Is Sugar the Only Thing to Limit in the American Diet?

Why We Should Take a Look at Our Diet as a Whole

By David L. Katz, MD, Senior Medical Advisor, Verywell |These days, the harms of excessive sugar in our diets are getting a lot of attention. Those harms are real, and the attention warranted up to a point. What is not warranted are the claims that the harms of excess sugar are newly discovered, or have been concealed from the public. The very first Dietary Guidelines for Americans, all the way back in 1980, had seven key take-away points. Number five was to limit intake of sugar.

The tendency to invoke one scapegoat or silver bullet when it's the whole dietary pattern that matters is a classic example of missing the forest for the trees. Sugar is excessive in our diets; but it certainly is not the one thing wrong with prevailing eating patterns, nor do the harms of excess sugar exonerate refined starches, fatty and processed meats, excess sodium, or saturated fats.
Thoughtful commentary on sugar in the context of the whole diet is provided below. From my perspective, it lands right in the sweet spot, with a focus on wholesome foods, mostly plants, in sensible combinations as the best way to get nutrition right.
Andy Bellatti, MS, RD
Co-founder and Strategic Director of Dietitians for Professional Integrity
There are many reasons to limit our intake of added sugars (i.e. table sugar, agave, honey, maple syrup, etc.) and free sugars (i.e. fruit juice). An increasing body of research is connecting the dots between high intakes of these sugars and increased risks of—and worsening of—hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Added and free sugars provide calories, but no nutrition. This is why you can drink a few hundred calories of soda—or eat a few hundred calories of candy—and still be hungry. Eating an orange is a much better choice than drinking orange juice because the juice is a concentrated source of sugar, while the whole fruit also provides fiber and more nutrients that offer various health benefits.

So, yes, it is definitely important to keep an eye on sugar intake. Several health organizations have set daily recommended limits. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 36 grams (9 teaspoons) for adult men and 24 grams (6 teaspoons) for adult women. The World Health Organization recommends capping added sugar intake at 10 percent of total calories, and states that five percent is even better. For someone eating 1,600 calories a day, 10 percent of total calories equals 40 grams (10 teaspoons) and five percent of total calories equals 20 grams (5 teaspoons).
The average American is getting roughly 88 grams of added sugar a day, so a general call to reduce intake is smart.
With all of that said, it is never wise to blame one food or nutrient for all of our public health ills. As important as limiting added sugar is, it is equally important to limit one's intake of red meat, processed meats, sodium, and refined grains (i.e. baked goods made with white flour).
One of the negative unintended consequences of focusing strictly on sugar is that, by default, unhealthy foods that don't contain added sugar (i.e. bacon, sausages, margarine) can be misconstrued as "healthy." Nutrition is about a food's total package.

Nacho cheese Doritos have 0 grams of sugar, but that does not make them a health food.

And, as important as limiting added sugar is, it is equally important to make sure that we eat 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day (the average American eats 14 grams). Fiber is exclusively found in whole, plant-based foods. Concerns about added sugar, as valid and science-based as they are, should not be mistaken as a green light to load up on steak, sausage, and ham.
Christopher Gardner, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Stanford University
If there is only one wrong thing about the American diet, then this might suggest everything else is right, or at least OK, which isn’t correct.

We cannot vindicate trans fats, sodium, saturated fat, processed meat, artificial dyes, and so on.

Were the question modified to ask if sugar is the most negative of the American diet, we could easily poke holes in that statement by finding individuals who do not overdo sugar intake, but still have an unhealthy diet.
I can certainly imagine that the simplicity of vilifying sugar and trying to avoid it could be helpful to some individuals. With the exception of natural sugars of fruits and vegetables, all of the foods that Americans eat with added sugars are hyper-palatable and ultra-processed foods, and most of those would fall into the categories of candy, junk foods, and fast foods. Those foods are also low in fiber, low in vegetables, and not plant-based whole foods.
My concern is that by focusing on what to vilify and avoid, rather than what to celebrate and include, many clever Americans will find a way to avoid sugars but choose another not-so-healthy replacement  (with the food industry’s help), and still manage to avoid fiber, vegetables, and a plant-based whole food diet.
Let’s focus on what Americans should eat more of—from a nutrient perspective, we should focus on fiber, from a food group perspective we should focus on vegetables, from a diet-pattern perspective, we should focus on a more plant-based whole food diet.
Joel Kahn, MD, FACC
Clinical Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Wayne State University School of Medicine
Sugar is not the one and only thing wrong with the American diet, particularly amongst children. The habit of eating healthy meals has been all but lost. In a recent publication of the American Heart Association, the number of children who adhere to a healthy diet was recorded as under 1 percent! Yes, you read that right. Among adults it is a slightly higher but still miserable 1.5 percent.
The definition used as the healthy dietary pattern was not complete avoidance of all the 57 versions of sugar. Rather, the recommendations were far more balanced. The goals recorded in the AHA paper were to "consume ≥4.5 cups/day of fruits and vegetables, ≥2 servings/wk of fish, and ≥3 servings/day of whole grains and no more than 36 oz/wk of sugar-sweetened beverages and 1500 mg/d of sodium."
The public anxiety about the health consequences of dietary sugar are highlighted in two articles in the New York Times. In one, the author reports on the dozens of names for added and hidden sugars in food. In fact, there are 57 that we are advised to check for and avoid on labels. It would seem like a full time occupation, perhaps aided by a sugar-synonym smart phone app, to screen all product labels for these 57 versions. The article is without scientific references and represents the angst the public has- that if eating 150-170 pounds of sugar a year is an outrageous and dangerous statistic, then eating any sugar must also be harmful. Author Gary Taubes is in part responsible for that paranoia which is without scientific support.
There is no doubt that the American public and its children eat too much added sugar in processed foods and drinks and would benefit from a drastic reduction in that amount. However, to stand a chance in reversing the epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and other chronic lifestyle maladies, diet cannot be approached with the focus that a single nutrient is the devil, as the devil is the Western dietary pattern stuffed with added oils, salt, sugars, and chemical additives wrapped in plastic lined containers.
Thanks for Reading...........

