When It Comes to Sugar, There’s No Such Thing as Moderation

The following is adapted from Unstoppable.

I definitely have a sweet tooth. Even when I got to college and became a bit self-conscious for the first time because of my weight, I continued to consume sugar. I didn’t think twice about it. I was always told that sugar is okay in moderation. So, that’s what I did—I consumed sugar in moderation.

The harsh reality about sugar is that it’s not in any way healthy, and the idea that we can consume sugar in moderation is a myth that has led Americans head-on into sugar addiction. Today, we use sugar as an additive to sauces, cereals, snacks, and more.

In fact, sugar is so common, it’s often hard to know when it’s there. According to Dr. Robert Lustig, “Sugar is now the most ubiquitous foodstuff worldwide, and has been added to virtually every processed food, limiting consumer choice and the ability to avoid it. Approximately 80 percent of the 600,000 consumer packaged foods in the United States have added caloric sweeteners.”

If you’re willing to reevaluate the moderation myth and open your eyes to the scale of the problem, I’ll show you how to escape this vicious cycle.

How Did this Happen?

If we’re not addicted to sugar already through consuming foods like soda or candy, we’re becoming unknowingly addicted due to the ingredients in our foods. It’s because of all of these factors that Type 2 diabetes and obesity have been on the rise for quite some time.

Sugar has found its way into almost all the food we eat because big business wants it that way. Several decades ago, the sugar industry paid scientists to downplay the role of sugar in heart disease and lay the blame on fat and cholesterol instead. When Americans stopped consuming as much fat, the sugar industry—along with many others—began to fill that void with low-fat, sugary snacks.

For many companies, sugar equals money, simply because sugar makes things taste good. And when something tastes good, people eat more of it. The more you eat, the more you buy. Makes sense, right? That logic is what has prompted the addition of sugar to a wide variety of foods over the past few decades. People have assumed—like I once did—that as long as what they were eating was low fat, it didn’t matter if it was loaded with sugar.

Unfortunately, that thinking is flawed. Sugar is incredibly harmful and addictive. Some studies show that sugar could be as addictive as heroin and cocaine, and at the very least, acts as a gateway to other addictive substances. And yet, we continue to consume it liberally, knowingly, and unfortunately, unknowingly. If sugar is just a calorie, then cigarettes are just a snack. 

To give you an idea of how the sugar crisis is killing Americans, consider these changes: the average annual sugar consumption per person has risen drastically, from 17.5 pounds in 1915 to 150 pounds in 2011. This is nearly a 900 percent increase in a century. The average daily sugar consumption per person is 126.4 grams. What we have in America isn’t a fat consumption problem; it’s a sugar consumption problem.

What Can You Do?

The complicated and, I’d argue, dangerous history of sugar has only recently started to garner more attention from scientists and health professionals. But, based on my research, sugar and carbohydrates should be avoided whenever possible. Our bodies aren’t meant to consume them in the way that modern life has dictated.

Here are some things you can do to avoid the harmful effects of sugar:

• Stop eating packaged and processed foods.
• If your food comes in a container, eat other foods, and scrutinize the labels on the foods you purchase.
• Stick with eating whole foods that are as close as possible to their natural state. This is the easiest guideline to follow. You can make big improvements if you stick to this.
• Remove all refined sugars from your diet.
• Stick to eating fruit whenever it’s in season. It might take you an extra twenty minutes a week when you grocery shop, but that’s a small price to pay for avoiding obesity and Type 2 diabetes, among other sugar-related ailments.

While some people may say sugar is fine in “moderation,” I challenge those same people to find a way to moderate their sugar intake when it’s in the majority of the packaged goods we buy, and a majority of the foods mainstream America eats.

Unfortunately, anything negative about sugar has been pushed out of popular media, or suppressed by powerful people. They’d like you to believe that sugar is okay—that sugar, in the right quantity, is perfectly safe. But, if sugar in moderation works, then why are we seeing large increases in per capita consumption, along with rising rates of obesity? If sugar isn’t bad, why is there more dental work needed in societies where refined sugar is widely accessible compared to other societies where it’s not? The evidence is crystal clear. But, like anything, when the truth is hijacked by business, the evidence gets wiped out.

For more advice on health myths, you can find Unstoppable on Amazon.

David Hauser is a serial entrepreneur who launched several companies before he began high school. David spent his youth working more than one hundred hours a week, until he realized the toll it was taking on his mind, body, and life. After failing to see results from conventional wisdom, he decided to do what he does best: innovate. His unique journey to wellness has helped him realize his life’s purpose of empowering others to optimize their own lives by reclaiming their health. As David continues to evolve, he receives tremendous support from his partner, Dawn, and their three inspiring children.