I know that when I was growing up I had my friend’s houses that I always wanted to go to because the fridge was stocked with Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew, Orange soda, and/or Root Beer. I distinctly remember going back and forth from house to house on our sugar highs!  Why did I enjoy these houses more than the others?  The reason is simple, as a child you want to consume whatever tastes the best, and when the Smith’s were only serving us water, what kid in their right mind wants to go there?!?  Sugar tastes amazing and we all wanted to consume as much as we could. Now as adults, we all still wish we could consume sugar all day and every day, but is this added sugar actually killing us?

Soda in solid form. (Above)

In our society it is difficult to consume any products that don’t have any added sugar. Go into a grocery store or even your own pantry and look at the ingredients on everyday products. I sometimes find the word “sugar”, but a majority of the time I will find some common added sweeteners such as sucralose, high fructose corn syrup, acesulfame potassium, aspartame (which has more issues that I will touch on in another blog), saccharin, sugar alcohols (sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol) and newly added neotame.  Take a look for yourself!

Why do we enjoy these sweeteners? We enjoy them for the same reason a child enjoys them, they taste great! However these added sugars are giving us empty calories.  What are empty calories? “Empty calories” are calories that after consuming them, give us little to no nutritional benefit. The major problem with this “empty calorie” consumption is that our bodies yearn for nutrients. If our bodies don’t obtain these nutrients they remain hungry. Our hunger will not be satiated until our body has met these nutritional demands. Drinking Pepsi, Coke and any other sweetened beverages will supply the body with plenty of empty calories, but also leave plenty of room for additional calories to be consumed. These empty calories will supply us with either quick energy stores, or they will be stored in our bodies as fat.

Why am I asking the question about Pepsi and Coca Cola killing us? Recent studies have shown a direct link of added sugars to cardiovascular disease. (1) I am not saying we need to cut out sugar all together. I am recommending that we try to keep added sugar out of our food as much as we can.  The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends between 6 and 9 teaspoons of sugar in female and males diets respectively.  As a country we average 22 teaspoons of sugar a day (2).

(Left) 8.5 Teaspoons of sugar. The amount of sugar in one 12 ounce cola. (Right)

I find that a good way to accomplish reducing our added sugars is by cooking meals from scratch or getting fresh vegetables instead of canned ones, even frozen vegetables are better for us. The more processed our food is the more likely our food has added sugar in it. If we continue to consume this added sugar we will continue to see heart disease rise. We will continue to see our waistline as a whole increase. We will continue to fight the epidemic of obesity and diabetes, which go hand in hand. These chronic diseases are now starting to creep into our youth and as individuals we can stop this if we start by eating less added sugar.

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