Fat Is Not Necessarily Getting Us “Fat” – It Is Sugar

The obesity rate in America has increased in the past thirty years. Many have blamed it on fats, but is that the only reason? The answer is no! The American diet is known to be comprised of a lot of “simple” carbohydrates. Think about it, in America, people consume a lot of ice cream, candy, processed refined foods, white bread, white pasta, and sweets. These types of foods are loaded with sugar, especially the “simple” ones. Not only do these foods spike your “sugar” levels to the roof, but the satiation effect is transient, leaving you hungry a couple of hours after consumption.

Dig Into The Science:
Therefore, as soon as you consume these products, your insulin levels will sky-rocket; however, as soon as this is over, your body will feel hungry with the urge of having more sugars. This process is what causes us to gain weight. They are “empty” calories where one gram of sugar is one gram of carbohydrate. If each carbohydrate is four calories, therefore, one gram of sugar is another way of saying 4 calories of unsustainable nutrition.

Aside from making our pants fit smaller, sugar can cause a list of other problems:
1. It can damage your heart – risks of heart disease
2. Weight Gain
3. Can cause Liver Damage
4. Memory Loss
5. Increase the risk of Diabetes

The Basic “Non-Sweet” Truth:
Let us think about the quality of the calories in sugar. Sugar has no proteins, no enzymes, and no fibers. Sugar is an empty sweetener that does not provide our bodies nutrients that are useful for everyday healthy living. The real thing that it does is that it gives us the initial burst of energy, for an hour or two.

When we were kids, didn't our parents tell us to not eat a lot of candy otherwise we were going to be hyper? Well, in fact, that it is true. The initial hyper feeling is great, you feel like you can do anything, but the energy falls and it leaves us hungry. Therefore, not only have we now digested the sugar and all of its calories, but we will intake more calories from other foods.

A Relative Perspective:
Let us give you an example:
40 pieces of chewable candy has on average 45 calories per piece, which come from sugar, which can total to 1800 calories. Compare that “meal” to a basket of different proteins, vegetables, and essential fats. Which one has more volume? Or which one will fill you up more? The answer is self-evident, the basket.The chewable candy has only plain white sugar, “junk” that will be deposited inside our arteries and do damage to our livers. However, the basket has different vitamins, minerals, fibers, fats, and proteins that our body needs! Those are the types of foods that make us lose weight and keep our skin healthy, our hair shiny, and our whole body "happy".

Takeaway:
To promote a sustainable healthy life, we should maintain the integrity of our diet.

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