I have a love-hate relationship with food. I love it; it generally hates me. Matter of fact, I love food so much that until a few years ago, I was extremely overweight. So overweight that I invented a piece of health tech to help me lose 80 pounds. It worked, and since then I've remained a healthy weight primarily by making sure I count my calories, don't overeat, and get regular exercise.

And for the most part, it's been smooth sailing, and I even eat whatever I want most of the time: fish, chicken, pasta, diet soda, fruity yogurts, and a sweet snack once a day like a bag of M&M's or a brownie. I also love my daily coffee with a few packets of sugar. A calorie is a calorie, right? As long as I don't go above 2,000 calories a day, I know I won't gain weight and I'll remain a generally healthy person.

When I recently mentioned my weight loss and current daily dietary intake to a doctor friend of mine, I expected her to congratulate me on my success. And though she did, she also cautioned me that while my daily calorie levels were something to continue, she was worried I was getting too much refined sugar in my diet. As she knows I have an interest in not only maintaining a healthy weight but in mental fitness as well, she pointed out that study after study shows how bad refined sugar is for both our waistlines and our brains.

She explained that eating too much refined sugar–which is found in most sweets, sodas, white breads, and pastas, virtually all "fat free" and "low fat" snacks, fruit juices, yogurts, energy drinks, most Starbucks drinks (including many coffees), sauces (ketchup, BBQ sauces, mayo, pasta sauces), and countless other packaged foods–has now been shown to make us cranky, make us make rash decisions, and make us stupid. My friend's point was clear: Just because I'm thin and my blood tests show no sign of diabetes, it doesn't meant the amount of refined sugar I'm eating isn't negatively effecting my health.

How Much Sugar Should You Eat in a Day?

The American Heart Association says men should eat no more than 37.5 grams of sugar a day and women should eat no more than 25 grams. But the World Health Organization now says even those allowances are too high, suggesting both men and women should eat 25 grams or fewer each day. The average American currently eats 126 grams of sugar a day–though most don't realize it. Much of that amount comes from the refined sugars added to our foods during manufacturing.