Our diet has changed dramatically over the last 30 – 50 years with increased sugar consumption. An average American consumes 150 – 180 lbs of sugars and sweeteners each year (US Dept of Agriculture) compared to 10 lbs in the 1800s. Sugar is known as the cocaine of the world. We eat 22 teaspoons of sugar a day directly or hidden in our foods. The documentary above clearly shows the truth about sugar.
In the last three decades, the sugar we consume hidden in foods and drinks in the form of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has increased from 0 percent to 66 percent. HFCS is an industrial food product, not natural and extracted from corn stalks through a chemical process. Because there is no chemical bond between the glucose and fructose that make up the HFCS compound, there is no digestion required. The fructose is absorbed easily into the blood stream and goes straight to the liver to produce fats like trigycerides and cholesterol. This leads to a major cause of liver damage called fatty liver. The absorbed glucose triggers insulin spikes. Both these results lead to increased appetite, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, dementia, cancer and more due to metabolic disturbances.
We must reduce the consumption of sugar. Read food labels that have “high fructose corn syrup” or “corn sugar” and make this one simple dietary change of cutting out HFCS to improve your overall health.
