It’s no secret that our understanding and opinions of things are always changing — after all, there was once a time that original Coca-Cola contained small amounts of cocaine, and doctors assured patients that smoking cigarettes had no negative effect on health. After decades of exploration and experimentation we’ve left many of these beliefs behind, but even now we certainly don’t know everything.
When it comes to achieving optimal physical health, the golden rule often changes: yoga, high-intensity training, “eating clean” under various diets. Over time it’s become widely accepted by the nutrition industry that diet plays a much larger role in physical health than we ever expected. The things we eat and drink help determine how quickly we dispose of fat, and the efficiency of our mental and digestive processes. Today, as more people are dying from obesity-related diseases than from starvation, we finally know the culprit: sugar.
This discovery isn’t necessarily shocking; no man or woman will eat a dozen cupcakes each day and call themselves healthy. Societally, we know that large amounts of sugar can wreak havoc on the way our body functions, but we don’t know exactly what food products contain unhealthy amounts of sugar. This can’t be chalked up to simple ignorance — we’re being deceived by government sectors and corporations who serve to profit on our lack of knowledge.
The first violation occurs in the food industry, when producers draw consumers in with promises of “low fat” and “light” versions of their favorite foods. What consumers don’t know is that these foods are filled with obscene amounts of sugar to make up for the worsening of taste caused by the removal of fats. It follows, then, that consumers are comforted by their “healthy” choices without realizing that the amount of sugar they’re consuming is completely detrimental to the health they’re trying so hard to improve.
The way companies market their products also plays a role in what we deem healthy and worth buying. How often do we see commercials for zucchini and kale? How much more often do we watch schoolkids pumping a victorious fist into the air when they discover processed, sugary snacks in their lunchbox? The very perception of food that advertising companies give our children is skewed in favor of sugar, and as kids begin consuming these foods, their brains change in response.
According to the Huffington Post, sugar lights up the same areas of the brain as heroin or cocaine, and its effects on the body over time are just as dire. Excess sugar consumption creates an obvious increase in risk when it comes to obesity, diabetes and other related diseases. It acts much like a drug and should be treated and regulated like one. Our government regulates the tobacco industry because of its danger to our health, and it should be doing the same for children’s sugar consumption. Our health and that of our children hangs in the balance.