Sweet treats are good eats! We love any kind of dessert – candy, cakes, pies, you name it we’ll eat it. Our #1 fantasy is to live in a big house made of sugary sweets, that we could eat every day. Sounds great, right? I’m sure there won’t be any consequences to a diet of nothing but sugar.
But can you imagine what it would be like if you could eat your favorite treats for a week straight?
Average sugar intake per day
The average American consumes about 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day, Added means anything that’s not naturally in foods, but the American Heart Association recommends that you limit your added sugar to the only 6 teaspoons for women and 9 teaspoons for men! but why? Sugar tastes so good! Wouldn’t a full week of nothing but sugar be fun?
What is sugar made of?
Sugar is made of sucrose, a simple carbohydrate that has calories your body needs to burn for energy. Sucrose once ingested is broken down by an enzyme in the body into two parts: Glucose and Fructose, the glucose passes through the liver and then is sent directly to the cells in the body and burned for energy.
How does your body break down and use sugar?
The fructose gets broken down and used for energy but is also stored in fat cells called adipocytes.
Sugar in high enough doses can be toxic to the body, The dose depends on how much you weigh! the average adult in the US weighs about 180 pounds and about 13.5 grams of sugar per pound is the deadly dose, that’s around 5.4 pounds of sugar or 262 pieces of candy, but it would be difficult to consume all that sugar at once! So what about having it spread out over several days?
Day one to three
The first 1-3 days won’t be that bad, you won’t notice much difference in your mood. However, you will be hungry! Because sugar is really just a carbohydrate it doesn’t have any of the fat, protein, vitamins, or minerals that your body needs to function.
Sugar not only tastes good but when you eat it your body tells you that it wants more, When you consume it, the sugar spikes insulin levels and hormones.
That triggers a reward center in your brain, as the sugar gets broken down that feeling fades away and your body, just craves more and more. In other words, sugar is addictive! But because it’s just a simple carbohydrate, it’s not nourishing so it just makes you hungry, so the first thing you’ll notice is that the candy tastes great but you’ll still be ravenous all the time.
Day four
By the 4th day, you might start to feel a little fatigued, have some trouble concentrating at normally easy tasks, and most of all…
You’ll be really hungry! Eating nothing else but sugar deprives your body of essential vitamins and nutrients, so over time, your red blood cell count will plummet, scurvy can set in due to lack of vitamin C, and it will eventually start to rot your teeth. All this won’t happen by day 5 but you will definitely start to feel some of the effects of a nutrient-deficient diet.
You’ll start to have trouble sleeping, you’ll feel weak, fatigued, and your concentration will only get worse, not to mention the stomach problems. Since you’re not getting any fiber, you’ll begin to have some serious bathroom blues, you might even suffer from some very painful stomach aches.
Day seven
By day 7 you’ll be downright sluggish, and eating the candy and sugar will only make you more hungry! It will be difficult to walk because your legs will be shaking from lack of strength.
You’ll be more tired than ever and your cognitive functioning will be absolutely shot! You could probably survive on sugar for a month or two if you had access to clean water as well, but you won’t feel good.
Other symptoms will begin to creep up and the symptoms you’ve already experienced will only continue to get worse. Sugar will begin to ruin your teeth by destroying the good bacteria in your mouth, it will wreak havoc on your brain and digestive system, and it can trigger some pretty deadly diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.
What other foods is sugar in?
Let’s say you’re not eating only candy, one of the big problems with our modern diets is that sugar is in a lot of other foods besides candy. It’s in ketchup, pasta, salad dressings, and even a lot of premade savory dishes you wouldn’t expect like pizza and pad Thai!
Most people have WAY too much sugar in their diet and are feeling some of the bad side effects even without eating only sugar for a week straight! But is there any kind of sugar that is okay for you?
Naturally occurring sugars
Naturally occurring sugars in fruits are better for you because they also come with vitamins, nutrients, and fiber…But in the end, this sugar has the same effect on the body as refined added sugars…So consume everything, even fruit in moderation!
Will you die from too much sugar?
So consume everything, even fruit in moderation! So will you die from eating sugar for a week straight? No, probably not, however, you aren’t going to feel good, and the worst part? After a week of candy, you might never want to eat candy again! Remember, it’s a treat for a reason.
