
March 16, 2020
The Dangers of Eating Too Much Sugar | Mind Pump
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Key Takeaways
- Sugar offers an escape similar to drugs–People consume sugar against their best self-interest because it makes them temporarily feel better
- Negative Effects of High-Sugar Diets:
- Heart disease–People who consumed 17-21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% greater risk of heart disease
- Acne–Teens who consume sugar have a 30% greater risk of developing acne
- Sugar Advice:
- Aim to consume less than 70 grams a day
- Most of it should come from fruits, not soda or fruit juice
- Being skinny or fit doesn’t give you a pass to consume sugary drinks and foods (pancakes, donuts, cereal), it’s still unhealthy for you
Intro
- Hosts: Sal Di Stefano (IG: @mindpumpsal), Adam Schafer (IG: @mindpumpadam) and Justin Andrews (IG: @mindpumpjustin)
Sugar Is A Drug
- If you go from a high-sugar diet to no-sugar, you will suffer from withdrawal symptoms
- Sugar offers an escape similar to drugs–People consume sugar against their best self-interest because it makes them temporarily feel better
- Consuming sugar lights up the same parts of your brain as if you consumed cocaine
- Sugar offers an escape similar to drugs–People consume sugar against their best self-interest because it makes them temporarily feel better
- When coaching clients, the first thing Adam almost always has to deal with is their overconsumption of sugar
- Obtaining sugar in nature is difficult, but it’s easily accessible with processed foods
- Apples and bananas have been hand-selected and breed to be sweeter than they originally were
- If you wanted honey, you had to survive a swarm of bees
- Getting sugar from a sugar cane takes a massive amount of effort
- Humans crave sugar because it’s now an easy and abundant energy source
Negative Effects of High-Sugar Diets
- May cause weight gain
- Eating a lot of sugar typically results in eating a lot of calories–The vast majority of high-calorie drinks are filled with sugar
- Sugary drinks don’t curb appetite
- Several studies show that it can contribute to more visceral body fat, that’s the bad inflammatory type of fat
- Increase risk of heart disease–People who consumed 17-21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% greater risk of heart disease
- Increases chances of developing acne–Teens who consume sugar have a 30% greater risk of developing acne
- Accelerates tooth decay as sugar feeds bacteria
- Accelerates skin and cellular aging–Women who consumed more sugar had more wrinkles
- Shortens telomere length and leading to premature cellular aging
- It increases:
- many autoimmune symptoms (e.g., fatigue, trouble concentrating)
- risk of type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s
- risk of getting cancer
- mood swings and depression
Sugar Advice
- Aim to consume <70 grams of sugar a day
- Most of it should come from fruits, not soda or fruit juice
- Being skinny or fit doesn’t give you a pass to consume sugary drinks and foods (pancakes, donuts, cereal), it’s still unhealthy for you
- You can get away with eating badly when you’re young but it will eventually catch up with you
- Avoid high-fructose corn syrup, it’s another form of sugar
- If you have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), going on a low-to-zero sugar diet will help you
- If you crave sugar, eat a FRUIT
- Treat sugar like beer, have it sparingly but remember it isn’t healthy and you should limit your intake