An eminent theologian of the past century, the German-American Paul Tillich, defined God as one's ultimate concern. In other words, whatever is most important to you is your god. Since mind and body form a unity, your gods are reflected in what you do as well. A variation of this truth pertains to what your body "worships" in order to survive: you are what you eat. Sweet.
Or should I say, sweets.
When you walk into the supermarket in my neighborhood, this is what greets you:
This is but one of our many secular altars to what may be called The Sweet God of Premature Death. You will find in any large supermarket an entire aisle dedicated to soft drinks, where communion with this god can be bought at bargain prices. Walk into any convenience store in America and you will find a little idol house, a secular church offering its congregants a perennial rite where the wine is cola and the host is chips.
Most of us know that junk food is harming us. Most of us know that the queen of dietary demons is sugar. I am writing this article as a public service, since I recently discovered that hardly anyone knows the degree to which we are sacrificing our bodies and minds to (eventually Bitter-) Sweet Kali.
Why do we need to cut down on our intake of sugar and how does one accomplish this? The answers to these questions are the subject of this article. Its specific objectives are two: first, how much sugar should we be consuming each day, and second, how does one convert grams of sugar into teaspoons of sugar? This knowledge is essential, as we shall see.
The Problem
The sugar problem is far worse than most people imagine. I will now provide a brief summary of these dismal statistics. Almost ten percent of the population of the United States is diabetic. Among seniors, it is a whopping twenty-five percent. Many cases remain undiagnosed, which means that considerable damage to the body proceeds apace without the mind even knowing that there is a problem. Even worse: 30% of the population suffer from pre-diabetes--often without knowing it. (Pre-diabetes is the state characterized by impaired glucose (that is, sugar) metabolism; if it is not countered by proper eating habits and exercise, diabetes will most likely develop, often in a matter of a few years.) Worst of all: 70% of Americans are classified as being either overweight or obese (17% are obese, roughly the same percentage of those who are overweight). The rate of diabetes rises in tandem with the rate of obesity. In other words, just about everybody needs to control their sugar intake. Why? The sweet tooth in your head is rushing you along on your inevitable dead-end journey from head to skull! Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. Heart disease, the leading cause of death, is associated to a high degree with both diabetes and obesity. Other leading causes share this unfortunate association as well, including stroke, Alzheimer's disease and cancer. "Killing me sweetly with his song" is a ballad every American needs to sing to every piece of cake.
As you can see, America is one of the very few countries that gets more than 600 calories of sugar per day.
Towards A Solution: What you Need to Know
Space does not permit this to be an in-depth essay, but it contains a very pithy message in the form of two objectives, as stated previously: how much sugar should we be consuming and how do we monitor our consumption of empty calories? The answer to the first question is simple: we should be consuming no more than six to eight teaspoon of added sugar per day. The average American consumes four to five times as much as that. Remember, we are talking about added sugar, not about fructose, the sugar found in fruits, which is metabolized more slowly. The answer to this first question, however, isn't really all that simple. Many people think that reducing sugar intake involves cutting down on table sugar alone. In fact, most of the added sugar we consume comes from processed foods in the form of high fructose corn syrup and not from the sugar we add to tea or coffee. High fructose corn syrup is in just about everything: cakes, cookies, ketchup, sauces, etc. etc. The biggest culprits are, by far, soft drinks.
(I must politically digress here, sorry. Most conservatives vehemently oppose food stamps. For instance, Jeb Bush wants to eliminate the food stamp program, now known as SNAP, The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, entirely. This is unconscionable. First of all, the program provides effective nutritional help to those who need it--about fifty percent of whom work, yet still can't afford to feed themselves and their families adequately. The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan organization, states that for every dollar spent on food stamps the economy receives $1.50 in return. It is very much a win-win situation. Part of the Act which provides food relief to the poor provided subsidies to agribusiness as well. --At present, farm subsidies are mostly in the form of crop insurance, an indirect way of paying the wealthiest farmers directly-- This is not just a waste of money; Agribusinesses are responsible for the production of high-fructose corn syrup, which is enormously profitable, since it is found in just about all processed foods--in many, it's the main ingredient. In other words, taxpayers are paying to be poisoned.)
How do we manage our sugar consumption. Another simple answer: we have to read labels.
In America, calories from sugar are listed by weight in grams, not by teaspoons. The first thing people need to learn is how many grams of sugar constitute one teaspoon of the powdery drug. (Sugar is quite addictive.)
What triggered my writing this essay is my discovery that very few people know the answer. My wife and I recently attended a party; while people were chomping down, I proceeded to ask twenty-five of them two questions: How many teaspoons of added sugar is the daily limit, and, how many grams of sugar are in one teaspoon of sugar? NOBODY KNEW ! Not one! Not even the diabetics! This is a terrible situation that is easily remedied.
