THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT SUGAR!

Sugar consumption is linked to weight gain. Simple sugars tend to be more concentrated in foods, meaning that you consume more calories per mouthful. Cutting sugar intake is a quick and easy way to make extra calories disappear from your diet. Foods containing lots of refined sugar are high in calories, and most of those calories are nutritionally empty. What about fruit, doesn't it have a lot of "fruit" sugar (fructose), you might ask? The answer is yes, but it is so beneficial that fruit overcomes this problem.

　

The average American consumes 22 to 28 teaspoons of added sugars per day, mostly from high-fructose corn syrup and table sugar, or sucrose, according to the University of California at Berkeley. This amounts to 350 to 440 extra calories daily. Many people consume significantly more than this, putting themselves at risk for type 2 diabetes and obesity-related conditions such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Eliminating excessive amounts of sugar from your diet can help you lose weight.

　

Reducing the amount of sugar in your diet may make you eat less food overall, promoting weight loss. When you eat simple carbohydrates, such as candy, soda or doughnuts, your pancreas creates insulin, a hormone that processes the food into blood sugar and moves it to your body's cells for energy use. If you eat these foods excessively, your pancreas must produce a large amount of insulin at once, prompting your body to start storing fat. The insulin surge then causes your blood sugar levels to drop quickly, leaving you feeling tired and hungry again.

　

Replacing Simple Carbohydrates

You can cut calories and keep your appetite in check by replacing candy and other high-sugar foods with complex carbohydrates. Fruit, vegetables and whole-grain varieties of bread, cereal and rice contain carbohydrates that take your body longer to use. Whole-grain cereals contain less added sugar than many processed cereals. Substituting white rice, which has a glycemic index of 89, with brown rice, with a glycemic of 50, can keep your blood sugar levels steady and reduce your urge to eat between meals, helping you lose weight.

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