Don’t get this SCARY disease
Let’s have a brownie after dinner.
It’s summer time, let’s get Rocky Roads ice-cream.
We all love sweets. Chocolates, cupcakes, cookies, ice-cream and the list goes on forever. But do we ever think how these things are affecting us internally? — most of us don’t. Diabetes is increasingly becoming a common disease affecting most of the countries. In USA, recent CDC reports suggest that 13% of US adult population suffers from diabetes which amounts to 34.1 million people and the percentage has been increasing year after year.
SCARY FACT
Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States (and may be underreported).
But why ?
Sweetened food products contain exorbitant amounts of added sugar (refined sugar). Refined sugar goes by the name of table sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Refined sugar, unlike natural sugar found in fruits and vegetables, is very harmful for you and a major cause of increasing Type-II diabetes patients worldwide. It sneaks its way into varieties of products, some obvious and some so not.
According to the American Heart Association, men should not intake more than 9 teaspoon of sugar and women no more than 6 teaspoons. And take note, this is not just the sugar you add into you tea or coffee, but all the sugar than goes in your body through different foods you eat all day round. Excess consumption of sugar severely spikes the blood sugar levels in the body, increasing production of insulin and slowly overtime making you insulin resistant and welcoming the dreadful, type-II diabetes.
DID YOU KNOW?
On average Americans consume nearly 100 pounds of sugar and high-calorie sweeteners each year.
A diabetic patient, in United States may have to spend anywhere between $10,000–$15,000 annually on treatment and medical care. Next, I will tell you how you can possibly avoid intake of toxic refined sugar in your body and stay healthy.
How to stay away from DIABETES?
1. Switch to natural sweeteners
One of the major sugar intakes that we have is through the coffee or tea that we drink. Most people like some sugar added to their hot beverages for taste. One thing which people do to avoid sugar is using “sugar-free” or “no-calorie” alternatives such as Splenda. These artificial sweeteners are basically made up of sucralose which, according to some studies, is very bad for your gut health and also has the potential for generating carcinogenic compounds when heated.
Instead go for healthier natural zero-calorie sweeteners like Stevia extract or Monkfruit sweetener. Unlike refined sugar, these natural sweeteners do not spike your blood sugar level and are even safe for consumption by people suffering from diabetes.
2. Eat chocolates (but the right one)
Be it a 3 year old kid, a working professional or an old man enjoying his retirement. All of us LOVE chocolates.
One of the most common and favorite brands, Hershey’s milk chocolate contains a whooping 12 grams of added sugar per 25 grams of chocolate block. That equals almost 4 teaspoons of sugar, FROM JUST ONE CHOCOLATE BAR ! Instead opt for dark chocolates which do not have added sugars in such large quantities.
For example, this is the ingredient list for one of the dark chocolates listed on Amazon. It contains 0 grams of added sugar. You may see another ingredient, Erythritol in it. Erythritol is another name for Stevia extract, which we discussed was a completely safe zero-calorie natural sweetener.
Girls, suffering from PCOS who crave for something sweet during their periods, such chocolates would not only satisfy their sweet tooth, but also keep in control their blood sugar levels which have been linked to worsen PCOS conditions.
3. Watch your beverages
Most of the sweetened beverages, like soft drink, are stupidly high in sugar content. For example, 1 can of Coca-Cola contains a scary 39 grams of sugar (9.75 tsp), which is more than the recommended daily sugar consumption.
Not only soft drinks, but also be careful when consuming store-bought juices. For example, one of the famous brands selling canned Mango juice in the US, adds a crazy 36 grams of sugar in 1 can of Mango juice in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Why? If I want to drink Mango juice, I just want pure Mango flavor. Beware of buying such juices with added sugar, because they do no good to your body. Adding sugar not only spikes blood sugar levels, but also kills the natural good bacteria present in these natural juices. Many juices also contain “natural flavors” or “artificial flavors”. Stay away from them. Buy juices whose ingredients read as simple as the “Orange Juice with Pulp, Added water”.
4. OMG ! This might be hard to give up
We all love Nutella. But have you ever seen the ingredients behind it. I am sure up until now, you have learnt to read the ingredients. 21 grams of sugar, and some of us eat it right in the morning with our bread and coffee. Apart from sugar, it is made of a highly unsustainable “Palm oil”. Not only Nutella, but most spreads like peanut butter, fruit jams contain crazy amounts of sugar. But if you know to read your ingredients, you can very well pickup the healthier choice from the store shelves.
Conclusion
I am sure by now you might have become a pro on how to read the ingredients and stay away from products which may potentially trigger Diabetes. The only philosophy you need to follow is “Watch the back of the product you buy, because the front is always beautiful”. With that I would love to end by quoting the British celebrity chef.
Fight the staggering rise of type-II diabetes by simply learning to cook healthy fresh food- it’s fun and it could save your life! ~ Jamie Oliver.
