More on those sparkly, tasty granules

Last post I mentioned how American's eat WAY too much sugar and where the excess amounts come from. I know everyone understands sugar is bad for them, but I really want to lay out why. These facts can be hard to forget when there's a gallon of ice cream in your freezer, or your Fiancé offers to grab you a donut on his way home...

1. When you eat a dose of sugar (bottle of coke, candy bar) it messes with your immune system for the next couple of hours. Your body will be operating at a disadvantage and can't properly handle challenges thrown at it.

2. Sugar promotes inflammation, part of an immune response. Inflammation is not necessarily a bad thing, but having regular excess inflammation leads to the aging of cells and disease (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc.).

3. Sugar suppresses your release of human growth hormone. This isn't just for the kiddies, it's actually a big deal for adults too. If you want to slow down your aging process you need to have a good, natural supply of human growth hormone. Of course, you also need to exercise, eat in moderation, and manage your stress.

4. Sugar promotes glycation, which can be likened to a fraternity's last party of the semester. Sugar molecules enter your bloodstream and hook up with the first fat or protein molecules they can find. Then, these glycated molecules go around smashing everything in site and dropping their garbage everywhere- they produce toxins called advanced glycation end products. These toxins essentially throw the aging process into fast forward.

5. Think of your insulin levels! With an influx of sugar your pancreas cranks out insulin to handle the molecules. Once the sugar is handled, your insulin production drops back down to normal levels. But if you are constantly calling for more insulin your pancreas could tell you to screw off, i.e. diabetes. Not to mention that all those occasions of high insulin levels damages other organs and makes you age quicker!

6. Sugar messes with your mineral levels. It can cause chromium and copper deficiencies as well as inhibit your absorption of calcium and magnesium.

7. Sugar feeds cancer cells within the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder, and stomach. Research completed a couple months ago has gone one step further, linking high fructose corn syrup and pancreatic cancer.

8. Sugar can weaken eyesight.

9. Tooth decay and periodontal disease!

10. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function in areas like the lining of your capillaries, and the collagen that keeps your skin looking youthful.

I could honestly go on and on with other findings, but it's just too depressing for me. None of us will stop eating sugar, and we don't have to, but we need to be more mindful of how much we take in. For individuals of normal weight it's suggested we only take in 10% of our daily calories in sugar ( that's about 50 grams or a 20 oz. coke). If you're overweight or at risk for heart disease and diabetes you should really only take in 5%.