I think I am about 2 Reese’s peanut butter chocolate eggs away from a sugar induced coma.  I woke up this morning after a day of stuffing myself with candy and cupcakes and downed an ice cream float then traced it with Butterfingers.  This left me feeling even more sick and lethargic than when I first work up (it took me an hour just to get out of bed) plus I was feeling really dehydrated and had a funny taste in my mouth.  It got me thinking just what are the effects of sugar overload on the body?  So I consulted a book I’ve been reading on child nutrition called Picky?  Not me Mom! by Karla Heintz.
She has a great chapter on energy level in which she addresses ADHD and ways you can alter your child’s diet that may help with their hyperactivity.  Lucky for me in this chapter she also addresses the association between sugar and energy level.  The book explained perfectly why I continued my sugar binge this morning.  Apparently after we eat sugar our bodies create insulin to try and bring  blood sugar levels back  down to normal.  Often times it creates too big of a drop in our blood sugar which is why we then crave more sugar.  It is also why the big increase in energy can quickly be followed with lethargy.  This totally explains why Eva woke up this morning BEGGING me for candy.  She would not stop and now I feel really guilty because I let her eat so much candy yesterday.  Poor thing her little body is just trying to balance itself back out.
Another important point she makes in the book is that many “white” foods such as pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, and flour can have the same effect because they have a high glycemic index value.  Heintz suggests instead of feeding your child sugary or processed cereals for breakfast give them something high in protein and fiber such as an egg with whole grain bread or fruit with yogurt.  (The book states that is better to give actual fruit instead of fruit juice because the juice lacks fiber.)
She questions the research that shows no relationship between energy levels and sugar consumption, which is something I always wondered about.  Instead Heintz suggest observing your child’s behavior after consuming large amounts of sugar and challenges you to test the theory for yourself.

Let’s play “How many grams of sugar are in that?”

A teaspoon of sugar Is 4 grams.  The USDA recommends no more than 12 teaspoons (or48 grams) of sugar be consumed a day (on a daily intake of 2200 calories).  Sadly most Americans consume well over this amount…about 47 teaspoons of sugar every day.  Think about that for a second, 47 teaspoons of sugar in a day!  Think about pouring 47 teaspoons of sugar in your mouth every day!  That is insane!

I pulled some things out of my pantry and sadly I wasn’t really surprised how much sugar some of the things had.

5 Reese’s Peanut Butter chocolate eggs = 19 grams of sugar = 4.75 teaspoons
4 large marshmallow’s = 20 grams of sugar = 5 teaspoons
1/4 of jellied cranberry sauce = 21 grams of sugar = 5.25 teaspoons
1 small serving of angel food cake = 23 grams of sugar = 5.75 teaspoons
1 cup of Kellog’s Smart Start cereal = 14 grams of sugar = 3.5 teaspoons
1 serving of cornbread = 15 grams of sugar = 3.75 teaspoons
8 oz of Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey = 17 grams of sugar = 4.25 teaspoons
2 tbsp of Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey BBQ sauce = 15 grams of sugar = 3.75 teaspoons
1 fruit punch flavored Caprisun = 18 grams of sugar = 4.5 teaspoons

ETA – Some popular drinks

1 can of coke = 40 grams of sugar = 10 teaspoons

1 bottle of powerade = 60 grams of sugar = 15 teaspoons

What I don’t understand is WHY?  Is it really that necessary.  I know when making things from scratch I don’t need to put anywhere near that amount of sugar to make something taste good.  Do company’s do this so that we become more and more addicted to their products.  Makes you wonder right?