Operation: Eliminating the Unnecessary Sugar

A video on YouTube entitled "The Real Bears" helped inspire me to write this post, click here to check it out.

Remember those days when the only kind of sugared drinks available were honey-flavored water?

Or when treats consisted of apples and oranges and not artificially flavored candy and licorice?

Well, I sure don't.

These days, so many people have come to rely on artificially sugared stuff that soft drinks have become the number one source of calories in the American diet (and possibly other countries' too). A scary fact indeed. And even though most soda drinkers know that sugared drinks are bad for their health, some choose to keep an ignorant eye on all the health scares that can be caused by these sugared drinks. And not only soft drinks. Candy, lollipops and similar can have equal effects on the body. And you know what's even more depressing about all this? These kind of food have no nutrition. I mean, grapes and strawberries are pretty sugary, but at least they hold amounts of vitamin and antioxidants and other good stuff in them. Soft drinks are empty calories. There are no benefits from drinking them. Only harm will be brought to your body.

Now, I don't want to exactly target Americans, but I feel like they have the most database and information on all this obesity stuff, so I'll use them as an example. Here is a little statistic that I found on a Yahoo! post entitled, "Most Americans Might be Obese by 2030, Report Warns": "With 6 million new cases of diabetes, 5 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and more than 400,000 cases of cancer in the next 20 years, we are on a tragic course that will have a horrible impact on the quality of life of millions of Americans and could overwhelm an already over burdened health care system," said Dr. Jeffery Levi, study author and executive director of Trust for America's Health.

Does that 6 million diabetes say something to you? Ignore the rest of the info for a second, and think about it. 6 million new cases of diabetes. And unfortunately, it kind of makes sense. With so much advertising efforts from soft drink companies, and the constant availability of candy and other junk food in practically every food store, one cannot help but think that the dream of a "healthy community" is slowly turning into an mere, unattainable sense of hope.

With the rate of obesity steadily rising, the amount of soft drinks and candy consumed is also doing the same. Obesity can lead up to diabetes, heart disease, and other dangerous health problems. This not only affects our bodies, it also affects the economy. If by 2030, more than half of Americans will be obese, this could cost 66 billion dollars in treatment and 500 billion dollars lost in economic productivity. Enough said.

But then again, it's not only the soft drinks' fault, or the candy's fault. If most people went to a store right now, and saw a bottle of water and can of Coke both selling at the same price, they would probably pick the Coke. Heck, I maybe would pick the Coke. See, it's not only a question of the environment you are surrounded by, it's also a question of how strong you can resist a temptation for something that you want, but that you know is bad for you. You must have a healthy mind to have a healthy body.

Our consummation of sugar is going out of control. And if we cannot tame our hunger for it, this world might not last much longer. We might not last much longer. But there is always hope. It's a small hope all right, but it's still there. And you are what fuels that hope.

Say "no thanks" to a friend that offers you a package of candy.

Skip your daily dose of "Coke" and drink some fresh, cold water instead.

Resist the urge to put a bag of gummies in your shopping cart next time you got to your local food store.

And if you keep up these good habits, you will see yourself flourish into a new person. You will see that you do not need that much sugar to be satisfied. Start small. Set yourself a goal.

There is a silent cry for help in our community. It is telling us that sugar will slowly consume us. If we do not take plans to action, this silent cry will soon turn into the sounds of a raging battle.

Don't let sugar take over your life.

Make your actions take over the sugar.