Sugar is casually mixed into recipes or slipped in on the ingredients list of a nutrition label. In fact, according to Harvard Medical School's Health Blog, "added sugars make up at least 10% of the calories the average American eats in a day." Overshadowed by fat in recent nutritional history, sugar has typically been treated as a normal and safe ingredient and is often used as a substitute for fat to improve taste.

​

However, it has health effects that are far-reaching and debilitating, including:

• Decreased satiation

  • Sugar doesn't fill you up, so you eat more calories after consuming it

• Addiction

  • Sugar releases ​dopamine, which causes your brain to want more of it

• Raised cholesterol levels

• Increased risk of disease

  • Type II diabetes

  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (and strains on the liver in general)

  • Heart disease

  • Cancer