Article By Terri Abrams // EEW Magazine // Health & Fitness

It is well known that within the black community there are higher rates of diabetes, and a huge part of the problem can be linked to sugar consumption.

Christian actress Sherri Shepherd started her sugar-free keto diet in March 2018, and it improved her diabetes. The 52-year-old said cutting the sugar made such a huge impact, her doctor told her she wasn’t even pre-diabetic. That’s amazing!

The former View co-host and Brian Banks star has been very public about her struggle with Type 2 diabetes after receiving her diagnosis in 2007. Shepherd, who was once on Metformin, a drug to regulate Type 2 diabetes, no longer needs it since her no-sugar diet changed her life.

If you want to be healthier, be like Shepherd, and get rid of all that sugar in your diet. What many people don’t know, however, is that added sugar is in almost 70 percent of packaged foods—even so-called “health foods.”  Yikes! This is why you must be diligent about reading labels on breads, yogurts, sauces, snack foods  and more.

On average, Americans consume about 17 teaspoons of added sugar. To put this in context, men should only have nine teaspoons, women should only have six teaspoons, and children should have only approximately three teaspoons, but definitely no more than six.

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Whatever the size of your waistline, cutting sugar is a must. “It’s not about being obese, it has to do with metabolic health,” Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, told The New York Times. “Sugar turns on the aging programs in your body,” Dr. Lustig said. “The more sugar you eat, the faster you age.”

Many scientists even say added sugar plays a huge part in the obesity epidemic. The Times cites a 15-year study that shows, eating high amounts of added sugar doubles the risk of heart disease and increases the risk for Type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.

Although sugar, called fructose, is found in natural food like fruits—which are perfectly fine and healthy to eat—it isn’t the same as added sugar in processed foods. Fruit containing fructose in its natural state also gives you much-needed micronutrients and fiber which slows down the absorption rate of sugar and regulates how fast it enters your bloodstream.

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But fructose in processed junk like fruit drinks and snacks, have hardly any fiber or nutrients. So your body winds up getting a big dose of fructose that spikes your insulin. And that can have a huge, negative impact on your health.

If you want an easy wait to cut down on added sugars (and sugars altogether), eat natural, whole foods with only one or a few ingredients at most. Also, learn the names of hidden sugars. Manufacturers can be very sneaky. Here are some: Glucose, Dextrose, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Lactose, Maltose, and Sucrose. And there are plenty more where those came from!

Cutting sugar isn’t easy, especially if you don’t read labels and if you over-consume processed foods. In 2020, work hard to kick your sugar habit. Your body, your mind and your overall health will thank you.