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Ok so I watched the  60 minutes episode on sugar (click here and watch it!). The research is in. Sugar is as toxic as cigarettes and alcohol. In studies using human volunteers fed a regimented diet followed by blood tests, they found that increasing sugar in the diet, elevated the bad LDL cholesterol, the culprit in heart disease and heart attack deaths.

It turns out sugar also feeds cancer cells. They love glucose (sugar) as much as our muscle cells love sugar for exercise.

What was interesting is that in an evolutionary sense, we have learned to eat and enjoy sugar since plants were on the earth. There is not one plant that contains sugar that is poisonous. Therefore eating a plant with sugar was considered safe. Now we have taken it too far. We are eating way too much sugar in blatant treats like candy, cakes and ice cream, but also drinking sugar in soda pop, sports drinks, and even fruit juice.

Sugar is often a hidden ingredient in foods that don’t even taste sweet. Many processed foods are made with high fructose corn syrup, which has little to do with corn. So the bottom-line. If you want to eat the perfect diet, seriously cut down on sugar. The recommendation for men is no more than 150 grams of sugar and for woman no more than 100 grams per day.

Eat your sugar naturally in fruit and real food that does not come out of a box or package. Fruit has natural sugar, satisfying our need for something sweet, but it also adds vitamins and fiber.

Avoid white breads, sweetened yogurts, sweetened cereals and the obvious gooey desserts.

When you are buying breakfast cereals make sure they have less than 5 grams of sugar and lots of fiber and protein.

Avoid Soft drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices with added sugars.

Drink more water and eat more fresh foods.

In the end, you know I am the Middle Way so although I pretty much follow my own recommendations, I will occasionally have my cake and eat it too!