Sugar Rush

Hi Sugar! Happy Thankful Thursday to you!

Today, I made a visit to Chelsea Market to view the Brita Water ‘Sugar Buildings’ exhibit which was unveiled earlier this week by Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson. In an effort to promote H2O, Brita created buildings made of sugar cubes to visually represent the lifetime sugar consumption for a family of four. Whoa! The biggest sugar laden offender? Cupcakes? Cookies? Cronuts? No way! Sugary drinks (especially soda) is the biggest offender #choosewater!

Obviously, we all know we should drink more water, exercise daily, sleep 8 hours, and reduce stress.  Yeah, yeah I hear ya! But what if there’s more to this whole sugar story? Actually, there is and it’s quite interesting.

Recently, I watched the documentary Fed Up produced by Katie Couric and Stephanie Soechtig highlighting the historical timeline of increased sugar intake by Americans. I always watch documentaries with the preconceived mindset that the information is typically going to sway you in one direction and therefore I tend to hover middle ground, to see both sides of every story. Skewed perception or not, there is a problem in America of epidemic proportions with record levels of obesity and diabetes. The most startling fact is our children are becoming the first generation IN HISTORY to NOT outlive their parents. In the richest nation of the world, we should be exceling with each new generation in all areas of life, including our health. According to the Fed Up documentary, America’s growing trend towards expanded waistlines started in the 1970’s with the low-fat craze. Food manufacturers began creating low-fat options for every food category (crackers, chips, ice cream, soda, etc.) and to make these products actually taste palatable without all the fat….they simply upped the sugar! Lots and lots of sugar! Yet, our low-fat consumption actually made us more fat! Food for thought, eh?

In March, the World Health Organization actually LOWERED the recommended daily intake of sugar from 10% to 5%, which equates to about 25 grams per day.  Now, I love the occasional sweet treat and totally understand when I’m eating a slice of birthday cake that I’m clearly ingesting sugar.  However, I was shocked to discover all the hidden sugar in foods that I certainly deemed “healthy”. A little glance in the frig and I found my “organic reduced-fat” milk has 10 grams of sugar, my “organic non-fat greek yogurt” has 30 grams of sugar (1 cup =exceeded daily sugar allowance), my “healthy” granola has 7 grams of sugar, salad dressing vinaigrette has 14 grams of sugar….pretty much everything had added sugar!

Obviously, it’s not realistic (at least for me) to completely eliminate sugar from my diet but I do believe “when you know better, you do better”. In an effort to reduce my sugar intake, I’m eating more natural, whole foods and cutting back on added sugars.  I actually drank good ol’ black coffee this week without sugar! This is progress peeps, I promise! I also purchased the book ’21-Day Sugar Detox’ which guides you through the process of eliminating sugars and provides meal plans with recipes! I’ll be sure to keep you updated on my progress!

Getitn’ off my soap box now 🙂 and leaving you with sugar thoughts to ponder! Hugs and Kisses (not the Hershey kind)!