Why do we tax cigarettes? Because cigarettes are a known public health hazard. Why is the Surgeon General’s health warning required on cigarette boxes? Because they are a public health hazard. It’s a well-established fact that cigarette smoke is carcinogenic. It’s known that smoking cigarettes leads to emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and lung cancer as well as other horrific disease.
It’s also well known that sugar, particularly added sugar, leads to multiple metabolic disorders. These are modern humans’ most common killers. They include heart disease, type II diabetes, cancer, obesity, and dementia. Added sugar in “food like” products represents a known health hazard and should be treated no differently than cigarettes. We should tax added sugar and require health warning labels on all consumer products that contain added sugar.
Corporate food giants disagree. The big consumer product conglomerates’ argument against is that a sugar tax will increase the consumers’ cost of “food.” Not true simply because sugar is not food. Added sugar is poison. First, let’s be clear about what is actual food. Food is what we eat for nourishment. Real foods include cuts of red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, and milk. Whole intact fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and nuts are also real food. All of these food items have a nutrition profile that benefits us. Added sugar has none.
Added sugar has zero vitamins and zero minerals. Added sugar has zero protein and zero essential fats. Added sugar has only an energy content value. Sugar consumption gives us no nutritional benefit while causing us unmeasurable harm.
When we consume added sugar our body react immediately with a spike in blood glucose. This triggers our pancreas to flood our bloodstream with insulin. The hormone insulin is a messenger that instructs cells to absorb glucose which is stored as fat. In the short term this leads to weight gain and in the long term the chronic inflammation leads to a whole host of metabolic disorders, some of which are mentioned above. No, sugar is not food. Sugar is poison.
It’s important to differentiate between added sugar (sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) and naturally occurring sugar (fructose) found in fruit and root vegetables. Naturally occurring sugar is bound in fiber which means your body breaks it down slowly so it doesn’t spike your blood glucose. Rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, fruit benefits our health. Although it’s true that you can gain as much weight as you want by over eating fruit, a few pieces of fresh fruit a day is great for your overall health. A healthy balanced nutrition plan should include fruit.
Because added sugar is a public health hazard, we all pay for it in the end. It’s no different from the costs that society shares to treat disease caused from smoking cigarettes. We all pay higher health insurance premiums because of the tremendous costs in treating type II diabetes, heart disease, obesity, dementia, and the other metabolic disorders caused by a lifetime of sugar consumption. Unfortunately, those at the lower end of the socio economic spectrum consume the greatest amount of added sugar. The people who least can afford health care are the biggest sugar abusers or victims, depending on how you choose to frame the problem. Abuser or victim, it doesn’t change the fact that we as a society pay for it in the form of higher insurance premiums and public health care. Emergency room visits and subsidized health care for the poor aren’t cheap.
A sugar tax places the costs squarely on those who choose to poison themselves and develop the inevitable health problems. Just as I’m not willing to pay for the costs of lung cancer treatment for someone who has smoked cigarettes their whole life, I don’t want to be on the hook for paying for type II diabetes treatment for people who choose to poison themselves with sugar.
No one has to consume added sugar. Be a smart consumer and read labels. Buy no food like products that contain added sugar. Instead build your nutrition plan with whole intact fresh foods. For an in depth explanation of how to shed fat and build a healthy nutrition plan for life pick up a copy of my book; Get Fit Lean and Keep Your Day job.
Yours in Health and Fitness,
JD Griffin
It’s also well known that sugar, particularly added sugar, leads to multiple metabolic disorders. These are modern humans’ most common killers. They include heart disease, type II diabetes, cancer, obesity, and dementia. Added sugar in “food like” products represents a known health hazard and should be treated no differently than cigarettes. We should tax added sugar and require health warning labels on all consumer products that contain added sugar.
Corporate food giants disagree. The big consumer product conglomerates’ argument against is that a sugar tax will increase the consumers’ cost of “food.” Not true simply because sugar is not food. Added sugar is poison. First, let’s be clear about what is actual food. Food is what we eat for nourishment. Real foods include cuts of red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, and milk. Whole intact fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and nuts are also real food. All of these food items have a nutrition profile that benefits us. Added sugar has none.
Added sugar has zero vitamins and zero minerals. Added sugar has zero protein and zero essential fats. Added sugar has only an energy content value. Sugar consumption gives us no nutritional benefit while causing us unmeasurable harm.
When we consume added sugar our body react immediately with a spike in blood glucose. This triggers our pancreas to flood our bloodstream with insulin. The hormone insulin is a messenger that instructs cells to absorb glucose which is stored as fat. In the short term this leads to weight gain and in the long term the chronic inflammation leads to a whole host of metabolic disorders, some of which are mentioned above. No, sugar is not food. Sugar is poison.
It’s important to differentiate between added sugar (sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) and naturally occurring sugar (fructose) found in fruit and root vegetables. Naturally occurring sugar is bound in fiber which means your body breaks it down slowly so it doesn’t spike your blood glucose. Rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, fruit benefits our health. Although it’s true that you can gain as much weight as you want by over eating fruit, a few pieces of fresh fruit a day is great for your overall health. A healthy balanced nutrition plan should include fruit.
Because added sugar is a public health hazard, we all pay for it in the end. It’s no different from the costs that society shares to treat disease caused from smoking cigarettes. We all pay higher health insurance premiums because of the tremendous costs in treating type II diabetes, heart disease, obesity, dementia, and the other metabolic disorders caused by a lifetime of sugar consumption. Unfortunately, those at the lower end of the socio economic spectrum consume the greatest amount of added sugar. The people who least can afford health care are the biggest sugar abusers or victims, depending on how you choose to frame the problem. Abuser or victim, it doesn’t change the fact that we as a society pay for it in the form of higher insurance premiums and public health care. Emergency room visits and subsidized health care for the poor aren’t cheap.
A sugar tax places the costs squarely on those who choose to poison themselves and develop the inevitable health problems. Just as I’m not willing to pay for the costs of lung cancer treatment for someone who has smoked cigarettes their whole life, I don’t want to be on the hook for paying for type II diabetes treatment for people who choose to poison themselves with sugar.
No one has to consume added sugar. Be a smart consumer and read labels. Buy no food like products that contain added sugar. Instead build your nutrition plan with whole intact fresh foods. For an in depth explanation of how to shed fat and build a healthy nutrition plan for life pick up a copy of my book; Get Fit Lean and Keep Your Day job.
Yours in Health and Fitness,
JD Griffin
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