Dwight Howard, a 6-foot-11 NBA rebounding machine, wasn't playing well when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2013.

The team's nutritionist, Cate Shanahan, soon discovered the cause: a massive sugar addiction.

“You name it, he ate it,” she said.

Howard had been eating two dozen chocolate bars' worth of sugar every single day for years. Like any addict, he had boxes of treats stashed around his house and the locker room.

A dietary intervention saved his game — and, we bet, his life.

Added sugar can ruin your life, too. It contributes to obesity and that starts a cascade of health problems including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

A study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine found that people who consumed a lot of added sugar (17% to 21% of total daily calories) had a 38% greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who ate far less (8% of their diet).

In addition, elevated blood sugar levels can encourage cancer growth, recurrence, and resistance to chemotherapy.

It is the peak sugar levels generated by these quickly absorbed sugars that are addictive and cause immune dysfunction, inflammation, and overeating.

And being overweight or obese is clearly linked to the occurrence of 13 cancers.

But the natural sugars found in fruit, 100% whole grains, and vegetables are absorbed much more slowly.

These whole foods also provide disease-fighting fiber and essential phytonutrients that are the building blocks of a healthy diet.

Remember, it's the added sugars and syrups that are your foe.