Here’s What Happens When You Eat Sugar

Even before you start reading, I bet you’re thinking this is going to be one of those boring, finger wagging articles on why sugar is so bad for you; and you’re kinda right. But I also bet, while you think you already know all about the horrors of sugar, you can’t answer these 2 simple questions:
“What is the maximum amount of sugar I should eat in a day?” 
“What happens when I eat it?” 
So for all the constant nonsense surrounding sugar, this article is all about giving you the facts you need, and facts you’ll actually remember.  

​1 gram of sugar = 4 calories 
4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon 
1 teaspoon of sugar = 16 calories  

Per the American Heart Association, nobody on this planet should eat more than 37.5g of sugar a day, but most Americans eat about 82g of sugar a day…nearly 3x what is recommended as the maximum. 

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AHA Recommendations on sugar consumption:

• Women should not exceed 25g (or 6tsp) of sugar a day

 

• Men should not exceed 37.5g (or 9tsp) of sugar a day 

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• Children should not exceed 12.5g (or 3tsp) of sugar a day

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Before we go further, let’s assume that you don’t want to eat more than 25g of sugar a day. To get a better feel of what 25g of sugar looks like, check out this short video. 

Here’s What Happens When You Eat Sugar

After a sugary snack, or a meal loaded with carbs, your blood glucose levels will begin to rise after only 15 minutes. Why is there glucose in your blood in the first place? Well, quite literally, you’ve eaten so much that it has nowhere else to go.  Too much sugar in your blood then makes you produce insulin (to clean it out basically). But if you’re always eating sugar, your body eventually goes nose blind to the heightened sugar levels. This in turn clearly makes you sick.
​ In a nutshell. 

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​The idea that we get obese because we take in more calories than we burn is ludicrous. By this thinking, 20 calories of sugar would be no worse than 20 calories of brussel sprouts. If that doesn’t make sense to you it’s because that line of thinking makes no sense.

​In the 1950s advertisers were telling us cubes of sugar are better for you than fruit, and in the 60s we heard that “a calorie is a calorie”, which is patently false. In the 80s it was all about high fructose corn syrup, and in the 90s it was all about fat. Today there is still the highly held belief that obesity is caused simply by the overeating of calories, which I’m here to promise you isn’t true. 

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Diabetes isn’t caused by obesity

Diabetes isn’t caused by obesity, but the Sugar Association sure would love for you to swallow that bitter pill. Men like Fred Stare who worked for the sugar industry, also worked for our government as part of a Sugar Commission. It was his sole mission to ensure that sugar wasn’t held responsible for the diabetes epidemic that was taking place in the early 80s. As a matter of fact, in 1986, the American Diabetes Association even agreed that fructose was an ideal sweetener for diabetics. By the 90s, even the American Heart Association was recommending we have candy as a snack instead of something with fat in it. 

What causes diabetes (the short version) 

The inquiry into whether sugar was safe or not started in 1978 and it was determined that sugar was safe in all its forms. In 1980 we had our first diagnosing of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in adults, only 4 years later it was discovered in children. Today it is found in infants, 10% of our teens, and about 75 million adults. Most researchers believe it is from an overconsumption of sugar. Fructose is metabolized in the liver and produces high levels of fat. Not shockingly, those same 75 million adults who have NAFLD also have metabolic syndrome. 

Metabolic Syndrome 

Metabolic Syndrome is the precursor to diabetes. Many doctors will diagnose many symptoms as stand-alone illnesses, but should rather be viewed as pieces of a bigger whole. Symptoms like weight gain, high blood sugar, chronic inflammation, high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, or heart disease are all signs that trouble is ahead. 
Your doctor may look for elevated LDL particles in circulation, C-reactive proteins, or higher traces of uric acid. They will be looking for higher triglycerides and lower HDL cholesterol in combination with other markers like obesity, high blood pressure and naturally, insulin resistance.  

​In 2011 a study was done where they fed 29 monkeys sugary drinks with their meals and 100% of them developed metabolic syndrome in only a year and a little over 13% developed type 2 diabetes.
What do you think is happening to us? Were those drinks fattening or were they full of sugar?

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Diabetes 

After metabolic syndrome has progressed, the patient is generally diagnosed with type 2 diabetes . Since 1980, when sugar was deemed acceptable, obesity rates have doubled, and now nearly 15% of the population has diabetes and are being newly diagnosed every 20 seconds. But diabetes isn’t a stand alone problem, it also creates kidney disease, increase risk of stroke, and even coma. 60% of amputations are due to diabetes. 

Sucrose and HFCS cause obesity and diabetes. These sugars are metabolized differently in our bodies than other carbs, and have a unique affect on our liver, blood, hormonal system, and entire body.   

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Recap 

So for all the constant nonsense surrounding sugar, this article is all about giving you the facts you need, and will actually remember. (repetition is mastery) 
4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon 
1 teaspoon of sugar = 16 calories 

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• Women should not exceed 25g (or 6tsp) of sugar a day

 

• Men should not exceed 37.5g (or 9tsp) of sugar a day 

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• Children should not exceed 12.5g (or 3tsp) of sugar a day

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Don't Believe Me?
​ Watch James Oliver talk about Sugar Consumption 

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