My name is Heidi Spidell, I am a Personal Trainer, and I was addicted to Swedish Fish.
Each serving of Swedish Fish has 29 grams of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are one of your body’s main sources of energy, so I was in good shape, right? Wrong!! These carbohydrates from sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup and modified cornstarch are not nutritious. It was Sugar Love for me. I couldn’t eat just one or ten for that matter. But that’s okay, right? Most Americans are eating an average of 22.7 teaspoons of sugar a day and I was keeping right up there with them.
So let’s jump ahead and ask, “Why are so many Americans Obese?” Richard Johnson, a nephrologist, (look it up), at the University of Colorado Denver believes sugar is the major culprit to our obesity epidemic.
It’s not our fat intake making us fat, because we are eating less fat than we did 20 years ago. Johnson believes sugar is toxic, empty calories. If you don’t burn it, it is not going away.
Getting back to why I was addicted. Sugar in the bloodstream stimulates the same pleasure centers of the brain as major narcotics do. Hence, I needed my fix. But after my high-energy candy snack I wasn’t swimming like a fish, I was baking like a potato on the couch. I had no energy. Why would or how could I exercise if I had no energy?
Eating these quickly digested Swedish Fish made my liver process the sugars into triglycerides or protein fats. Eventually down the road, I become like many Americans, wearing the metabolic fat syndrome, middle belly mess.
I couldn’t wean myself. I had to quit cold turkey.
So my sweet tooth is now satisfied with healthy fruits that offer fiber and antioxidants along with their natural sweetness. With more energy I am addicted to exercising and a healthier life style. I am more lean and less fat. Is sugar making you fat?
Let me help you make fit and happy lifestyle choices.