Editor’s note: The podcast Chasing Life With Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the medical science behind life’s mysteries, big and small. You can listen to the episode here.
(CNN) — Halloween is rapidly approaching. With that comes thoughts of costumes, pumpkins, spooky decorations, and of course candy.
Who doesn’t love an excuse to pop fun-sized chocolate bars, candy corn, lollipops, and other sweets into their mouths all day long? But let’s be honest. It’s not healthy to eat like that all the time because almost all snacks contain things like added sugar.
As Americans, our excessive sugar consumption is unfortunately not limited to the once-a-year candy-centered holiday. Consuming added sugar has become a part of life and is incorporated into almost every diet.
Americans over the age of 2 consume: Most people say they add an average of 17 teaspoons of added sugar per day. Recent government data available. This is nearly three times the organization’s limit. american heart association Six teaspoons are recommended for women and nearly twice that amount, nine teaspoons, for men. (others, US Department of Agriculture and world health organizationthe recommendations are slightly different. )
A growing body of research shows that consuming too much added sugar can lead to a number of health problems, including weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart and liver disease, cancer, and even depression.
This love affair with sugar is not entirely our fault. According to some experts, the system is rigged against us.
“If you’re one of those unfortunate people who really suffers from sugar cravings and obsessions, you’re stuck in a food environment where you’re constantly given cues to eat sugar, eat sugar. ” Dr. Laura Schmidt told CNN Chief Medical Officer. Recently, our correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta appeared on the podcast Chasing Life.
Listen to all episodes of the podcast here.
Schmidt is a sociologist and professor of health policy at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. She is also the lead investigator for. sugar science, A clearinghouse sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco that collects scientific evidence about sugar and its health effects.
Schmidt said he doesn’t think people should denigrate sugar, but they should eat less of it.
“There’s a problem with the way we talk about food and nutrition, and that’s that we focus on a single ingredient or a single nutrient,” she said. “From a health perspective, that’s not the point. It’s the diet as a whole that is important. What’s important is that you get a relatively balanced intake of all the macronutrients.”
But Schmidt added that Americans are “well over the limit” on sugar. “And you really need to think about how to reduce that particular ingredient,” she said.
But as many of us know, sugar is present in so many foods, from the obvious (soda, cake, candy) to the more subtle (breakfast cereals, bread, yogurt, tomato sauce). Cutting back on sugar isn’t always easy because it’s insidious. By some estimates, 74% of processed foods sold in supermarkets have added sweeteners.
Schmidt says the reason sugar is added to so many foods is very simple.
“Food companies have three ingredients they can use to make their food more palatable. Some say they are very palatable and very appealing to consumers: sugar, fat, and salt. ” she said. “And most ultra-processed foods have different combinations of sugar, fat, and salt, and often they’re put in there because industrial food manufacturing processes make them taste bad. ”
Breaking up with sugar can be difficult. Schmidt shares five tips for controlling your intake.
Avoid liquid sugar, Schmidt says.
“Focus on reducing or eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages, such as: These include sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, and fake juice pouches,” she said in an email. “These are definitely biggest source of information American diets, especially children’s diets, are high in sugar and have no nutritional value. ”
Schmidt pointed out that liquid sugar is easy to get used to, and you can end up consuming large amounts without realizing it.
Reduce the impact of sugar in your work environment.
“Encourage your employers and workplaces to join other organizations that have stopped selling sugar-sweetened beverages in workplace vending machines and cafeterias,” Schmidt said, adding that they are offering “many sugar-free products.” They can be replaced with “tasty alternatives,” he added.
“Clinical trial results “When employers stop selling sugary drinks, regular soda drinkers lose an average of half an inch in waist circumference within 10 months,” Schmidt said, adding: sugar science provides free resources to help reduce the availability of these beverages in the workplace.
Meanwhile, take a detour around the candy bowl in the common area so you can’t hear them calling your name.
Don’t forget to prepare your home’s food environment.
“As a family, agree to not have sugary junk foods and drinks around you. Instead, eat them when you go out, but not as a staple at home,” Schmidt recommended. “Research shows that carbohydrate restriction is best done in groups, not alone, so together we can come up with a reasonable plan for what should and should not go in the kitchen. Please.”
Even if eliminating sugary junk food and soda from your home isn’t enough to stop you from thinking about them, it can give you time to resist the urge to indulge. Masu.
Make a plan to deal with the psychological stress of giving up sugar.
“Sugar cravings are very real, and there are easily learned, evidence-based strategies to deal with them,” Schmidt said. “They rely on developing the simple technique of experiencing the desire in a relaxed state without acting on it. This is called ‘urge surfing.'”
“Surfing the Urge” guided meditation is available for free online. Schmidt also points out Independently produced audio resources SugarScience is being used to help soda drinkers quit smoking who are participating in a 16-site randomized clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Save sweet foods for dessert. Try to keep them out of every part of your diet.
“Limit added sugar to less than 6 teaspoons per day for adult women, 9 teaspoons for men, and 4 teaspoons for children, and avoid adding sugar to children under 2,” says Schmidt. said in an email.
Schmidt says one way to control your sugar intake is to make your own desserts and snacks. “This means enjoying the sugar you eat by baking with it and savoring it with you, and making the (additional) sugar you eat part of celebrating life too,” she says. Said.
Following these guidelines as closely as possible means scrutinizing food labels. To tally up the grams of excess sugar you consume each day, look for the line that indicates the “added sugar” content of your food.
We hope these five tips help you reset your sugar intake. Listen to the full podcast episode here. Join us next week as we explore the art of compromise in Chasing Life.
