Foods That Are Slowly Killing Americans

So let's take a quick look at one of the first items.

Let's talk about sugar-sweetened beverages.

Americans consume billions of gallons of sugary beverages every year.

Now, while these beverages may taste refreshing, many of these beverages contain such large amounts of sugar and absolutely no to very little nutritional value.

Now, you ever wonder how soft drinks are manufactured or how are they made? Most soft drinks begin with filtered water, and then they blend in high fructose corn syr- syrup rather, or refined sugar.

Now, high fructose corn syrup is produced when they mill corn into starch, then they convert the starch into glucose with these enzymes, and then part of that conversion ends up making the glucose into fructose.

Now, anytime you hear "ose," O-S-E, you know that that is a sugar.

So then they take this sweetener and they mix it with all these flavor concentrates, and then they add chemicals for preservatives such as phosphoric or citric acid.

These are preservatives.

They add artificial colors, then they're gonna throw in a little caffeine, and then they also put, uh, carbon dioxide in it before it's being bottled or canned under pressure.

Then you also have, uh, energy drinks.

You know, energy drinks and other sports drinks are just as bad as a sugar-sweetened beverage because these type drinks often include additional stimulants, artificial sweeteners, flavor enhancers, color a- coloring agents, and these different types of vitamin blends to try to increase shelf appeal.

So why is this harmful? Well, when you think about it, when consumed on a regular basis, these beverages can cause rapid spikes in your blood sugar.

Your pancreas responds by releasing these large amounts of insulin, and that's gonna move sugar, you know, into your cells.

Now, over a period of time, repeated insulin surges may contribute to insulin resistance, which is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, 'cause you know there's two types, you know, type 1 and type 2.

And also, when it comes to excess sugar, the body cannot immediately use all of it, and what it doesn't use, it's converted into fat, and a lot of this is going to be stored around your liver or your abdomen, and this increases what's called, uh, the risk of fatty liver disease.

It's also going to increase your risk for obesity.

Your triglycerides may be elevated.

It can also contribute to heart disease and chronic inflammation, because liquid calories, they do not create the same feeling of fullness as whole foods, and sometimes people are consuming so many extra calories that are not beneficial to their bodies, and they don't even realize it.

Now, just looking here, what does the American Heart Association and other organizations say about these sweet, sugary beverages? According to the American Heart Association, the average American consumes far more added sugar than recommended.

The association recommends limiting added sugar to no more than six teaspoons per day for women and nine teaspoons per day for men.

Now, this is important to know because excess added sugar contributes to calories, again with no nutritional benefit, and is associated with obesity and heart disease.

Now, if you think about it, a single can of s- regular soda is going to contain about 10 teaspoons of added sugar, and that, oh boy, that way exceeds the recommended daily limit, daily limit for many adults, 'cause remember, you just heard me say the American Heart Association recommends no more than six.

And there was a case study was done.

Uh, research published over many years has consistently shown that people who regularly consume sugar-sweetened beverages have a higher risk of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.