Personal Narrative: 21-Day Sugar

Looking at the bar graphs from the past 3 weeks what stood out most was that in week 6 my Total Calories was a lot high than in weeks 5 or 7. I think this may have been because of a trip home to see my family where I consumed larger amounts of food and had food more available to me. I also consumed a significant amount of protein that week at 96.56 grams which is a big deficit between weeks 5 and 7 where I did not exceed 57.05 grams of protein for either week. My total carbohydrate intake during that week was surprisingly lower than weeks 5 or 7 and I consumed the carbs during week 7 with 279.26 grams. The amount of sugar I had during all three weeks remained pretty consistent with each other and I didn’t notice any big deficits. I usually

Originally it was hard for me to decide what my topic would be, because I knew there were so many aspects of my character that I could Improve. Over time I realized that I wanted to work on my consumptions of caffeine, but the substance I had wanted to work on the most was my consumption of soda. I felt as if I drank too much and attempted to use that to replace water. Soda hasn’t been a big problem for me but It’s usually my first choice for a drink. Written by Samantha Olson a writer for Medical Daily, with the large amount of high fructose corn syrup in soda that allows the higher risk of metabolic syndrome, a condition associated with heart disease (Olson). Heart Disease runs in my family so I thought this would be a good place to start. Alongside that soda isn’t a very healthy substance so

And for sugar I went over the limit by 22 grams, which can have a really bad effect on my body no too far in the

. . . In this issue of the JCI [Journal of Clinical Investigation], Stanhope and colleagues demonstrate that consumption of fructose-sweetened but not glucose-sweetened beverages for 10 weeks increases de novo lipid synthesis, promotes dyslipidemia, impairs insulin sensitivity, and increases visceral adiposity in overweight or obese adults” (Abstract). Fructose sweetener is another way to say high fructose corn syrup. This study proved that fructose sweetened drinks caused harm to the body and signaled a starting point for diseases such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, insulin difficulties, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and ultimately coronary heart disease. Not only does high fructose cause stress on the body, but fructose can also cause serious

Reasonably sugar is constantly viewed as unnecessary harmful for consumers of all ages. In relations to this wonted view, people often remove sugar from their daily diets. However, the article “sugar controversy” describes the possible risk factors concerning sugar consumption. The article clarified essential utilization concerning sugar along with alternatives. Noticeably this article underlines the harmful effects of consuming excessive amounts of sugar.

In one study, overweight people expended a day by day supplement of sucrose-sweetened or misleadingly sweetened beverages or nourishments for a 10 week period. A large portion of the supplement was as sodas. People in the sucrose gathering increased 1.6 kg, and people in the fake sweetener gathering lost 1.0 kg. A two week study had members supplement their eating regimen with sugar-sweetened soda pops, misleadingly sweetened sodas, or neither. Although the members put on the most weight when devouring the sugar-sweetened beverages, a percentage of the distinctions were questionable: the contrasts between men who expended sugar-sweetened beverages or no beverages was not measurably

My personal health was created by the life I have live therefore I am overweight because of my eating habits. This excess weight can limit my mobility, and put me at risk for health complication in the future. One fault that I have is the over consummation over sugar. I believe my high levels of sugar are because of me drinking soda, and this high amount of sugar not only cost more compare to water or tea it contains no nutrition value. This lack of nutrition leads to me wanting more sooner cause it does not fill me up. This excess amount of sugar from sodas can also lead to obesity, diabetes and hypertension. (Harvard) Another nutrition that I consume far too much of is cholesterol. This nutrient can be found in oils, meat, poultry,

I see a few areas where I could make some small changes that would help improve my diet and help reduce my risk to a lifestyle disease.

It was 2 in the morning when I noticed my bedroom light was still on. I sat up and wondered to myself why it was on. I looked over across the room where my grandmother’s bed was. I noticed she was sound asleep. I remember calling her name asking if she could turn off the light since it was on her side. She woke up from her sleep and had a hard time getting up to reach the light. “Grandma, are you okay?” She answered back in a faint mumbled voice, “I’m okay.” I couldn’t understand what she said and I started to worry. I got up from my bed and walked over to her bed. I grabbed her shoulder to see if she was okay. From just touching her shoulder I noticed her nightgown was drenched from head to toe.

Because sugar is everywhere in our society today, we don’t often think of it as poisonous or dangerous but in fact, ‘death by sugar’ is not an overstatement. Research indicates that sugar is the primary factor causing not only obesity but also chronic and lethal disease. Dr. Robert Lustig, a neuroendocrinologist at the San Francisco school of medicine states that “Sugar can act like poison in high doses—and the amount in our diets has gone beyond toxic” Sugar was not a threat until recently.

I think that the most important physical change I want to make is to start eating healthier. After the food unit in class I really wanted to change what I eat. Ideally I want to start to eat more vegetables and start slowly lowering the amount of animal products I eat. I already do not eat red meat the problem is I really enjoy chicken as well as dairy. I am going to start with meat less Mondays then after a while go very other day without meat and see how it goes.

Hot lunch today was ravioli, with a side of garlic bread. I loved cooking Italian food. It was one of my favorite types of food to prepare and to eat. There was something freeing in it.

In conclusion, sugar can be really bad for people if they eat to much of it. But sugar can really fit into a healthy diet/ lifestyle, people just need to find the right combination and then it will be okay. But if you do not exercise, even if you walk everyday for around 30 minutes or something it is enough, you will gain weight and you will have higher

Notes that all these issues caused by sugar in addition to other health symptoms. As study found

At the end of the trial the results showed subjects with supplemented with sugar foods gained 1.6kg and the artificially sweetened foods lost 1.0 kg. The sugar supplement group didn’t change their sugar intake to compensate for their sugar supplement diet. The artificial sweetener supplement group, daily energy intake decreased by about 105kcal, which would produce a 0.9kg weight loss over a 10 week period. (St-Onge & Heymsfield, 2003) A study of 163 obese women received an energy restricted diet during a 19 week weight loss program.