Are you addicted to sugar? Just how much sugar are you consuming?

" Some of the largest companies are now using brain scans to study how we react neurotically to certain foods, especially sugar. They've discovered that the brain lights up for sugar the same way it does for cocaine"             

Micheal Moss , Salt,Sugar, Fat : How the Food Giants Hooked Us

Do you know how much sugar you are consuming ?The USDA  has shown that sugar consumption since 1982  has increased annually, giving rise to a growing obesity epidemic.The cause of this increase is greatly related to added sugars within a wide variety of popular soft drinks and processed junk food. This rise in obesity, has in turn given rise to increase in heart disease,stroke,diabetes,cancer and other diseases.It is the leading cause of liver failure in the US .Too much sugar may also disrupt one's ability to think clearly, due to impaired brain signaling.

As Dr. Mark Hyman MD says, " Eggs don't cause heart attacks, sugars does". According to him, fifty years of doctor's advice and government eating guidelines have been wrong. Swapping eggs for cheerios. has killed millions of Americans. More than 70% of Americans consume at least 10% of their total daily calories from sugar.

Sugar and flour, which is converted to sugar once digested, have been proved to be highly addictive. Americans consume on average about 152 pounds of sugar and 146 pounds of flour , a year. Sugar calories, are far worse than any other calorie that one could consume, including fat calories, as excess sugar in the blood stream, results in insulin resistance, and may trigger inflammation, which is the root cause of heart disease.

So how much sugar are you consuming? Here are some facts:

A candy bar with 24 g of sugar , is equivalent to 6 cubes of sugar.
An 8.3 ounce can of an energy drink, with 27 g of sugar, is equivalent to 7 cubes of sugar.
One pint of vanilla ice cream with 84 g of sugar, is equivalent to 21 cubes of sugar.
A liter of soda with 124 g of sugar, is equivalent to 31 cubes of sugar.
2 pancakes with cane syrup are equal to 9 cubes of sugar.
A single cookie with 18 g of sugar, is equivalent to 4 and a half cubes of sugar. 

The America Heart Association recommends that we consume no more than 5% to 7.5% of sugar a day. However,  most of us don't realise just how much of the deadly stuff we are actually consuming. Sugar in it's various forms like fructose, cane sugar, sucrose,and high fructose corn syrup, just to name a few, is added to just about everything we eat. There is more sugar in ketchup, than in one Oreo cookie and  fruit yogurt has more sugar than a Coke . " Healthy" breakfast cereals like Cheerio's, are made of whole grain, but also contain 75% sugar!

So my advice to you, is this. Start figuring out, just how much sugar you are actually consuming on a daily basis, and cut back. Read food labels, and be aware of the ingredients in all the food  you are purchasing. Become an informed consumer and protect  yourselves and your families. Opt out! Do not become victim to the rising obesity epidemic , and take control of your life and the lives of your loved ones!