Part 2 . . . What part does "Sugar" play in Disease?

So yesterday I spoke of the hidden sugars in the food we eat and how to de-code packaging labels to find out where it's hiding. Today, we're going to dig a little deeper and see exactly how "sugar" affects us on a daily basis and long term.

Okay . . . so first let's talk about how much "sugar" . . . "we are allowed". According to the American Heart Association, the "Maximum" amount of added sugar we should consume per day is:

Men: 150 calories per day (37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons)

Women: 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons)

Children under 2 years of ago: NO ADDED SUGAR AT ALL!

And Children 2 years of age and older: 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons)

What . . . Children are the same as an adult????

Okay . . . so what is wrong with this picture . . .The Journal of the American Medical Association states that "78 millions adults" and "12 million children" are obese today. This is just so very wrong! We need to take action and make a change!

So we all know the most common places we find sugar . . . like donuts, candy, soft drinks, pastries, etc. But how much sugar is in the french fries or pizza we eat? You know . . . the items we think are just high in saturated fats? Well guess what?

Most fast food or packaged fries contain Dextrose which is a sugar that helps give the fries their perfect golden color.

And what about pizza . . . while there are the exceptions, most are high in calories, sugar and sodium. They're typically highly processed and contain artificial preservatives, "added sugar" and unhealthy fats. On average one serving a 1/4 pizza contains 8 grams of added sugar. Did you see that one coming?

Okay . . . so what exactly does "sugar" do to our body and immune system? Well . . . there's a lot of scientific reasoning about what it does to the heart, pancreas, liver, etc. But . . . the part they don't tell us about and the most important part . . . is that "sugar" is the main food source for the "bad" bacteria in our body. Remember in a previous Health Awareness Tip we spoke about how when "bad" bacteria out weigh