You may be aware that eating sugar is bad for you. But you are still doing it all the time. Studies show that an average American eats almost 280 calories coming from sugar every day. That is estimated at about 18 teaspoons of pure refined sugar that you put in your body. This is contrary to the recommended 12 teaspoons or 200 calories per day. Recommended but not required.
Having some sweet treats can be very pleasurable once in a while. But over-eating those sweet sugary foods will not be pleasing to your body. In fact, it poses a serious threat to your health. Learn about the bad effects of sugar on your body and some practical ways to avoid them.
Ways Sugar Can Kill You
* Blood Glucose Spike and Drop Cycle
This unstable blood sugar level is often tricky and paves the way for sugar addiction. At the start, you feel better after consuming sugar. Then shortly, you will have mood swings, headaches, and fatigue. Then it leads to a craving for more sweets to make you feel better.
* You Increase The Risk of Serious Health Problems
When you think that sweet food is harmless, think again. This leads to diabetes, obesity, and heart disease to name a few. You are also susceptible to different forms of cancer. One of them is esophageal cancer. While the others are cancer caused by unhealthy weight gain from overeating sugar.
* Your Immune Functions are Blocked
Eating sugar weakens your immune system because it suppresses your body’s response to viruses. Yeast and bacteria feed on sugar. And when these organisms get out of balance, you are highly likely to get sick.
* Your Body Experiences Chromium Deficiency
Your body’s chromium functions as a blood sugar regulator, and with too much sugar in your body, your mineral chromium gets lesser and lesser. Chromium is found in meat, seafood, and vegetables. But if you eat more sugar than any of those, then you are robbing your body of chromium supply.
* Your Body Begins to Age Faster
A process known as glycation starts after consuming sugar. This happens after you eat sugar. Then sugar goes to your bloodstream and then attaches itself to proteins. Too much glycation contributes largely to the loss of elasticity. And this is found in aging body tissues in your skin, your organs, and arteries. This will show itself in your sagging skin.
* Sugar Causes Mouth Problems
This is the most obvious reason. It manifests itself as early as childhood. Young kids who are eating too many sweets will experience tooth decay and gum problems. As sugar enters your mouth and stays on your teeth, it decays your teeth faster than any food substance. If it affects children, it still affects adults. Especially when sugar intake is uncontrollable.
* Sugar Reduces your Learning Skills
There was a previous study done in 1979 up to 1983. The respondents are students from 803 schools in New York City. Here they reduced the amount of sugar content in the breakfast and lunch meals. The result was positive as there was an almost 15.8% increase in the student’s academic ranking. This is still in the record books as the greatest improvement ever seen in New York’s academe history.
These are just some of the effects of sugar that harm the body. There are many more. And they are all available online. But the good news is there are many ways to prevent all these.
3 Ways to Prevent the Bad Effects of Sugar
1 ] Consult Doctors and Specialists
You can visit a good health and wellness center and have yourself checked for blood sugar. If you are experiencing the effects of high blood sugar, then you can get immediate medical attention. This will help prevent further damages of sugar in your body. And they will also educate you on ways to keep your blood sugar level under control.
2 ] Replace Sugar With Natural Sweeteners
There are still ways to keep your sweet tooth and not eat sugar. There are sugar-free and low carb products that are already out in the market. What’s good is, they may be sugar-free but uses natural sweeteners like stevia. Stevia is a good replacement for sugar. It still has that sweet taste but with zero calories.
3 ] Practice Intermittent Fasting
Here you reduce your meal intake and let your guts rest from processing food. Eating 3 to 5 meals per day is a good start to remove snacking. Then when you are used to the routine, start removing one more meal. This is when you begin to have an eating window and hours when you stop eating. Some go for the 8-hour eating window and 16 hours of no food intake. In comparison, some go for the 6-hour eating window and 18 hours of fasting.
Science has shown that intermittent fasting is one of the most effective ways to reduce or eliminate food cravings. As your body will tell you it is not used to consuming food anymore. Aside from that, you will notice that you are eating less and less when you eat. That’s because your body is not used to overeating anymore. This will result in weight loss and reduced cravings.
Its mental effects mean you become a happier person. Its physical effects will be a healthier body. And the bad effects of sugar are gone forever.
In conclusion, the whole point is you want to stay healthy and happy. No doubt that food makes people happy. And sweet food makes people happier. But as discussed, you can still eat and stay happy. But it doesn’t have to include eating sugar anymore.