If you don't know already, and if you're like most other people you don't, there are four grams of sugar in every teaspoon of sugar. This is a very important piece of information that the makers of high-fructose corn syrup and, especially, the beverage industry don't want you to know. (I've heard that the beverage industry has blocked legislation to require that the amount of sugar be listed in teaspoons, which everyone understands. I wonder why.)
If we should consume no more than eight teaspoons of sugar daily at the most, this means no more than 32 grams of sugar. One can of cola contains 39 grams of sugar! Now that you can convert grams to teaspoons of sugar, proceed to be horrified by the sugar content in, say, a Starbucks latte. There are many online sources that provide such useful information. An example: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262978.php
Try to determine the added sugar intake in your diet as precisely as you can for one day. You will be surprised!
Two things you should do, whether you monitor the sugar in your diet or not.
1. Stop drinking soft drinks! Fruit juices contain almost as much sugar--Get your fruit from, well, fruit. Drink water instead, with moderate amounts of tea, coffee, and if you are an adult, wine--all of which have definite health benefits and are all, at least to this writer, enjoyable beverages.
2. Limit as much as possible the consumption of processed foods. If something has more than four or five listed ingredients, especially if they are chemical additives, put the item back on the shelf and proceed to produce. It's not hard to cook simple meals with lots of vegetables! And, of course, eat lots of salads.
(Along with limiting sugar, one needs to exercise and limit one's calories in order to maintain a BMI (Body Mass Index) in the normal-weight range. Calorie restriction and exercise, both crucially important, are beyond the scope of this essay.)
Summary
This is not all you need to know, but it's a very important start:
REMEMBER; ONE TEASPOON OF SUGAR IS EQUIVALENT TO FOUR GRAMS OF SUGAR
REMEMBER; LIMIT THE CONSUMPTION OF ADDED SUGAR TO SIX TO EIGHT TEASPOONS A DAY, THAT IS, 24 TO 32 GRAMS PER DAY.
You don't have to be Spartan about this: good food tastes best. If you follow easily obtainable recommendations regarding sugar consumption, you will undoubtedly feel better and very likely live longer. Not bad. Even better:
See to it that your sweetness is mostly metaphorical! That is, if it is chiefly derived from an attitude dissolved in your mind and less from a high-fructose lolly that dissolves on your tongue, you will be wise as well.
Or should I say, sweets.
When you walk into the supermarket in my neighborhood, this is what greets you:
This is but one of our many secular altars to what may be called The Sweet God of Premature Death. You will find in any large supermarket an entire aisle dedicated to soft drinks, where communion with this god can be bought at bargain prices. Walk into any convenience store in America and you will find a little idol house, a secular church offering its congregants a perennial rite where the wine is cola and the host is chips.
Most of us know that junk food is harming us. Most of us know that the queen of dietary demons is sugar. I am writing this article as a public service, since I recently discovered that hardly anyone knows the degree to which we are sacrificing our bodies and minds to (eventually Bitter-) Sweet Kali.
Why do we need to cut down on our intake of sugar and how does one accomplish this? The answers to these questions are the subject of this article. Its specific objectives are two: first, how much sugar should we be consuming each day, and second, how does one convert grams of sugar into teaspoons of sugar? This knowledge is essential, as we shall see.
The Problem
The sugar problem is far worse than most people imagine. I will now provide a brief summary of these dismal statistics. Almost ten percent of the population of the United States is diabetic. Among seniors, it is a whopping twenty-five percent. Many cases remain undiagnosed, which means that considerable damage to the body proceeds apace without the mind even knowing that there is a problem. Even worse: 30% of the population suffer from pre-diabetes--often without knowing it. (Pre-diabetes is the state characterized by impaired glucose (that is, sugar) metabolism; if it is not countered by proper eating habits and exercise, diabetes will most likely develop, often in a matter of a few years.) Worst of all: 70% of Americans are classified as being either overweight or obese (17% are obese, roughly the same percentage of those who are overweight). The rate of diabetes rises in tandem with the rate of obesity. In other words, just about everybody needs to control their sugar intake. Why? The sweet tooth in your head is rushing you along on your inevitable dead-end journey from head to skull! Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. Heart disease, the leading cause of death, is associated to a high degree with both diabetes and obesity. Other leading causes share this unfortunate association as well, including stroke, Alzheimer's disease and cancer. "Killing me sweetly with his song" is a ballad every American needs to sing to every piece of cake.
