Sugar: More Addictive than Drugs?
We talked recently about the dangers of sugar – an ingredient (among others) that is killing us!
A friend of ours — Jeff O’Connell — just published a book, Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America’s Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It, that is starting to gain some serious attention about this very topic. Interestingly, Jeff has type 2 diabetes — but at 6’6, very lean and active, he’s certainly not your "typical" type 2 diabetes patient.
So in the book he talks to a ton of researchers, physicians and others looking deeper at some of the causes of the disease that’s growing by 7,000 people PER DAY.
Well, Americans are certainly eating enough sugar to make it toxic. While surely there are some controversial nutrition recommendations in the book, it’s important to look at some facts about sugar.
Added sugars make up about 16% of total calories in the American Diet — SIXTEEN! That means 16% of the American Diet is not just void of ANY nutrients whatsoever, but it’s filled with completely useless calories.
And ‘added sugars’ means sugars from any source — white sugar, brown sugar, organic sugar, high fructose corn syrup, soda, honey, organic cane sugar, etc. The sugars mainly found in processed foods are added sugars and so are any sugars you personally add. Basically, any sugar that’s not naturally found in foods like fruits, veggies or dairy products so don’t use these new "rules" as a way to say you have to stop eating fruits and veggies. That’s taking smart guidelines and applying them to what you may want to hear.
Just to give you an idea — here are a few of the major culprits of added sugar in Americans’ diets.
- Soda, energy drinks, sports drinks: 36% contribution to total added sugar intake
- Cakes, cookies, pies: 13%
- Fruit drinks and “-ades” (not 100% fruit juice): 10.5%
Sugar has earned a spot on the AHA’s black list — saying it’s basically a "negative nutrient" that needs to be limited for your heart’s sake (and, really, every other organ in your body too).
The AHA recommends that added sugar intake be limited to 100 calories (25 grams, or 6 teaspoons) per day for women and to 150 calories (about 37 grams, or 9 teaspoons) per day for men. To be honest, even less would be even better…the less, the better.
Keep in mind that now, the average American eats over 350 calories each day in sugar alone (about 22 teaspoons,or nearly 3-12 oz cans of soda)! Talk about a way to make sure you gaining belly fat and ruining your health!
Added sugars have NO place in your body whatsoever. NONE. ZERO. ZIP. (NOTE: for certain athletes, sports drinks and post workout drinks CAN play a role, but that’s not the majority of the population). Unfortunately the majority of the population are those who still drink too many of those things yet don’t move their bodies.
Here’s the deal.
Adding sugar to your diet is like pouring mud down your throat. Gross, right? Yeah, they have about the same amount of nutrients — actually, the mud probably has more!
The study I’m referring to was published in AHA’s Scientific Journal, Circulation … and they talk about the link between high sugar intake and insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and type 2 diabetes. Of course we can also point to the increase in belly fat from eating too much sugar, which can lead to basically every other disease known to man.
Very simply, we are OVERFED YET UNDERNOURISHED!!! And added sugars need to go.
In fact, the AHA has a very strong conclusion in their study: "There is sufficient evidence to link excessive sugar intake to the pandemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease."
Scary stuff. That is, unless you’re not "in the know."
Tricks to limit added sugars
This is what we do to limit added sugars and make sure we don’t throw ouroverall "diet" in the toilet.
- Eat whole foods with a max of 5 ingredients each (preferably just 1 ingredient) — fruits, vegetables, raw nuts, whole grains, & fish, as each are void of added sugars.
- If it comes in a package, leave it on the shelf (think snacks, pastries, cookies, most breakfast cereals, etc)
- Leave foods on the shelf if they have any of these as the first few ingredients: brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, sugar (dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose), high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, malt sugar, molasses, raw sugar, syrup.
Kudos to the American Heart Association … most governing bodies haven’t stepped it up and made such a bold move.
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September 14th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Great post Drs. Mohr! It is amazing how pervasive sugar is in all the \"convenient\" foods. Your tricks to help limit extra sugar are spot on.
I take it a step further by limiting my daily fruit intake. I eat 10 servings of fruits and veggies each day, but try to keep my fruit intake to 2 servings. Is limiting my fruit intake overkill? I realize that the fiber will help to slow the absorption.
Thanks for all the info you share on your blog!
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
September 16th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Hi Richard — thanks for the response. I wouldn’t go as far as limiting fruits (or veggies). Focus on the added sugars, but not those that come naturally in foods. Keep up the great work!
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Tracy Reply:
April 18th, 2011 at 11:12 am
I’m so glad to hear this because I love oranges and I eat a lot of them, along with my veggies and lean deer meat.
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September 14th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
When I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy some years ago, I learned that if you’d take the contents of the average supermarket and reduce it to its ingredients, 30 percent would be wheat. What impressed me more is that another 30 percent is pure sugar.
