A Worldwide Addiction
Sugar.
It might be the world’s biggest "addiction."
And America’s sugar binge is said to be fueling the growing obesity epidemic.
A new report out by the American Heart Association shows that over the last 30+ years, America has increased sugar intake by 20% …
… said another way, it is estimated that we consume 22-30 teaspoons of sugar every single day, or upwards of nearly 500 useless calories.
This not only increases the risk for overweight and obesity, but also leads to countless other diseases, like diabetes and heart diseases.
We’re literally killing ourselves as a country with our own fork and knife!
Completely. Useless. Junk.
Check this out — drink 1 20 oz bottle of regular soda and you’re almost hitting the daily average for most adults.
Add a daily latte in the morning and a sweet treat after dinner and you may be 30 lbs heavier at the end of 1 year.
So how do you break this sugar addiction?
- Be more active — no, that doesn’t break the addiction, but it at least allows your body to use those excess calories.
- Try other sweet treats — grilled fruit, for example, is an incredibly "out of the box" sweet treat.
- Every meal doesn’t have to end with a sweet — dessert should be a once in awhile thing, not an everyday/every meal thing.
- Skip the daily latte. Sorry, addicts — opt for another morning drink — even trying tea and adding a bit of your own honey, for example, would be better than the loads of syrupy junk added to drinks.
It’s important to add that the added sugars we’re talking about are different than the naturally occurring sugars in fruit and dairy products. Those are OK … no one ever became obese by eating too many fruits (or vegetables).
Cut down. Just a bit.
Slowly killing yourself with a daily sugar binge is not a good way to go!
July 6th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Dr. Mohrs’,
I think your suggestions are great; however I also beleive that people need to have that deep burning desire to change their lifestyle habits. I admittedly have a sweet tooth and it is a challenge to refrain from putting sugar in my tea and coffee. I used to drink two to three extra large double -double -Tim Hortons coffee’s a day. It was a major challenge to cut down but I had no choice with high BP.
I guess each of us has own challenges…
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July 6th, 2010 at 10:41 am
I like the idea of grilled fruit. Any suggestions as to fruits that grill the best?
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Plums, peaches, pineapple, and nectarines all work very well.
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