Have you been struggling with weight loss, tiredness, or irritability lately? Your problem could be caused by sugar. The amount of sugar you eat has a direct impact on your overall wellness. Whether you follow a diet plan or eat whatever you want, added sugars are something you should watch out for.
So, how much sugar should you be eating? Is one kind better than the others? In this post, I’ll talk about added sugars, how they damage your health, and how you can easily reduce the amount you’re eating.
This post talks specifically about processed sugars. Other sweeteners, such as aspartame and stevia, will be covered in another post.
Processed Sugars and Natural Sugars
Added sugar is any sugar in a food that has been put in to sweeten it. This doesn’t include naturally occurring sugars, like the ones found in fruit or milk. Usually, they’re processed and made into a liquid or crystal form, like syrups or table sugar.
You may see a lot of information around what sugars are healthier and what to restrict. Whether you like it or not, naturally occurring sugars are still sugar. BUT they come with a healthy dose of nutrition and fiber surrounding them. Processed sugars have no nutritional value, and it’s recommended to eat them in moderation.
On average, people in the United States eat around 22 tsp of added sugar a day. 1 tsp is 4 grams, which means we usually eat 88 grams daily. While this doesn’t include naturally occurring sugars, the American Heart Association recommends no more than 24 to 36 grams each day. Even so, it’s better to eat as little added sugar as you can.
Is Added Sugar Bad for You?
As you probably know already, too much sugar in your diet can affect your health poorly. You digest it quickly, creating a spike in energy, then a crash. This makes you feel tired, jittery, and irritable. Initially, this creates a release of dopamine in the brain, a chemical that creates good feelings.
After you crash, you’ll end up craving more to get the same energy and mood. Over the long term, your brain gets less sensitive to dopamine as well. This makes you need more dopamine to get that happy feeling. Reducing sugar in your diet will cut back on cravings.
Sugar causes inflammation throughout the body, increasing joint pain and damaging arteries. This inflammation causes the arterial walls to stiffen, which puts stress on the heart. On the other hand, eating less sugar can help lower blood pressure.
Insulin resistance can also develop, causing the pancreas to produce more to have the same effect as it once did. Overworking the pancreas can wear it out, leading you towards type 2 diabetes. If eaten in high amounts, sugar can also cause liver damage.
Lastly, excess sugar can cause weight gain due to the calories consumed and reactions in the body. Too much of it can inflame fat cells, making them release chemicals that encourage your body to store fat. Because added sugars digest quickly, they leave you feeling hungry sooner. This can lead you to overeat.
Other problems caused by eating too much sugar:
- Higher risk for depression.
- Bloating.
- It can speed up aging and cancer growth.
- Increased risk of arthritis.
- Faster tooth decay.
- It can promote acne.
- Kidney failure.
- Erectile dysfunction.
- Low energy.
- Negative effects on mood.
Sneaky Foods that are Full of Sugar
Looking for more simple foods without processed sugars is a great start. Complex ingredient lists make it harder to see exactly what you’re eating. Another alternative is to start cooking your food from scratch. When you make your own food, you can guarantee it has no added sugar.
Knowing how to spot added sugar is handy as well. Companies have found ways to make the ingredients list appear to have less of it. This includes using different words or adding many kinds of sugar, so they’re spread out in the ingredients list. Look for ingredients like malt, corn syrup, sucrose, cane juice, or honey. These are all added sugars.
They’re not always obvious, so be sure to check the ingredients list. Salty and savory foods can be loaded with it just as much as sweet foods. I was shocked to find out the basic pasta sauce I was buying has sugar as the third ingredient!
Checking the label helped me make a better choice, as the sauce next to it had no added sugar whatsoever. Since I enjoy both sauces the same, switching them was a no-brainer.
Here’s a list of other foods full of added sugars:
- Many kinds of yogurt.
- Ketchup, salad dressings, and other sauces.
- Granola and other cereals.
- Sweeteners and flavor syrup added to coffee and tea.
- Many kinds of bread
- Granola and protein bars.
- Sweetened juices.
- Certain brands of peanut butter.
Reducing Sugar in Your Diet
Now that you know what makes sugar bad for you and how to find it, you can make better-informed choices around food. Lowering the amount you eat each day can be as simple as making some quick swaps between brands. Here are some easy food swaps:
- Swap soda and juice for unsweetened tea, coffee, or water.
