This week’s deep-thought issue is simple. But the answer may not be as straightforward. It’s all about avoiding excess sugar in your diet… The evil stuff is easy to spot. But could you resist temptation and basic human nature sufficiently to succeed?
A full 2/3 of Americans are now overweight or obese…
We offered, the middle of this past week, a pro’s tips for avoiding consumption of excess sugar. It’s a massive nutritional, behavioural and cultural problem. And it’s at the root of a long list of ‘essentially preventable’ diseases which cost health care systems around the world hundreds of billions of dol-lars a year to treat…
Sounds simple…
But as sugar studies expert Laura Schmidt told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, “Americans are ‘way over the limit’ on sugar. ‘And we really need to be thinking about ways to dial that particular ingredient down. […]
“By some estimates, added sweeteners are [found] in 74 percent of packaged foods sold in super-markets,” Gupta revealed.
The good news is, all packaged and processed foods in most North American and European juris-dictions are required to carry Nutrition Facts labels. And Sugar content, in all it’s guises, is clearly stated.
Simple steps you COULD take…
1. ‘“Focus on reducing or cutting out sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas, sports drinks, ener-gy drinks, [and] fake juice pouches.”
2. Get rid of temptation at work. “Encourage your employer or work unit to [stop] selling sugary bev-eragess [and treats] in vending machines and cafeterias.
3. Out of sight, out of mind at home. Just put away sugary stuff (or even reminders of it, such as candy bowls).
4. Work as a family team. “Agree as a household not to have sugary junk foods and beverages around. […] Studies show that sugar reduction is best done in groups, not alone.”
5. Eat mindfully. “Adult women should confine themselves to less than 6 teaspoons of added sugar daily, 9 teaspoons for men, 4 teaspoons for children, and no added sugars for children under 2.”
Breaking up is hard to do
Alas, human nature and basic genetics gang up on us to work against our best intentions.
As we’ve explained in previous posts, sugar is every bit as addictive as – perhaps even more so than – heroin, cocaine, alcohol, nicotine or caffiene. And that’s a predisposition that’s wired into our very phys-iques and psyches. Anthropologists say it could go as far back as our shared Neanderthal an-cestors…
And, just as it does with classic addictive substances, it takes a monumental effort to kick sugar ad-diction. Even to simply resist the temptation not to cheat.
My take
Yes, there are 12-step programs to ‘treat’ food addiction, modelled on those long known to work against alcohol and drug addiction. But the challenge with sugar is just as formidable as it is with tobacco or booze.
Once you’ve made the commitment – and admitted, in front of witnesses, that you have a problem with sugar – it’s ultimately up to you…
My questions:
Do you value your health and well being highly enough that you would seriously consider trying to kick excess sugar?
Even with the support of a 12-step group and a sponsor, and having ‘confessed’ to witnesses… COULD you stick to the 5 cardinal rules for kicking excess sugar?
Can you honestly say you wouldn’t cheat if you thought nobody else would find out?
Muse on that…
~ Maggie J.