The Sugar Trap

The Sugar Trap: It is known that sugar is as addictive as cocaine – it’s often referred to as the new cocaine and flour as the new heroin.

Sugar impacts a part of our brain’s pleasure center that keeps us coming back for more.Who can eat a single piece of candy out of a See’s candy box or just a square of a large segmented chocolate bar? It’s impossible, right?

Well, the food industry is very aware that most people don’t want to destroy their health and many really try to eat healthy so that’s where the sugar trap comes in.

The food manufacturers now boast that there is no sugar in a product or that it is non-fat, and I believed for years I was doing the right thing buying those products. The packaging and the advertisements convinced me that I wasn’t eating sugar or fat, so the product must be good for me.

Non-fat Food Truth: Fat is a stable source of energy, and, unlike sugar, it won’t necessarily make you fat. It keeps people full and helps the body absorb vitamins and minerals. Plus, it helps nerves and cells stay healthy.

There’s some evidence that certain fats may even keep us from getting fat: recently, full-fat dairy products were found to potentially help prevent obesity.

The truth is that the manufacturers have hidden the sugar in artificial unpronounceable ingredients and they are advertising these products as healthy. I bought all those products and found I was trapped. They tasted good and the sales pitch for their health benefits was believable, but I was getting fatter and losing energy and I had digestive and sleep problems.
Given that sugar, pure cane or artificial, is so addictive, consumers continue to buy and often don’t want to believe they are actually damaging their health. So, what’s the answer to the trap? It isn’t easy, but we can find our way out to a truly healthy way of eating and living.

I want to share with you what has helped me.

The first step is to read labels very carefully. Not just the marketing “this is good for you” part of the label but the ingredients where the manufacturers tell you what is in the product. Did you know? The labels list ingredients in order from MOST prevalent to LEAST prevalent. So, the closer sugar (or whatever else they choose to call it) is to the top of the ingredients list, the more they’ve used.

You will find sugar, agave, high fructose corn syrup and many unpronounceable words that indicate an artificial additive to sweeten the product.

Once you know what’s really in a product you can make an informed decision about whether you want to put that product in your shopping cart.

The second step is to return to eating real food, organic if possible. If it’s packaged it’s processed and you can be assured the additives are not beneficial to your health.

Here are some other simple tips to follow:

• Eat mostly whole, natural foods
• Don’t use premade sauces
• Eat dessert the right way (Example: Enjoy a little dark (70% or higher cocoa or cacao)
• Don’t eat fat-free foods
• Follow the 5-ingredient rule. If there’s more than 5 – on to the next

Seemingly “healthy” foods with hidden sugars to avoid:

1. Breakfast smoothies – 28g per serving
2. Low fat yoghurt – 20.9g per serving
3. Breakfast bars – 20g per serving
4. Soup – 20g per serving
5. Granola – 14g per serving
6. Baked Beans – 10g per serving
7. Plant-based milks – 7g per serving
8. Salad dressings – 5.7g per serving
9. Wholemeal bagel – 5.5g per serving

I broke free of the sugar trap and today. I weigh what I did in high school and I have the energy I had in my 40s. Enough energy to enter numerous fitness competitions over the age of 70.

To live and age well take steps today to break the sugar trap.