We all know that sugar is delicious. It has been prized by humans for centuries. Children even have a preference for sweet foods over sour because, historically, sour indicated potential poison whereas sweet did not. Sugar has even been used as currency in some parts of the world. The thing is, sugar is not all bad. Fruits, honey, and many other natural sources of sugar come with many benefits. Since we industrialized sugar, however, processing it and then adding it in large quantities to nearly everything, things have taken a turn. The amount of sugar the average person consumes today is astonishing, and the effects it is having on our health are equally as staggering. So what would happen if you just quit sugar? I mean stop eating sugar basically altogether? This is what you can expect.
Understanding Sugar
Before we get into what would happen if you stop eating sugar, we should probably clarify a bit more about what sugar is. There are plenty of different types of sugar. Different forms of sugars include glucose, fructose, sucrose, and lactose. Glucose is found in fruits and vegetables, and we also produce glucose in our own bodies. Fructose is found in fruits, and lactose is found in milk. Sucrose is also found naturally in a variety of fruits and vegetables, but it is also found and processed from sugar cane and beets. This is where we get the majority of the sugar we use to make what’s known as ‘refined sugar’. It is here, in the form of added sugars, found in processed foods, where most people get their sugar intake.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting added sugars but not natural sugars found in fruits, vegetables, and dairy as they offer essential nutrients. Added sugars can be listed on ingredients lists in many forms. One of the most infamous of these are HFCS – aka high fructose corn syrup. While it is difficult to consume too much sugar in the form of eating fruits and vegetables, it is very easy to do so in the form of added sugars. Just one soda and you’ve reached the limit, or even many foods that masquerade as ‘healthy’, such granola and breakfast cereals, or even things like smoothies, salad dressings, and more.
Sugar is not 100% bad, as already stated. In fact, we need sugar in order to survive. It’s so important that we even make it inside our own bodies. These are called carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are sugars that our bodies break down into glucose for energy. It’s important to differentiate between added sugars and the natural sugars present in carbohydrates like fruits and whole grains. As already stated, it is the excessive amount of added sugars that are causing our health problems, not the ones found naturally in plants.