Refined sugar causes your body to crave more refined foods, suppresses your immune system, and causes your energy levels to spike then crash. There are more than twenty different names for sugar, most being refined, in our sweet but poor national diet. The average American consumes about 150 pounds of sugar annually. A person could lose fifteen pounds in one year just by cutting out sugary sodas. If you would like to take control of your food cravings and eliminate excess weight, get your sweet fix in other, more nutritionally beneficial ways. Begin by learning the difference between “added” and “natural” sugars.