Thanks for getting the message out once again!
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September 14th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I don’t think most people have a clue that they are consuming so much sugar. If you don’t add sugar to food, or eat candy and obvious sweets, then you may make the assumption that this blog isn’t talking about you. I just looked at my Wheat Thins and they not only have sugar as the 4th ingredient but cornstarch as the 5th. Thanks for the heads up! I’ll read my labels more carefully now.
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September 14th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
As always, another excellent post!!
Nice to see the AHA getting their viewpoint out on sugar!
I wish the FDA would require food manufacturers to break out the sugar grams on the food label into \\"naturally occurring sugars\\" and \\"added sugars\\". Know anyone in the FDA we can contact?
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September 14th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Okay, any good suggestions for the my kiddos lunch boxes? I usually pack a sandwich, baked chips, fruit or vegetable, a Little Debbie, and Capri Sun. After reading this all I can think about is all of the suger in their lunches!!!
Does anyone have any healthy alternatives that my kids will actually eat?! I mentioned I always pack a fruit or vegetable however that is usually what I find untouched when I clean out their lunch boxes at the end of the day!!!
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
September 14th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Great questions! The fruit and veggies are great — how about nuts, string cheese, hummus, dried fruit, and individual containers of ultrapasteurized milk (the type that doesn’t need to be refrigerated until opened). Horizon makes this product. Any other ideas out there?
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September 14th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
My neighbor’s kids are the envy of their schools. Every lunch time, they pull out a thermos of warm food, left overs from last night’s supper (mom made too much on purpose of course), and the fruit never comes back uneaten either. They stick to water, which the other kids seem to find weird.
My daughter also stuck to water when she was in high school, as well as nuts, apples and the occasional piece of cheese for her snacks. The more the other kids would bug her about it, the more she refused their junk snacks
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September 14th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Wonderful post, again! As a mother of 2 boys, ages 7 and 4, I have become a pro at healthy lunches. My kids, like other readers, like good old fashioned water. In addition, I would suggest edamame, ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins), hard boiled eggs, popcorn, whole wheat pesto pasta with carrots and red peppers, just to name a few. Get creative and you never know what your kids will eat.
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September 14th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Thanks for the information! We don’t realize how much sugar affects our daily functioning. The sugar highs and lows makes the body sluggish and the day more challenging.
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September 14th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Ahhh, and for many of us, sugar is THE culprit. To some, incluidng me, sugar is as addictive as, well, nicotin or herion. One cookie is too much and a hundred is not enough. Thanks for reminding me that my success in healthy eating begins and ends with eliminating as much sugar from my diet as possible.
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September 14th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Ironman Chris,
While I generally limit sugar, I\’m stumped as to what kind of nutrition to take in during long training sessions. While training for several hours straight, it is recommended that we take in about 400 calories per hour (I\’ve only reached half of this, so far). All the suggestions I\’ve seen are energy gels, sports drinks and bars, candy bars, etc. Can you recommend a more healthy solution?
Thanks!
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Chris Mohr Reply:
September 17th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Hi soon to be Ironman Deb,
Great question!!! The added sugar piece is a bit different for someone like you, who is training for a long endurance event. You have different demands on your body and your muscles require those fast acting carbohydrates to continue to perform. So with that said, continue with the sports drinks or other fast acting carbohydrates DURING your events. No worries there. During the rest of the day is then the time to focus more on fibrous carbs.
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Debbie Shelton Reply:
September 19th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Thanks Chris. I was hoping it was something like that. Making sure I have plenty of fruits and veggies every day. That’s not a problem for me. Working hard to get more protein – just checked and my protein powder has only 2 grams of sugar – probably 2 grams too many.
Appreciate your response.
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September 14th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Great information, as always! I admit that I have a sweet tooth, and I try to satisfy it with fresh fruits, like apples, oranges, kiwi, frozen grapes, etc. When I do eat processed, sugary foods, I end up craving it even more and tend to overeat. It truly is addicting!
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Mzteaze Reply:
April 18th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Craving it is so true. I find that I have to avoid completely because the craving then overating is harder than just avoiding.
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September 15th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Great post, I have been watching my nutrition numbers very closely for a few weeks now. I have read that we should target 40 grams of sugar per day, that doesn’t take much. My question is, does that number include natural sugar? Any help would be great. Some days it seems I get over 40 really fast.
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September 16th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Where does evaporated cane juice fall into this world? I shop in the Natural Foods section and always read the labels. Even then, it seems like crackers/cereals that don\’t have \"organic sugar\" as one of the top three ingredients will have evaporated cane juice as a substitute. Is this in the same category or does it get a pass? I was going to challenge myself to go completely sugar free for a week to see how much of a change in my lifestyle/prep-work that would demand, but I want to make sure to have all my facts before I set forth!
