What If You Only Ate Sugar？(光吃糖会怎样)

Everyone has their favorite candy and sweets!
Chocolate, gummies, lollipops（棒棒糖）.
Everyone loves a sweet treat now and again.
But can you imagine what it would be like
if you could eat your favorite treats 
for a week straight?
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 only 6
teaspoon for women and 9 teaspoons for men!
But why?
Sugar tastes so good!
Wouldn’t a full week of nothing but sugar be fun?
Sugar is made of sucrose（ˈsuːkroʊs 蔗糖）, 

a simple carbohydrate（碳水化合物）
that has calories your body needs to burn for energy.
Sucrose once ingested（摄入、咽下） is broken down by an
enzyme（ˈenzaɪm酶） in the body into two parts: 

Glucose（葡萄糖） and Fructose（果糖）.
The glucose passes through the liver and then
is sent directly to the cells in the body
and burned for energy.
The fructose gets broken down and used for
energy but is also stored in fat cells called adipocytes（脂肪细胞;）.
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?
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（胰岛素） levels and hormones 
that trigger 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（ˈrævənəs） all the time.
By the 4th day you might start to feel a little
fatigued（精疲力竭）, have some trouble concentrating
at normally easy tasks and most of all…
You’ll be really, really hungry!
Eating nothing else but sugar deprives（使丧失） your
body of essential vitamins and nutrients.
So over time your red blood cell count will plummet, 

scurvy（坏血病） can set in（产生，开始） 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.
By day 7 you’ll be downright sluggish（行动迟缓的）, 

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（认知能力） 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（严重破坏） on your brain 

and digestive system,

and it can trigger some pretty deadly diseases

including heart disease,

diabetes and even cancer.

But 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（番茄酱）, pastas(意大利面食), salad dressings(色拉调味汁),

and even a lot of premade savory(好吃的) 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 in fruits are better

for you because they also come with vitamins,

nutrients and fiber(膳食纤维)…

But in the end this sugar has the same effect

on the body as refined added sugars…

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.