Sugar is a toxin. It fuels diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. At the current dose we consume, more than 150 pounds per person every year, sugar and its derivatives kill more people than cocaine, heroin, or any other controlled substance around.
One report aptly described sugar as “candy for cancer cells.” It accelerates aging and inflammation in the body and subsequently fuels tumor growth. It is now clear that if you lower your sugar intake, you reduce your odds of developing cancer.
As additional research emerges, even higher “normal” glucose levels (82 to 110 mg/dL) have an adverse impact on your health over time. Blood sugar levels at the higher end of the normal range have been linked to significant shrinkage of the brain. The more sugar you consume, the greater the levels of inflammation in your body. This leads you to age faster, inside and out. There is simply no good reason to consume any added sugars beyond what you get from whole fruits and vegetables.
Eliminating all sugar from your diet tomorrow is about as realistic as telling a lifetime smoker to go cold turkey. It might be even harder because sugars are embedded in so many foods, products, events, and celebrations. Sugar also has an unfair advantage; it manipulates our brains so we consume larger amounts over time.
Yet you have a responsibility to defend yourself. Start by cutting back on added sugar. Added sugar is not just the packets you pour into your tea or coffee. In most cases, sugar is already in the prepared and packaged foods you consume.
Study nutritional labels and look for the total grams (g) of sugar. The closer to zero the better. Any packaged product with more than 10g of sugar is more than you need in a single serving. While the American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugar intake to 25g (6 teaspoons a day) for women and 38g (9 teaspoons a day) for men, a better goal is to keep your daily total in the single digits. Remember, there is absolutely no nutritional need for foods with added sugars.
Substitutes Are a Nicotine Patch
You can forget the debate about which sugar derivative or substitute is “less bad for you.” Anything that makes your food or drink taste sweet leads you to crave less healthy foods later. So even if you believe that the latest organic, safe-for-diabetics sweetener is okay for your health, it will still work against you in the long run. Once a sweet taste hits your tongue, it sets a cycle in motion, and you consume even more sugar by the hour.
I used to add a sugar substitute and creamer to my coffee every morning. After a few cups, I would crave sweet tastes later in the day as well. On most days, I would have a couple of diet sodas and a sugary snack in the afternoon. Then a few years ago, I decided to eliminate the artificial sweetener from my coffee. I also replaced the sweetened creamer with unsweetened coconut milk, which eliminated any sweet taste from my morning routine. This made it remarkably easy to avoid diet soda and sugary snacks later.
Look at your own daily routine. Consider what you could do to curb sugar cravings early in the day. The ingredients to watch out for on labels include: agave nectar, aspartame, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maltitol, saccharine, sorbitol, stevia, sucrose, sucralose, and sugar. While some of these options are probably better than others, the more you avoid any added sweetener, the fewer subsequent cravings you will have for sugary foods.
If you consume fewer sugars and substitutes, your body will see a rapid benefit. New research shows how reducing the amount of fructose you consume can lead to major changes in as little as two weeks. As you reduce this biological desire for sweet tastes over time, you will need significantly less willpower to pass on the cake.
The act of sitting literally makes your backside bigger. When researchers studied MRI images of muscle tissue, they found that sitting around for long periods of time could put pressure on cells and cause the body to produce 50 percent more fat than it usually would. This research suggests that when force is placed on a specific area in the body for an extended time, it causes fat tissue to expand. So even if you exercise regularly, sitting for many hours encourages fat cells to congregate near your rear.
When you have no choice but to sit for several hours a day, at least break it up. If you sit for hours on end, your blood sugar and insulin levels will spike to dangerous levels. However, taking regular breaks can counterbalance these spikes. In experimental settings, even two minutes of leisurely walking every 20 minutes was enough to stabilize blood sugar levels.
Don’t worry about breaks every 20 minutes ruining your focus on a task. Contrary to what I might have guessed, taking regular breaks from mental tasks actually improves your creativity and productivity. Skipping breaks, on the other hand, leads to stress and fatigue. As one management professor described, mental concentration is akin to a muscle that gets fatigued with prolonged use. It needs a period of rest before it can recover. Getting up for the sake of your body may yield as much benefit for your mind.
Also examine your surroundings and think about how you can prevent sedentary time. We’ve built our lives around convenience, so anything we need is within arms’ reach. This translates into sitting for longer periods without having to get up, move, and interact with other people. Instead, organize your home and office to encourage movement over convenience.