Sugar is E.V.I.L.  It is like a best friend who stabs you in the back.  Yes, it is yummy and it is readily available but it truly is very very bad for you, in many different ways.  In addition to being empty calories with no nutritional content, sugar burns “hotter” in your system, creating more free radicals that do various types of damage within your system.  From wrinkles to cardiovascular disease, excess sugar plays a role.

What types of sugar?  All of it (white, brown and even fruit and fruit juices, maple syrup and honey) is converted into triglycerides by the liver and are subject the damage from free radicals.  These damaging triglycerides then attack your arteries, which leads to cardiovascular disease.  Ready for this?  Cancer and tumor cells FEED off of sugar. Need i say more?

Course correction:

• Eat fruit when you crave sugar as it provides antioxidants that also fight against free radicals.
• Limit your intake of sugar in the foods you eat to a very very minimum.
• If you must have sweetness, my favorite is Stevia, a natural sweetner that is very yummy.
• Read your labels (or investigate nutritional content online) and become aware of the added sugars in the food you eat.  An easy way to check sugar content is with this super simple formula:  Take the total number of carbs from the label. Subtract the amount of fiber. Divide the remainder by 5.  Now, you have the number of teaspoons of sugar in that food.  For example:  if there are 30 grams of carbs on the label and 5 grams of fiber, that means you have 5 teaspoons of sugars in that product.  (30 minus 5 = 25.  25 divided by 5 = 5)