I just saw what is perhaps the most depressing commercial that's playing on television today. No doubt if you watch TV regularly you probably have seen it too. It’s an AT&T ad where a bunch of kids are asked what they would do if they had a lot of money. They answered “buy an island where everything is made of candy, soda, sugar, etc”. I know this is only a commercial but it is extremely off-putting given that we now know the dangers of sugar. Indeed, the larger question is how do we change this cultural orientation towards sweets?

Sugar has now been linked to the onset of many chronic diseases including cancer, hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease. These maladies are responsible for thousands, if not millions, of death worldwide on a yearly basis. It goes without saying then that in order to save lives efforts must be made to control incidences of these illnesses. Reducing or eliminating sugar from our diet would be a good first step in achieving this goal.

Eliminating sugar from our diet would naturally mean that we must break this culture of sweetness. The best place to start this effort is in our homes. Here are some steps you can take to reduce if not eliminate the consumption of sugar in your home:

1. Locate all the packages of refined sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, whatever kind of sugar) in your house and pour the content down the drain.

2. Check the ingredients of the foods in your home. If the sugar content is higher than 10 grams per serving, toss them out.

3. Find anything that says soda and say goodbye to them as you fling them in the garbage.

4. All diet sodas must go.

5. Open your refrigerator door and grab everything that says juice with more than 10 grams of sugar and pour them down the drain along with the sodas.

6. Search your cabinets and find all those packets of sugar substitutes and make them a part of the garbage fill.

7. Toss all sports, energy and health drinks into the trash can.

8. Chocolate and candies must go. I don’t have to tell you they are loaded with sugar and calories.

9. Cakes and pies must now be things of the past. Replace these calories with sugar free foods.

10. Open your freezer and get rid of the containers of ice creams along with any sugar laden yogurt. Some yogurts are good for you but only those with minimum or no sugar.

11. Open you home bar and get rid of all sugar-based alcohol.

12. Remove any trace of sugar from your shopping list. Make your shopping list sugar free.

It is not clear why we love sugar so much, but there is no doubt that sugar is a menace and the source of much of our health challenges. High blood pressure, diabetes, cancer are all highly associated with high sugar consumption. Public awareness of the dangers of sugar is now on the rise and more and more people are seeking ways to eliminate sugar from their diets. The steps detailed above are meant to be used for the purpose of sugar proofing your home. Join health conscious people worldwide in their quest to eliminate processed sugar from the homes of the world. We need you to become a part of this most worthy cause. We need a sugar free world.