I do a fair amount of harping about processed foods, focussing a lot on grains and frankenoils and such. I should talk more about what I consider to be the number one killer in all the world: sugar, especially refined sugar and concentrated forms.
Now, let me show you why. But first, how much sugar is circulating in your entire body at any one time? Let's say you have ideal fasting blood glucose (80 milligrams per deciliter -- mg/dl). For an average sized person with a blood volume of 5 liters, that comes out to...ready for this?...ONE 4 gram SUGAR CUBE. Skeptical? Well, let Dr. Michael Eades convince you.
Now, at an average consumption of 156 pounds per American per year, "only" 29 pounds of that is from the sugar bowl. The rest is added sugar in the products most Americans are eating. How much is that? Well, here's what 4,373 of them look like.
At 4 grams each (remember, that's the total volume of sugar in a fasted, healthy person), that block is 17,492 grams, or only 38 pounds (it's actually hollow). That's only 10 pounds more than what the average person gets from the sugar bowl. So, how many sugar cubes does the average American consume, per year? How about 17,690 sugar cubes, meaning that the Average American consumes over seventeen thousand times their normal fasted blood sugar in the space of the year. That means they consume 49 times their blood sugar every day and if they're awake for 16 hours, that's 3 times per waking hour. If we look at it in terms of three meals and two snacks, that's 10 times normal blood sugar per meal or snack.
And it's a mystery to everyone why health is so messed up, consuming that quantity of something that was never in our diets in any quantity before 100 years ago? Instead, we hear endless calls from expert-morons that we need to cut the fat, something that has been part of our diet in significant quantity for eons. Frankly, I'm amazed the problems aren't far worse. What a resilient organ, that pancreas.
So, how do we get so much sugar? Here's how, right here: Sugar Stacks. Keep in mind as you browse through the many illustrations, that each sugar cube represents total blood glucose volume (4 grams) in a healthy fasted individual.
So, one can of cola, 9 times normal blood sugar.
Be sure to get LOW- FAT ice cream. Don't worry that a scoop is five times normal blood sugar.
Uh oh! I think Mrs. Fields uses REAL BUTTER in her cookies. Run away!
Tell me you've never downed a whole bag of these. And how about the movie theater king sized ones?
The HEALTHY LOW-FAT alternative!
Stick with the berries, paleo people!
And veggies!
At nearly 14 times normal blood sugar. Caution: don't get it with the arterycloggingstaturatedfat butter melted on top. That's unhealthy!
At nearly 28 times normal blood sugar, I sure hope they don't use real FULL-FAT CREAM in these. That would really be a lot of FAT!
So, be sure to look at all the pictures over at Sugar Stack, bookmark it and pass it along to family and friends, and pass around this entry as well. Most people have no clue about the massive amounts of sugar they are eating.
And keep another thing in mind: this is based upon average consumption of 155 pounds of sugar per person per year. There are plenty of individuals consuming over 250 pounds per year.
New Year’s Resolutions Are Bullshit (in pictures)
Wow! block o' sugar….The focus with most MD's and the media is always on fat, especially saturated. I feel that sugar is the real culprit.
Oh. My. God.
Wow. Really makes it concrete. Great post. Thanks for sharing.
This post should have been tagged under 'food porn'.
Love those picture graphs! Makes it a lot easier to visualize. People need to start thinking of excess sugar as a toxic drug
It won't kill you quickly but getting too much will shorten your life and greatly diminish the quality of life.
I used to be a soda junky many years ago and slowly gained weight over time. Then when my doctor told me to go on a low-fat diet the weight gain accelerated as I started eating more foods with fat removed and sugar added in it's place. I became terribly addicted! I didn't have much luck with losing weight until I broke the sugar addiction and went low-carb. I then added IF to lose more weight and I finally have managed to lose the 40 pounds I gained going low-fat. And that's despite gaining about 10 pounds of muscle from walking and running most days.
You make a literal point.
Richard Nikoley
Yep. Our genes want us to be lean and attractive animals.
Richard Nikoley
That's really quite depressing.
And just how do servings of "heart healthy" bread, cereals, pastas stack up? Sugar is sugar, eh!? I get inflamed just looking at this sorta thing, realizing how many folks are unaware and keep sucking it in, the sugar that is.
Well, off to get some vitamin D, decent weather and a day off. Into the woods!
Well said, great post.
I should make this site pop up whenever I have an ice cream craving…
*getting a strawberry instead*
Dear Richard, GREAT post. Nothing more useful and intuitive than seeing this way what really is in our food.
A serving of carrots has the equivalent amount of sugar as what currently runs through your veins. So how long does it take your body to burn through that cube of sugar?
I had a hard time figuring out the size of the big stack of sugar cubes in the first picture. It would be more effective with a common object next to it to demonstrate the scale, since tiles and walls are relatively featureless. You could tweak the contrast so the boundaries between individual cubes are more apparent.
I was just to Costco and noticed some organic lemonade in bottles – out of curiosity I checked the ingredients. Sure enough lots of organic cane sugar – more than 20 grams per 8 oz! Of course no one drinks less than a big glass which could easily be twice that. Is higher quality poison better for you I wonder?
Great pictures to illustrate what so many people (including me in the past) used to consume – it would be helpful to see some of those "healthy" foods with the same sugar stacks.
For a really dramatic photo, they should show Joe Average standing beside the stack of sugar he consumes in a year – be mindful of an avalanche.
Hey Richard,
Great images! Way to grab the reader's attention and put everything in perspective.
Also want to compliment you on taking action. I sat next to you in Art's seminar in Las Vegas. When I see the progress you have made, I am inspired to act. Knowing is not enough. It takes doing. Way to go!
I am forwarding this to people right now!
Thanks, Robert. Hard to believe it has been about a year since that conference.
Great visual illustrations. I'm going to use this in a lecture. Don't forget about the low fat products that "supplement" lost flavor with sodium. In addition to sugar, Americans are eating far more salt than we realize.
That site is very misleading.
They only seem to be using the literal "sugar" stat from the label (which I assume is added sugar), not the total sugar (total carbohydrate – fiber). All carbohydrate, minus the fiber, eventually ends up as blood sugar, not just the "sugar".
Check out the cheerios picture for instance. I seriously doubt a bowl of cheerios ends up as a quarter cube of sugar in your blood. More like three or four. Cheerios is basically puffed glucose.
Nice visual.
You might want to share this visual with your readers. Annual consumption of sugar by drinking 1 12-ounce soda per day – http://bit.ly/awEpYV –
The first time I saw it, I couldn’t believe it and did the gram calculation over and over again to be sure it was correct.
Wow Ken. And I loved the comment about how the bottle of Pom will resemble one’s body after a time.