between sugar and cholesterol. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that (even after excluding those with high cholesterol and those who were overweight), people who ate the highest levels of added sugars experienced the biggest spike in bad cholesterol levels and dangerous triglyceride blood fats and the lowest good (HDL) cholesterol levels.

There’s a new term out there called, “Type 3 Diabetes” and it stems from the link between insulin resistance and Alzheimer’s disease. It is suggested that Alzheimer’s is a metabolic disease, one in which the brain’s ability to use glucose and produce energy is damaged. To paraphrase, it’s like having diabetes in the brain. It’s a horrible disease and one they are finding can be prevented with a better diet.

Sugar makes you feel FAMISHED! Research shows eating too much sugar keeps your body from telling your brain that you’re full. Your hormone, leptin, has the job to tell you “I’m full, stop eating!” Fructose appears to not play very well with leptin which keeps you feeling hungry even though you’re overeating.

And lastly, sugar makes you look old! Sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins to form harmful new molecules called advanced glycation end products (or AGEs ironically). These unwanted little guys attack nearby proteins, damaging them, including protein fibers, collagen elastin… The components that keep your skin firm and elastic. The result of too much sugar? Dry, brittle protein fibers that lead to wrinkles and saggy skin…NO!!!

Sugar can taste amazing and is most certainly highly addictive. I understand how hard, initially, it is to clean it out of your diet. But I PROMISE you after the initial “detox” it gets so much easier to say no to that nasty stuff and you are going to look and feel like a million bucks!