- Having a bowl of unsweetened cereal or oatmeal instead of sugary cereals.
- Instead of your usual salad dressing, try a homemade vinaigrette.
- Use sauces like yellow mustard rather than ketchup.
- Instead of sweetened yogurt, get natural unsweetened yogurt and mix in some berries for a treat.
- Buy natural peanut butter instead of your regular one.
Avoiding Added Sugar: In Conclusion
Added sugars are put in foods to sweeten them. They have no nutritional value and can create many health problems if overconsumed. Reducing sugar in one’s diet can help prevent many issues, such as inflammation, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes. Also, making simple food swaps is a fantastic way to keep your sugar intake down.
There’s one last thing I’d like to point out. While sugar is bad for you, you shouldn’t feel guilty about eating it. It’s okay to eat a cupcake without making it from perfectly healthy ingredients. However, making sure you indulge in moderation will keep your body thriving for years to come.
Have you ever been surprised by how much added sugar was in something that wasn’t sweet at all? Let me know in the comments!
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References:
- https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/
- https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/eating-too-much-sugar#summary
- Featured image credit: SashaMagic/Kasia2003/bigstockphoto.com
I tend to be a label-reader, and there are so many things hiding in processed foods. Peanut butter is an interesting example, since I certainly can’t tell from the taste that standard peanut butter contains sugar and natural pb doesn’t.
Some regular peanut butters don’t, but that’s a good reason to check. Like, why put sugar when it’s tastes delicious without it? I don’t get it.
It makes no sense.
This is a super article with lots of good recommendations! Awesome!
Thanks 😊
22 TEASPOONS A DAY!?? 😱 No one should wonder why America as a nation is struggling with obesity and why immigrants coming here grow rapidly and their children are sometimes overweight.
A commonly known thought, but you may want to mention that ingredients are listed in order of quantity in a product. So your pasta sauce has more sugar than any of the other ingredients in the list except the first two! Most likely the first two were pasta and tomatoes?
Thanx for some challenging information! Now, for us to USE it! 😉
I think the pasta sauce had tomatoes and water before sugar, but that’s still pretty outrageous. Yes, now we can make better choices 🙂
Ang, this is one of the reasons the US is the most obese (or one of the most obese) country in the world and has been for some time per the World Health Organization. The sugar is designed to addict us to more unhealthy product. More sugar, larger sizes begets bigger consumers both for their bottom line and our bottoms. Keith
Sugar is a cheap way to make products more appealing. Well said, Keith.
I wish that I would have read this post a month ago. I’ve just been diagnosed with Diabetes 2 and if I would have read this I wonder if I would have been able to prevent having Diabetes. I miss my sodas and my diet has changed tremendously.
I’m so sorry to hear that Scott, but I’m glad you’re able to make the changes you need now. I wish you the best 💜
I stay away from sweeteners too, because I don’t trust them. A 0 calorie soda has a lot of hidden stuff in it that could also be causing havoc to our bodies, so I stay away from it too.
My husband believes that it’s only sugar/sugar products that are bad, but anything highly processed is probably bad for us. I tell myself that “sugar/junk food/processed food” isn’t that bad, but then wonder why I’m irritable, tired, can’t lose the weight. 😔 Sugar is highly addictive too!
Whenever I eat anything with artificial sweetener in it I get bloated afterward. I can’t say for sure if it’s from the sweetener specifically, but I think it’s best to steer clear of sweeteners if I don’t know what they are.
I feel terrible when I eat highly processed food too 🙂
This might explain why I feel terrible almost every day…. I eat way too much processed food 🙇♀️
When you check the ingredients the amount if sugar is frightening
It is! Sometimes I wonder why sugar is even added.
Once thought sugar gets rid of stress, I was right, but it does that at a risk of one gaining a few kilos😒🤦
And the stress reduction doesn’t last very long sadly, which makes you want more sugar 🙁
True that!
Wow this post had so much interesting information. I didn’t realize how much sugar is already added to so many foods. No wonder Im so overweight 😊 Thanks for posting this, I learned quite a bit. 😁
No prob, I’m happy to help 😊
Awesome post!
I always try to pay attention to the added sugar daily value. It has cut my sugar down tremendously.
Thanks John! And thats great, keep it up 🙂
Have a good weekend Ang.
You too!
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