Too much added sugar

[colleenway82]

Goodmorning, and thank you for taking the time to read my question. I am a health 3
29 year old woman. I do 45 minutes of cardio 6 days a week and I run 2-3 days a week. I track every calorie I eat with an app on my phone. I eat tons of whole grain, fruits and vegetables. All in all, I focus a lot of time trying to eat healthy. My major weakness however is sweets. I ALWAYS go over my sugar goal for the day, not even including the natural sugar in my fruit. I eat granola bars, low fat yogurt, cereal with added sugar, Luna bars, dark chocolate, sauces containing sugar, etc. I eat 1700 calories a day and at least 100g of sugar. I know all this sugar is bad for me, the problem is convincing myself to cut back. I lost 100 pounds last year, had my annual check up and all my numbers were perfect.  So basically I want to know what all this sugar is doing to my body if I seem so healthy now. Is sugar really that bad for you?
Sorry this was so long, thank you for your time.
-Colleen

[Paxiled]

And I should add, I avoid sugar in foods other than dessert if I can.  If you shop in health food stores, you can find sauces and breads and whatever that don't add sugar -- it's getting harder to do, but you can still do it.  The better quality the ingredients in any food the less need there is for a sweetener to make it taste good, so if you can afford it try organically grown sauces and such -- they just need less sugar for taste because organic growing requires older seeds that are more resistant to the elements than more modern hybrids bred to grow with chemical killers and artificial fertilizers, and those older seeds were bred for flavor.

[Paxiled]

I share your pain -- I too have a sugar problem, though it's just after dinner.  But if you exercise  a lot and there's no history of diabetes in your family, it isn't an equal problem for everyone.  We're different.  Less sugar is best, including fruit -- even there, moderation is best.  But of course, it's always bad for your teeth no matter what other effect it will have.  In Chinese medicine, they believe that a diet that is too yang (for example, too much meat) increases sugar craving.  That's one theory.  For me it's more emotionally based.  And remember that simple carbs, such as white flour, are as high in sugar metabolism as sugar itself, sometimes higher.  So basically you have the same problem as anyone with habitual thinking -- you need to get to where you find satisfaction in something other than the sugar.  And I have to add, a lot of athletic people use it as an excuse to eat energy bars, which are very high in either sugar or synthetic sugar, which has its own problems, or more likely both.  But exercise also burns it off and balances blood sugar levels, so again, it all depends on the individual except regarding teeth.

[colleenway82]

Thank you, that helps!

[gymdandee]

The general rule of thumb is the more refined the sugar you eat is, the more likely your body will react negatively way to it.
Blood sugar levels are constantly rising and falling sharply when you ingest too great a volume. So when those levels get too high too quickly, insulin is released in large quantities to break those sugars down fast and return the blood sugar levels to equilibrium.
This puts a strain on your pancreas in the constant creation and release of insulin. Eventually, the strain becomes too much and insulin production becomes erratic, meaning that blood sugar levels can no longer be effectively regulated. This leads to the onset of type II diabetes.
The sugars in fruit are OK it's the refined sugar that's  bad!
An alternative is Unrefined honey and Molasses.
No artificial sweeteners!!