Eleven Things You Need To Know About Sugar

A new study has unambiguously implicated sugar’s role in causing Diabetes. Here are eleven things you need to know about sugar:

1. Sugar is Toxic

This study proves that sugar is toxic. Its connection with causing diseases like Diabetes is now confirmed. This is done with the same level of confidence that connects cigarettes with lung cancer.

2. It is not just Diabetes

While the focus of the study has been Diabetes, it does not mean that this is the only bad effect of sugar on our bodies. Now that the cat is out of the bag, other studies will follow. Expect more skeletons to fall out of the closet.

3. You may have to take charge

Given the weight of scientific evidence, it would be logical to expect a regulatory response so that addition of sugar to processed foods is severely controlled. However do not hold your breath for this. Just like the tobacco industry fought for decades denying in-your-face scientific evidence, this may happen here too. The key take away is that you have to take charge of your health rather than wait for authorities to act.

4. Sugar is everywhere

Given that sugar is added to almost all processed foods, you will find sugar everywhere. This includes fruit juices, carbonated drinks, energy drinks, desserts, and the sugar you add in tea or coffee. You may also be surprised to find sugar in things like potato chips and other processed foods, so you may want to pay close attention to nutrition labels.

5. It does not matter what type of sugar it is

The study found no difference between high fructose corn syrup and natural sugar. It is likely that high fructose syrup may be slightly more damaging, but you are not off the hook by just going off high fructose corn syrup only. Normal sugar, jaggery, brown sugar, and all other sources of sugar including those marked as “natural” are equally implicated.

6. It is addictive

Going off sugar is not easy. Just like cigarettes are addictive, so is sugar. They both light up the same area of the brain when consumed and both cause cravings and withdrawal symptoms. But it is also true that once you are off sugar your life will be much enriched. Once taste buds adjust to a new normal, you will find yourself opening up to a new universe of taste and smell.

7. Yoga can help

Making life-style changes and going off addictive substances is not easy. You need all the help you can give yourself and yoga will help you battle sugar cravings. Yoga will help calm you down and provide you with more internal control so that cravings and withdrawal symptoms are greatly diminished. If you feel you need more support then you can add 10-15 minutes of daily breathing exercises and also 20 minutes of daily meditation to the mix.

8. If you feel overwhelmed take it slowly

Some people can make dramatic u-turns in their habits. But for most, change does not come easily. So you may want to do this one step at a time. Do it in months. For the first month resolve to stop all sweetened cold beverages including fruit juices. Then next month reduce sugar in your tea or coffee by half. Following month go sugarless on your tea or coffee. Then start working on your desserts. First start with portion size and reduce it to half its size. Then take it down one more notch till you take only one spoon. And finally in the following month go completely off desserts. The next step would be to look at processed foods you are consuming. Using the same approach you can slowly peel away all the layers of sugar in your diet.

9. Take setbacks in stride

Your journey out of sugar is likely not going to be all smooth sailing. Expect setbacks. When they happen and you have reverted back to your old habits just take it in your stride. When setbacks happen, before you restart your journey out of sugar, first make sure that you are practicing yoga regularly. Also make sure that you are doing a daily breathing exercise that elongates and slows down your breath. Now recalibrate your roadmap out of sugar and restart your journey. A setback is not the end of the world. It is just a little bump along the way.

10. Do it with a support group

Form a support group and meet regularly. Your chances of success are greatly enhanced when you are doing this with a support group. This may be specially relevant if you find that you are getting repeated setbacks when you are doing this alone.

11. Are fruits okay?

Yes consuming fruits is okay. So also is fruit juice where the juice is extracted in front of you (or by you) and no sugar or concentrate is added. The problem is with the bottled fruit juice that you buy in grocery stores. Avoid these as usually they are pasteurized and sugar or other sweeteners are added. You may find that as you consume fresh apples, oranges, and other fruits, your craving for desserts is considerably reduced.

It is obvious that there is a healthy limit at which sugar can be consumed safely. It is also true that currently we are consuming way above this limit. It may be decades till the debate is settled and an unambigious limit is set. But in the meantime we can take steps to take charge of our health and diet. As outlined above we can take steps to severely curtail our sugar intake, limiting only to the sugar in fruits and a small portion of an occassional treat. The journey out of sugar can be a deeply rewarding journey not just for our health but because it opens us up to the rich flavor, taste, and smell of food we consume.

Related:
NY Times article: It’s the Sugar, folks
Is Sugar Toxic?
A book by Dr. Rob Lustig: Fat chance
Center For Science In The Public Interest: Petition to FDA by scientists to regulate sugar in soft drinks

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Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.