Everyone has their favorite candy and sweets!
Chocolate, gummies, lollipops.
Everyone loves a sweet treat now and again.
But can you imagine what it would be like if you could eat your favorite treats for
a week straight?
The average american consumes about 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day.
Added means anything that’s not naturally in foods.
But the American Heart Association recommends that you limit your added sugar to only 6
teaspoon for women and 9 teaspoons for men!
But why?
Sugar tastes so good!
Wouldn’t a full week of nothing but sugar be fun?
Sugar is made of sucrose, a simple carbohydrate that has calories your body needs to burn
for energy.
Sucrose once ingested is broken down by an enzyme in the body into two parts: Glucose
and Fructose.
The glucose passes through the liver and then is sent directly to the cells in the body
and burned for energy.
The fructose gets broken down and used for energy but is also stored in fat cells called
adipocytes.
Sugar in high enough doses can be toxic to the body.
The dose depends on how much you weigh!
The average adult in the US weighs about 180 pounds and about 13.5 grams of sugar per pound
is the deadly dose.
That’s around 5.4 pounds of sugar or 262 pieces of candy.
But it would be difficult to consume all that sugar at once!
So what about having it spread out over several days?
The first 1-3 days won’t be that bad, you won’t notice much difference in your mood.
However you will be hungry!
Because sugar is really just a carbohydrate it doesn’t have any of the fat, protein,
vitamins or minerals that your body needs to function.
Sugar not only tastes good but when you eat it your body tells you that it wants more.
When you consume it, the sugar spikes insulin levels and hormones that trigger a reward
center in your brain.
As the sugar gets broken down that feeling fades away and your body just craves more
and more.
In other words, sugar is addictive!
But because it’s just a simple carbohydrate, it’s not nourishing so it just makes you
hungry.
So the first thing you’ll notice is that the candy tastes great but you’ll still
be ravenous all the time.
By the 4th day you might start to feel a little fatigued, have some trouble concentrating
at normally easy tasks and most of all…
You’ll be really, really hungry!
Eating nothing else but sugar deprives your body of essential vitamins and nutrients.
So over time your red blood cell count will plummet, scurvy can set in due to lack of
vitamin C, and it will eventually start to rot your teeth.
All this won’t happen by day 5 but you will definitely start to feel some of the effects
of a nutrient deficient diet.
You’ll start to have trouble sleeping, you’ll feel weak, fatigued, and your concentration
will only get worse.
Not to mention the stomach problems.
Since you’re not getting any fiber, you’ll begin to have some serious bathroom blues.
You might even suffer from some very painful stomach aches.
By day 7 you’ll be downright sluggish, and eating the candy and sugar will only make
you more hungry!
It will be difficult to walk because your legs will be shaking from lack of strength,
you’ll be more tired than ever and your cognitive functioning will be absolutely shot!
You could probably survive on sugar for a month or two if you had access to clean water
as well, but you won’t feel good.
Other symptoms will begin to creep up and the symptoms you’ve already experienced
will only continue to get worse.
Sugar will begin to ruin your teeth by destroying the good bacteria in your mouth, it will wreak
havoc on your brain and digestive system, and it can trigger some pretty deadly diseases
including heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.
But let’s say you’re not eating only candy, one of the big problems with our modern diets
is that sugar is in a LOT of other foods besides candy.
It’s in ketchup, pastas, salad dressings, and even a lot of premade savory dishes you
wouldn’t expect like pizza and pad Thai!
Most people have WAY too much sugar in their diet and are feeling some of the bad side
effects even without eating only sugar for a week straight!
But is there any kind of sugar that is okay for you?
Naturally occurring sugars in fruits are better for you because they also come with vitamins,
nutrients and fiber…
But in the end this sugar has the same effect on the body as refined added sugars…
So consume everything, even fruit in moderation!
So will you die from eating sugar for a week straight?
No, probably not, however you aren’t going to feel good.
And the worst part?
After a week of candy, you might never want to eat candy again!
Remember, it’s a treat for a reason.