There’s a lot of talk about sugar these days, and broadly, there are three competing schools of thought:
Sugars naturally occurring in foods like fruit and honey are okay to eat, but added sugars (sugars that are removed from their original source and added to foods) often found in processed foods are unhealthy and should be avoided.
All sugars are unhealthy and should be avoided.
Sugars of any kind aren’t unhealthy and shouldn’t be avoided or even restricted.
All of these philosophies are wrong.
Keep reading to understand why and get evidence-based guidance about how much sugar you should eat per day.
What Happens When You Eat Sugar?
Once eaten, all forms of carbohydrate, including all sugars, are either metabolized into glucose (a simple sugar) or are left undigested, serving as dietary fiber. This is equally true of the monosaccharides (“simple sugars”) in a candy bar as it is of the polysaccharides (“complex sugars”) in vegetables.
Why, then, does research show that regularly eating large amounts of added sugars like sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and being overweight? And why is regularly eating large amounts of vegetables associated with improved health and longevity?
Some people say it’s mostly the speed with which the body breaks sugars down into glucose—simple sugars are processed quickly and spike blood glucose levels whereas complex ones take longer to digest and produce smaller elevations in blood sugar levels—but such an explanation can’t explain the magnitude of the health effects.
That is, while repeatedly mushrooming blood glucose levels isn’t “healthy” per se, this mechanism alone couldn’t produce the disastrous health outcomes so often seen among people whose diets are rich in added sugars.
The actual culprit is twofold:
Many foods with added sugars don’t have much in the way of essential nutrients, and studies show that eating a lot of these foods can lead to nutritional deficiencies that in turn can lead to disease and dysfunction.
Diets rich in added sugars generally provide more calories than low-sugar ones and thus are associated with increased body fatness and its concomitant health risks.
How Much Sugar Should You Have a Day?
To formulate a sensible answer, we must first distinguish between micronutrient-rich sources of sugar like fruit and unwholesome sources like donuts.
Practically speaking, nobody gets fat and sick by eating too many apples, so go ahead and enjoy a couple of servings of fruit every day.
Now, as for the type of sugar in donuts—added sugar—the “dose makes the poison” principle applies. Up to a point, added sugar is harmless—especially if you have a healthy body composition and exercise regularly—but exceed that limit too often, and you’ll likely damage your health and body composition.
That threshold will vary from person to person, but the World Health Organization has provided reasonable universal guidance. They recommend that added sugars comprise no more than 10% of daily calories (roughly 50 grams or 12 teaspoons for a 2,000-calorie diet) to preserve health and no more than 5% of daily calories to further enhance health.
Mike Matthews is the founder of Legion as well as the author of several award-winning fitness books, including Bigger Leaner Stronger, Muscle for Life, and The Shredded Chef.
His simple and science-based approach to building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy has sold over a million books and helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever, and his work has been featured in many popular outlets including Esquire, Men’s Health, Elle, Women’s Health, Muscle & Strength, and more, as well as on FOX and ABC.
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Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
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Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you live in the UK or Canada, your order ships free when it’s over $99.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you’re outside the USA, your order ships free when it’s over $199.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
Clinically Effective Ingredients & Doses
Many ingredients in supplements don’t have any scientifically validated benefits, and many ingredients that do are often underdosed to the point of irrelevance.
That’s why we only use the choice ingredients and precise doses shown to be effective in peer-reviewed scientific studies.
Clinically Effective Doses
You need more than great ingredients to make great products—you also need proper doses. That’s why we use the precise doses of ingredients shown to be effective in peer-reviewed scientific studies.
Natural Ingredients
“Natural” doesn’t always mean “better,” but in many cases, natural ingredients are superior to artificial ones for various reasons, including purity, safety, and efficacy.
That’s why all of our ingredients in all of our products come from plant and animal sources, including sweeteners, colors, and flavors.
Made in USA with Globally Sourced Ingredients
If you want to ensure the supplements you’re swallowing every day are safe and effective, you want products produced in the USA.
That’s why all of our supplements are made in America in NSF-certified and FDA-inspected facilities that operate in accordance with the Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations.
Lab Tested
Did you know that supplements can contain dangerously high levels of toxins like lead, arsenic, and cadmium?
That’s why we test every ingredient of every supplement we produce for heavy metals, microbes, allergens, and other contaminants and ensure they meet the strict purity standards set by the FDA.
Naturally Sweetened & Flavored
While artificial sweeteners may not be as dangerous as some people claim, studies suggest that regular consumption of these chemicals may indeed be harmful to our health.
That’s why all of our supplements are naturally sweetened and flavored and contain no artificial food dyes, fillers, or other unnecessary junk.
Science-Backed Ingredients
Many ingredients in supplements don’t have any scientifically validated benefits. That’s why we only use choice ingredients shown to be effective in peer-reviewed scientific studies.
No Chemical Junk
“Natural” doesn’t always mean “better,” but in many cases, natural ingredients are superior to artificial ones for various reasons, including purity, safety, and efficacy.
That’s why all of our ingredients in all of our products come from plant and animal sources, including sweeteners, colors, and flavors.
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In consideration of the services and/or products offered by Legion Athletics, Inc. (“Legion”) including, but not limited to, nutrition plans, exercise routines and coaching, and in addition to the payment of any fee or charge:
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Some popular pre-workouts are all-natural. Some contain the right mix of high-quality ingredients. Some provide clinically effective doses. But only Pulse checks each of these boxes.
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Analyzed for purity and potency in a state-of-the-art ISO 17025 accredited lab by Labdoor™, the gold standard of third-party lab testing.
Analyzed for purity and potency in a state-of-the-art ISO 17025 accredited lab, the gold standard of third-party lab testing.
This product doesn’t just “contain natural ingredients”—every ingredient is naturally sourced from plants and animals. This product contains no artificial or synthetic sweeteners or flavors of any kind.
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