Towards A Solution: What you Need to Know
Space does not permit this to be an in-depth essay, but it contains a very pithy message in the form of two objectives, as stated previously: how much sugar should we be consuming and how do we monitor our consumption of empty calories? The answer to the first question is simple: we should be consuming no more than six to eight teaspoon of added sugar per day. The average American consumes four to five times as much as that. Remember, we are talking about added sugar, not about fructose, the sugar found in fruits, which is metabolized more slowly. The answer to this first question, however, isn't really all that simple. Many people think that reducing sugar intake involves cutting down on table sugar alone. In fact, most of the added sugar we consume comes from processed foods in the form of high fructose corn syrup and not from the sugar we add to tea or coffee. High fructose corn syrup is in just about everything: cakes, cookies, ketchup, sauces, etc. etc. The biggest culprits are, by far, soft drinks.
(I must politically digress here, sorry. Most conservatives vehemently oppose food stamps. For instance, Jeb Bush wants to eliminate the food stamp program, now known as SNAP, The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, entirely. This is unconscionable. First of all, the program provides effective nutritional help to those who need it--about fifty percent of whom work, yet still can't afford to feed themselves and their families adequately. The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan organization, states that for every dollar spent on food stamps the economy receives $1.50 in return. It is very much a win-win situation. Part of the Act which provides food relief to the poor provided subsidies to agribusiness as well. --At present, farm subsidies are mostly in the form of crop insurance, an indirect way of paying the wealthiest farmers directly-- This is not just a waste of money; Agribusinesses are responsible for the production of high-fructose corn syrup, which is enormously profitable, since it is found in just about all processed foods--in many, it's the main ingredient. In other words, taxpayers are paying to be poisoned.)
How do we manage our sugar consumption. Another simple answer: we have to read labels.
In America, calories from sugar are listed by weight in grams, not by teaspoons. The first thing people need to learn is how many grams of sugar constitute one teaspoon of the powdery drug. (Sugar is quite addictive.)
What triggered my writing this essay is my discovery that very few people know the answer. My wife and I recently attended a party; while people were chomping down, I proceeded to ask twenty-five of them two questions: How many teaspoons of added sugar is the daily limit, and, how many grams of sugar are in one teaspoon of sugar? NOBODY KNEW ! Not one! Not even the diabetics! This is a terrible situation that is easily remedied.
If you don't know already, and if you're like most other people you don't, there are four grams of sugar in every teaspoon of sugar. This is a very important piece of information that the makers of high-fructose corn syrup and, especially, the beverage industry don't want you to know. (I've heard that the beverage industry has blocked legislation to require that the amount of sugar be listed in teaspoons, which everyone understands. I wonder why.)
If we should consume no more than eight teaspoons of sugar daily at the most, this means no more than 32 grams of sugar. One can of cola contains 39 grams of sugar! Now that you can convert grams to teaspoons of sugar, proceed to be horrified by the sugar content in, say, a Starbucks latte. There are many online sources that provide such useful information. An example: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262978.php
Try to determine the added sugar intake in your diet as precisely as you can for one day. You will be surprised!
Two things you should do, whether you monitor the sugar in your diet or not.
1. Stop drinking soft drinks! Fruit juices contain almost as much sugar--Get your fruit from, well, fruit. Drink water instead, with moderate amounts of tea, coffee, and if you are an adult, wine--all of which have definite health benefits and are all, at least to this writer, enjoyable beverages.
2. Limit as much as possible the consumption of processed foods. If something has more than four or five listed ingredients, especially if they are chemical additives, put the item back on the shelf and proceed to produce. It's not hard to cook simple meals with lots of vegetables! And, of course, eat lots of salads.
(Along with limiting sugar, one needs to exercise and limit one's calories in order to maintain a BMI (Body Mass Index) in the normal-weight range. Calorie restriction and exercise, both crucially important, are beyond the scope of this essay.)
Summary
This is not all you need to know, but it's a very important start:
REMEMBER; ONE TEASPOON OF SUGAR IS EQUIVALENT TO FOUR GRAMS OF SUGAR
REMEMBER; LIMIT THE CONSUMPTION OF ADDED SUGAR TO SIX TO EIGHT TEASPOONS A DAY, THAT IS, 24 TO 32 GRAMS PER DAY.
You don't have to be Spartan about this: good food tastes best. If you follow easily obtainable recommendations regarding sugar consumption, you will undoubtedly feel better and very likely live longer. Not bad. Even better:
See to it that your sweetness is mostly metaphorical! That is, if it is chiefly derived from an attitude dissolved in your mind and less from a high-fructose lolly that dissolves on your tongue, you will be wise as well.
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