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Added sugar is added sugar, regardless of the “type.” I mentioned in a previous post about local honey as my choice for added sugars, but that doesn’t make it that much better. The natural foods stores are tricky — seemingly “healthy” foods are filled with nothing more than organic sugar and fat. Run with that challenge…completed added sugar free and “report” back. Remember, this is ADDED sugar — it doesn’t exclude fruits, veggies, and dairy, which all have natural sugar.
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September 18th, 2009 at 6:00 am
Just because a label says “organic” doesn’t make the item healthy – I accidentally ate one that turned out to contain trans fats … I realized something was wrong as my body started “digesting” the crap and read the ingredients too late.
Even with organic or “all natural” … read the label.
Better yet: don’t read labels, make everything from scratch with raw material you know!
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October 10th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Hello Chris,
While excessive sugar might be a problem in the US diet, I’d love to see your title “the most dangerous ingredient on the planet” to refer to the artificial sweeteners, which unfortunately, many people will turn to when told to reduce their sugar intake. Too many RDs are doing that as well, although I recognize that is not what you said in your blog. I’ve been using and recommending good ole’ natural sugar for decades… of course, in moderate amounts as you did point out very well in the blog. Thanks for your hard work and dedication to our field…it is a level to which one can aspire.
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November 12th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
anything in excess is bad for you… too much water can kill you, too much sun gives you cancer, most foods have added hormones, if u eat smart, and know ur body u dont need to worry about only eating this amount of this, or etc. i eat junk food 24/7 drink lots of water, and make myself sandwhiches, smoothies, i just got my physical and im as healthy as a horse… btw corn syrup is added so u can consume more, because it stops the messages telling u that ur stomache is getting full.
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December 17th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Sugar is sugar is sugar.
It’s a step in the right direction but it’s far from being a dogmatic shift. There’s always the low fat dogma floating around the advice and the “heart healthy whole grains” being pushed as an alternative to the SAD. Why not just go right out and say that sugar is bad for us in any quantity no matter where it comes from? Because it doesn’t matter where sugar comes from, it does the same thing once it’s eaten and digested. Natural sugar? How is sugar made harmless just because it’s an integral part of the food? As soon as it’s broken down into its simple components through digestion, it does what sugar does.
How is added sugar made worse? Is it because it lacks the other things that makes whole foods healthy? Or is it because sugar is toxic in great quantity? What if I made a fruit that contained less sugar, would that fruit be better then one with more sugar? You see, it’s not because it’s added, rather it’s because it adds to the total sugar we eat and because sugar is toxic in pretty much any quantity above zero.
And how are grains both an alternative to added sugars and something to avoid, i.e. “grain-based foods”? HFCS is made from grains. How is it rendered harmless when the grains are eaten whole?
Either we admit that sugar is bad, at which point we realize that it’s not the fact that it’s added that makes it bad but the fact that we eat a boatload more when it’s added, or we just forget the whole thing and remain oblivious and happy with our current plight. I have the suspicion that the AHA would very much prefer to do the latter.
How much sugar (indiscriminately of the source whether added or “natural”) must we eat before it makes us sick, i.e. sick with heart disease? We know, we just don’t say it every day.
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March 4th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I’m so glad the AHA stepped up to the plate! I did a research paper called “The White Plague” which documented all the health risks associated with high sugar diets. Hyperactivity & tooth decay are also rampant among very young children, and it is difficult to get kids to eat right when a majority of thier friends have junk. Some posts suggested nuts and peanut butter on celery or sandwiches. My daughter’s scchool wont allow any nuts in the lunchbag – ARGHH. But plenty of other good alternatives.
Great Blog!
Thanks Chris & Kara!
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April 18th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Could you recommend a clean meal replacement shake? I can’t seem to locate one without some form of added sugar.
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
April 18th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Full Strength by Shawn Phillips (http://www.freestrength.com/)– a little pricey, but quality ingredients compared to most I’ve seen and tried. You can also get a quality whey protein and add your own fruit to make a homemade MRP.
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August 10th, 2011 at 8:18 am
Great information. Another example of our food suppliers trying to kill us.
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August 23rd, 2011 at 8:45 am
I started watching my sugar intake and eliminating all high fructose corn syrup and “processed” products, like you said leave it on teh shelf, and my weight loss went from struggeling to lose 10 lbs in 2months…. to literally 35 lbs over the next 2 months. I kept the same work out routing (in fact, prolly less, as it’s summer and i’m just on the go) so I am a total advocate of eat natural sugars and “leave the rest on the shelf”. A great side effect, was my grocery bill went from 80-120/every week, down to around 35 every week. Glad to see an article that helps me “bring the topic” to my friends and family members.
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