Let’s start 2024 with the firm resolve of abstaining from excess white sugar in colas, cakes, pastries and chocolates, says ARJUN PEREIRA
Everyone craves for snack foods that are high on taste and provide instant energy. Unfortunately, tasty foods such as cakes, fries, biscuits, and chips are usually high in both sugars and seed oils and both are bad for our health. However, if you have reached a stage where you have ended up with diabetes, you can instantly control it by exercising and by abstaining from sugar till your body’s sugar levels are back to normal. Many people can get off diabetes medication, although they have to keep a lifelong watch on their diet and adhere to a regular exercise routine.
It is therefore completely your choice – get high on taste, but low on health or make conscious choices when it comes to your food. A gram of sugar and oil both releases 9 calories each and quickly leads to obesity. Along comes illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes and many more. Many more changes take place in the body when we continue to stuff ourselves with excess sugar and oils.
Let us look at how excess sugar consumption affects our bodies.
The Bittersweet Truth About Sugar
Sugar is in all foods such as fruits, grains, and even vegetables. The amount of sugar in natural foods is usually easy for the body to metabolize, but trouble occurs when we stack up on foods with added sugars such as colas, milk smoothies, cakes, and pastries.
An article on health.harvard.edu says: “Plant foods also have high amounts of fibre, essential minerals, and antioxidants, and dairy foods contain protein and calcium, so consuming sugar in its natural form is okay.”
Since our body digests these foods slowly, the sugar in them offers a steady supply of energy to our cells. Further, a high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains reduces the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.
The general diets of the modern age are overloaded with sweet treats, soda beverages, flavoured yogurt, and cereals. Even soups, bread, and cured meats are not safe, and pizza bases and hamburger buns are made with flour and are high on sugar calories. Sauces and salad dressings also contain sugar. Everyone around is consuming excess oil and excess sugar – without thinking of the lethal damage that these foods do to our bodies.
The Deadly Effects of Sugar
Our daily allowance of sugar according to the American Heart Association should be 25 grams for women and 36 grams for men, but consumption patterns may far exceed this amount. One can consume six spoons of sugar in a large glass of sweetened beverage alone. The Institute of Medicine in the US which prescribes the Recommended dietary allowances (RDA) of foods has no guidelines for sugar.
In a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine in 2014, Dr Hu had researched on the association between a high-sugar diet and heart disease. His report says that his 15-year research shows that persons getting more than 17 to 21 percent of their calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with others who got just 8 percent of their calories from added sugar.
Other effects of added sugar eventually lead to a rise in blood pressure and chronic inflammation, both of which can eventually lead to heart disease. To summarise, eating sugary foods in excess leads to obesity, and more health problems such as a fatty liver, high blood pressure, inflammation, obesity, diabetes and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
Let’s start with a New Year pledge at the start of 2024: Eat healthy and natural and abstain from processed foods such as white sugar.
Arjun Pereira, a writer and editor, is also a singer, composer, lyricist and guitarist. He loves the outdoors and is often seen enjoying a vigorous game of tennis both mornings and evenings. He has worked for several leading publishing houses and corporates and loves to travel, soaking in new experiences and cultures.
Featured Photo by Jill Wellington from Pixabay