Best Ways to Shorten Your Life....... Avoid These and Live Longer

Looking around, I'd say that people are looking for ways to shorten their lives. Smoking, eating too much, and more all add up to subtract years from your life expectancy. Take a look at these top ten ways to shorten your life. Feel proud of each one that doesn't describe you.
1
SmokeSmoking is a fantastic way to not only to shorten your life but to reduce your quality of life too. Not only will smokers have up to 10 years less life on average, they will also suffer from side effects like insomnia, shortness of breath and agitation from almost day one. Best of all, they get to pay thousands of dollars a year for these results. And if you want to shorten your lifespan, don't think you can let up on smoking as you age -- even in middle age or later, when people quit smoking their health improves greatly.

2

Bad Driving / No Seatbelt

Here's another great way to shorten your life expectancy: drive recklessly and don't wear a seatbelt. Driving accidents are a leading cause of death for young people (and a major cause of death for older people too)

3

Don't Exercise

Being a coach potato shortens your life expectancy by as much as 9 years. Basically, when your don't work out regularly, your cells tend to age faster (not to mention the extra weight that seems to stick to you more). Not exercising is also a great way to increase your stress level while decreasing your energy level. Not exercising even helps you not fall asleep at night. So if you want to shorten your life expectancy, be tired all the time and feel tense -- not exercising might be right for you.

4

Don't Eat Fruits and Vegetables

Be careful about fruits and vegetables. They contain substances that not only keep you healthy, but that also repair some of the damage caused by aging. When you eat them, they actually can reverse aging in your body. If you are looking to shorten your life span, be sure not to eat more than a few fruits and vegetables each day and cover them in butter and cheese to erase their anti-aging and health benefits.

5

Be Stressed

Being stressed is a fantastic way to shorten your life. Not only does chronic stress damage tissues in the body through the continual exposure to harmful stress hormones, it also makes you no fun to be around and even interferes with your sleep. This can lead to having fewer friends and a negative outlook (see below). To shorten your life expectancy: avoid relaxation techniques, take everything very personally and try to take on more than is humanly possible.

6

Dislike Aging

People can get really worked up about growing older. It makes them depressed and even angry (they look at aging as "unfair" in some way). Turns out those attitudes are a great way to avoid excessive aging. People with a negative attitude toward aging live more than 7 years less than those with a very positive attitude. So if aging really bothers you, dwell on it a lot and maybe you won't have as many birthdays to worry about

7

Don't Get Screened

Screening tests (mammograms, skin cancer checks, etc.) bring up lots of weird attitudes. Many people say "they just don't want to know." Avoiding these tests is another fantastic way to shorten your life. By avoiding screening, you can also avoid accessing the fabulous advances in early treatment and diagnosis that have saved millions of lives.

8

Eat Too Much

Here's a method for lifespan shortening that I don't have to tell most people about. Eating lots of food is a great way to decrease your life expectancy. In fact, when researchers feed monkeys 30% less food, they live longer. Good research shows this probably applies to humans. So, in simple terms, the more food you eat the shorter your life.

9

Skip Church Services

No one really knows why (divine justice?) but skipping church or other religious services can shorten your life expectancy by a few years. It seems that people who go to religious services regularly just live longer. To shorten your life expectancy, avoid religious services at all costs and (just to be safe) don't even look at a church, mosque, temple or synagogue.

10

Don't Have Friends / Spouse

You can even use your social life to shorten your life expectancy. By avoiding friends and not being in an intimate relationship (like a marriage), your life span decreases. Of course, the quality of your friends/spouse matter too. Researchers have not determined which shortens your life span more -- having no friends/spouse or having bad friends/spouse.

Thanks for Reading .........