Time to Kill the Sugar Monster
Can you stop eating sugar?
If you keep beating yourself up because you don’t have the willpower to stop eating sugar, you can stop NOW! This addiction that we have to sugar is not our fault. The big food companies have over the years hired people to engineer “food” so that it is addictive. Yes, they actually hire people to find the “bliss point.” The perfect sweetness that makes you not only want to eat something but that keeps you going back for more.
What about all this processed food
It wouldn’t be so bad if they were just engineering the sweetness of ice cream, cookies, soda. All the things that we expect to be sweet. The problem is that these food giants have taken it upon themselves to look at all the processed food that is sold and because they know we are drawn to sweets they have added sugar to everything…foods that were never sweetened. I’m talking about bread, and pasta sauce, crackers, and more. They say that if the processed foods that contain sugar in them were removed from the grocery store that would leave only about 20% of the products in the store.
It’s crazy to think that the food industry has led us into this obesity epidemic, but they have, unintentionally. They are only doing their job which is to create food that will fly off the shelves but in doing that we are the ones who suffer because we have become sugar addicts.
So why should we care about how much sugar is in our food?
Studies show that people in the United States today ingest about 152 lbs of sugar a year. (compared to 10 lbs in 1800) That boils down to about 3 lbs of sugar a week which is a whopping 6 cups. You may find
that hard to believe but it is true. Part of the reason you may not realize it is what has mentioned above – and that is that most of us have no idea just how much sugar is in the foods that we are eating.
So, why do we need to quit sugar NOW?
The following are 10 reasons to Kill the Sugar Monster:
The liver converts sugar to fat
When the body has more sugar than it needs the liver converts sugar to fat and this can lead to weight gain and obesity. It also can be the source of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Sugar stresses the pancreas leading to increased insulin production and an overproduction of the hormone Cortisol which then tells the body to go into conservation mode which means the potential of storing even more fat. Usually, this fat is concentrated in the belly which is the most dangerous to your health.
Sugar deactivates your immune system
The T-cells that normally fight off the bacterial infections are no longer able to do their jobs. If you find you get sick often, start looking at your sugar intake to see if it corresponds. Depending on how much sugar you ingest the T-cells can be affected for an hour or a day or more.
Sugar increase of fatigue
Sugar causes an increase of fatigue and impairment of cognitive abilities like learning and memory. When your blood sugar level is bouncing all over the place it causes fatigue and therefore you do not think a clearly.
Increased risk of ovarian cancer
Sugar consumption has been linked to increased risk of ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, and endometrial cancer, among others. It goes without saying that the obesity that is linked to sugar has been linked to a long list of cancers.
Increase of lipid (fat) levels
Researchers have found that with the increase of sugar consumption comes the increase of lipid (fat) levels in the bloodstream. These are the cholesterol, and triglycerides which create the perfect environment for cardiovascular disease.
Diabetes
Eating a lot of sugar consistently leads to high blood sugar. The presence of sugar in the blood causes insulin to be released by the pancreas which either forces the glucose into the cells for fuel or is stored as fat. Eventually, this becomes a vicious cycle with high blood sugar, increased insulin resistance, increased insulin production and so on until the person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Sugar is addictive
The brain is hard-wired to seek out activities that cause the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter which plays a major role in reward-motivated behavior. Like using cocaine, eating sugar stimulates the part of the brain that releases dopamine and can lead to classic signs of addiction. A 2007 study showed that rats actually preferred sugar water to cocaine.
Impaired digestion
A high sugar diet can alter the composition of your gut flora in as little as 24 hours. These imbalances can lead to decreased immunity, impaired digestion, and inflammation. Given that inflammation is the leading cause of our modern chronic diseases you now open yourself up to more of them.
Excess blood sugar
Excess blood sugar can lead to glycation, which causes premature aging. It also can damage to collagen and elastin which is seen in sagging of the skin.
Mental Health
Sugar does not necessarily cause anxiety, but it appears to worsen the symptoms and impair the body’s ability to cope with stress. A sugar high may be followed by a crash that can cause shaking and tension, which can make anxiety worse. The roller coaster of high blood sugar followed by a crash may also exacerbate mood disorders such as depression or schizophrenia.
In Conclusion
When most of us think about sugar and it being dangerous to our health we are focusing on our waistlines. However, as you can see in the list above (and the list is not a complete one) eating a diet high in sugar will guarantee you that you will be overweight, with imbalanced hormones, at high risk for heart disease and cancer, with mental fog, high stress, a fatty liver, and more.
The amazing news that I must share with you is that if you opt to “kill the sugar monster”. NOW the benefits will start to appear rapidly, and the body will begin to heal itself.
Go to my FB page to download my FREE Crockpot recipes and let the healing begin! Click here to download
About the Author
Judy Hahn
Certified Holistic Health & Lifestyle Coach www.hahnholistichealth.com
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