Blood Sugar In America

I am writing from my home office today on this wonderful Colorado Wednesday afternoon!!

First off I wanted to give a big shout out to everyone who entered in our last drawing for the pair of sterling silver earrings! Roxanne is truly amazing with the things she puts together!! But stay tuned, we are planning weekly giveaways to win some pretty cool stuff! It’s our intention to build a strong community and there is definitely a great vibe going right now so keep it up!!

Let’s jump right into our weekly subject, which is all around blood sugar. We could talk all day about blood sugar and I will tell you why, but first let me ask you question. How many Americans do you think are impacted by diabetes or pre-diabetes conditions? If you said over 100 million then you would be spot on.

Think about that for a moment. To put this in perspective, cities like New York City have a population of 8.5 million and LA a total of 3.9 million people. We are talking 100 million people!! Combine the top fifty largest cities in the US and you come close to this number. That’s a lot of needless suffering! How did this thing spin so far out of control?

Sugar! Sugar! Sugar! In this country we consume 150-170 pounds of sugar per year/per person on average. Personally, I haven’t had a refined sugar in over three years so I am not factoring into that average, so some of us are eating more than this. But this is not about me telling you that you are bad, this is about awareness! To put things in a bit more context:

• 150 lbs. of sugar per year = 6.6 ounces per day or 187 grams
• 1 tsp sugar = 4 grams
• Divide grams of sugar by 5 to determine teaspoons
• Advised max amount of refined sugar; Men 150 calories/37.5 grams per day or 9 teaspoons & Women 100 calories /25 grams or 6 teaspoons
  

Grams Of Sugar Per Serving:

3 Oreos = 13 grams
Protein bars = 11-18 grams
Coke = 39 grams
1 c of Raisin Bran = 19 grams
Yo-plait Yogurt = 27 grams
Bagel with jelly = 20 grams
Apple Juice = 26 grams
Frappuccino =31 grams
 
Deceptive Food Labels
Before I had my last major flare in 2015, I felt I was pretty healthy and that I ate well enough. But let’s be honest, do we even really look at the labels to see what’s in them? I didn’t! If we did, would we even be able to figure out all of the sugar sources?

Big food companies are sneaky and line their packaging with deceptive key words like: heart healthy, all natural, no cholesterol and so on. These don’t mean a thing I am sorry to say and it’s about making a profit at the expense of your health.

I get it, sugar is part of our culture from birthday cakes to chocolate shakes and yes it makes thing taste great, but from personal experience I can tell you that it’s not worth it. And you can find actual products that are not loaded with sugars or you can make them with your own healthy ingredients.

The things I learned from my body are invaluable. The body deals with sugar in a very distinct way and over time chronic sugar intake will eventually lead to blood sugar dysfunction.

How important is sugar to you?
Sit down and ask yourself how important sugar is in the grand scheme of your life. Is it more important than having daily zero energy because your cells no longer want to play the sugar game? They will revolt eventually and become insulin resistant where they reject glucose. This is where fatigue comes into the mix or maybe you are just cranky 24/7 anymore. That’s what happens when the brain is hooked on sugar and can’t get enough. Eventually this all leads to the root of all conditions, inflammation. Sugar=glycation=inflammation. Inflammation triggers real world issues we face like migraines, arthritis, joint pains and if you let it go long enough autoimmunity.

Lastly I will say that this is not your fault! Let me repeat this, it’s not your fault that the majority of products on your shelves are littered with sugars and pseudo sugars (just as bad on the body and in many ways worse) among many other toxic chemicals. The reason these products exist is because the American consumer is largely in the dark about these things and ultimately your dollar is your voting power.

In closing, this is a big deal and if you want to get to the root of 99% of any health issue you may have or someone you love may have, you need to strategize a way to filter processed food and sugars out of your diet. If you or someone you love suffers, I implore you to take some steps. Send us a message and let’s work together. We can help you with a lasting plan to tackle this burden! This is not about counting calories, it’s about sugar and what it is doing to your body. Look forward to chatting with you!
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Thank you for reading and following, it is truly a blessing to be a part of this community.  Have a wonderful week!