It's so delicious and addictive that you'd never expect that something that tastes so good is so horrible for you. This substance is also known as the white killer and for good reason. It can effect almost every major organ system in the body and make you feel depressed and unmotivated. Below is a list of conditions that refined sugar is associated with.
- Diabetes
- Depression
- Mood swings
- Attention Deficit Disorder
- Chronic Fatigue
- Increased Cholesterol
- Hypoglycemia
- Atherosclerosis
- Mental symptoms
- Heart Disease
- Overly acidic pH
(Aronoff, 2011).
Despite what the media tells you, sugar is not just sugar, and your body does know the difference. The natural sugars that comes from whole foods, fruits and vegetables will not harm your body. Your body knows what this is, and how to process it. On the other hand, it has know idea what the hell High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is, or what to do with it.
So, how do these refined sugars lead to obesity? Most people are under the impression that if they are on a low fat diet they won't get fat. Refined sugars are just as bad as eating a high fat diet. Unfortunately, the two are usually paired together to get you hooked.
The liver and muscles of your body only has so much room to store glycogen (Aronoff, 2011). When your glycogen stores are at their max, the refined sugar gets diverted away from being stored as readily available energy that our body primarily uses (glycogen), and gets turned into fatty acids that the body stores as fat (Aronoff, 2011). Now, you have someone that has joined 63.1% of Americans in the elite Fat-boy & Fat-girl club (Aronoff, 2011).
Unfortunately, eating processed sugars don't just harm the person eating them, but it may also harm the baby growing inside them as well. According to an animal research study, pregnant animals in group A were fed sweet and salty foods while animals in group B were fed fresh, whole foods (Aronoff, 2011). The results showed that the babies in Group A went for the same sweet foods that their parents ate and eventually became obese while the animals in group B did not (Aronoff, 2011). While this may be an animal study, aren't we seeing the same trend in our kids? 18% of Adolescents are obese. 20% of children 6-11 are obese, and 10% of kids between the ages of 2-5 are obese (Aronoff, 2011).
Just to give you an idea of how addicting this substance is, at the start of the 20th century Americans used to eat about 5 pounds of sugar per year (Aronoff, 2011). Now, Americans almost eat that amount in a week. In one year, Americans are now consuming 158.4 pounds of sugar! (Aronoff, 2011).
As you can see, sugar is not just a food, it is a drug because if used properly it performs it's required duty. If used improperly, it has side effects. Sugar is quite possibly the most addictive drug, and most improperly used drug in our country today. It's misuse has lead to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity in every state. Before you think about dumping that refined sugar into your coffee or grabbing a coke, ask yourself, what effect will this have on my mind, body, and performance? These small, seemingly unimportant decisions compounded over the years can mean the difference between being healthy and unhealthy. Choose WISELY!
As you can see, sugar is not just a food, it is a drug because if used properly it performs it's required duty. If used improperly, it has side effects. Sugar is quite possibly the most addictive drug, and most improperly used drug in our country today. It's misuse has lead to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity in every state. Before you think about dumping that refined sugar into your coffee or grabbing a coke, ask yourself, what effect will this have on my mind, body, and performance? These small, seemingly unimportant decisions compounded over the years can mean the difference between being healthy and unhealthy. Choose WISELY!
Aronoff, Edward. (2011). Toxic Food / Healthy Food. Sugar. (pp 31-38). Banner Elk, NC:
Three Came Home Publishing Co. 
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