Be healthy with Vessi


Veli-Jussi Jalkanen,
Sitting Health Expert

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Sugar is more addictive than cocaine

The amount of sugar we consume has multiplied in 50 years, and during that time more than half of us have become overweight or obese.

Dropping the sugar intake to WHO's recommended not-so-harmful level of 6-9 teaspoonfuls (about 20 g = approx 5 % of energy) will help you lose weight, and to be healthier in many other ways as well. However, for many only a total strike (like with alcohol) is the only effective way to decrease sugar consumption.

The industry is allowed to add to food hundreds of chemicals that titillate the taste buds, including aroma enhancers, of which monosodium glutamate (MSG) is perhaps the worst. It adds to the sodium load (sodium is the part of salt that increases blood pressure) and has been proven to increase food consumption by as much as 30 %. The taste is addictive, as all sausage lovers well know.

Another innocuous sounding addictive substance is casein in milk, it is used a lot in cheese. People eat huge amounts of cheese because of "the familiar and lovely" taste, much more than they would need for actual hunger satisfaction. Cheese lovers know this well.

The cheese includes a lot of energy and when it is eaten on bread that quickly raises blood sugar, with a spread that further increases calorie intake, weight gain over time will be confirmed.There is no need to blame healthy and natural fat (fish, seeds, butter, nuts, coconut, grass-reared meat, poultry, olives, organic milk if it just suits you, and other cold-pressed oils).

Those are the healthiest sources of energy and may very well form 30-60 % of the energy inteke. Those who consciously eat these things, without large starch / carbohydrate amounts, are also almost invariably slim.