As you’ve probably heard, sugar in its unnatural form, which is found in nearly everything our society consumes, can cause serious harm to your body. Although we seemingly hear this all the time, why are so few people listening? “Sugar is bad for you” *gets large bowl of ice cream. “Sugar can make you fat” *orders sweet tea at lunch. We hear it, but we don’t change. Similar to the smoking epidemic, you would think if there was enough compelling data to convince us that we should not consume the astronomical amounts of sugar that we do, we would stop. Right? But as we learned with tobacco, maybe it’s not that easy….

Sugar is addicting. Not just because it tastes amazing, but it is physically and chemically addicting. This is a topic I’m hugely passionate about, and I’ve seen it’s affects first hand. But, unfortunately, we’ve all seen these effects in our own lives, whether we know it or not, and it may even be in the mirror.

I often hear and read “sugar causes diabetes, high blood pressure and can be addicting”, but those reasonings don’t really hit home for me. I don’t have diabetes, I have regular blood pressure and I have no history of addiction, so I don’t really know what it’s like. I’m fine, right?

Did you know:

Sugar is more addictive than cocaine. Let me say that again, sugar is MORE addictive than COCAINE. Not just a little bit more addictive, SEVERAL TIMES more addictive. That is TERRIFYING. We are putting a substance in our bodies several times a day that we are entirely reliant on. But we don’t even know that because we’ve never gone long enough to feel the withdrawal effect. If you went long enough without any sugar, which is about 3 days, you would start to feel tired, maybe get a headache, and feel real withdrawals as if it was a drug.

With some research and a little determination, we as adults can figure out what food isn’t the best and even how to replace it. The saddest part about this disgusting sugar epidemic which is the root cause of deadly diseases we are suffering from every single day, is that we are feeding this drug to our innocent kids. They are addicted. And they will have problems and difficulties with their health until they are presumably old enough to research and educate themselves on how to avoid this awful, awful addictive substance.  And we hope at that point the damage is not too far gone and can be reversed with a clean lifestyle. Would you ever give your child a different addicting substance, like cocaine?

Some seriously alarming facts:

1. Sugar is the leading cause of obesity. Not just severe obesity, but even just the “stubborn” fat you can’t seem to shake.  All these kids who are way bigger than they ever should be? Check their diets before you check their exercise.

2. What’s this epidemic of kids (and adults) who can’t focus in school/work?  Children and adults alike have shown difficulty focusing and sleeping when consuming high sugar and fat diets. Hint: that IS the western diet. This isn’t just a sugar before bed thing or that granola bar for a snack, this is a chronic dietary problem that can be so easily fixed without medication.

3. There have been links to sugar and the rise in/ and lack of a cure for cancer. In fact, people have reversed their fatal stages of cancer by eliminating processed foods and drinks from their diet and loaded up on greens and organic produce. Leafy greens like kale, spinach, collards and sprouts help repair cancer cells. But that’s never a treatment. Why?

4. Sugar-Free means CHEMICALS. How do those foods taste exactly the same if they remove the top ingredient? Chemicals. Newsflash: chemicals are also not good for you nor are they better than sugar! Sugar-free is not a substitute. See also: Fat-Free.

5. You can’t out work your diet. Meaning, you could go to the gym for two hours every single day and never be “healthy”. Wellness starts with your diet. In fact, I’d argue you could spend way less time at the gym if your diet was clean. If you’re looking to look better, start in the kitchen.

6. Just because you are skinny does not mean your body is well. You may not be adding fat like others who eat the same sugary food, but your organs and systems are just as sick.

In many households, the very first thing we put in our bodies upon waking up every morning is sugar. The first thing we do is give our bodies poison. And then we carry on with our day groggy, tired, and unable to be present. Breakfast literally means to break a fast, as in finally letting your body get nutrients again after a night’s sleep. So give it something it wants, something it can actually consume.

You CAN survive without processed sugar. In fact, there are an abundance of food sources that don’t contain added sugar and are not addicting. Foods such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, and some grains. Check the nutrition label on your next snack or meal. Notice something missing? It’s not the astronomical amount of sugar the snuck in there, it’s the percent of daily value. It’s not there. Why? Because a daily percent of sugar in your diet is nearly zero. And no food in our grocery store fits the criteria.

Recipes you find here do not contain any sugar. There are plenty of ways to cook and bake without sugar, and several natural substitutes for sweet, such as honey. What are you willing to change? Would you do it for a child battling serious disease?

www.beatcancer.org
http://www.actiononsugar.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1945637