Even a short 20 years ago, we were consuming a fraction of the sugar that fills up our diets today. Practically every food we touch now seems to be filled with sugar. Breads, cereals, yogurt, juice, soda, and desserts are all just a tiny part of the problem. While a little sugar every day is perfectly fine for our diets, too much can lead to a variety of health problems that you may not be aware of.
Sugar brings on the blues.
Feeling a little low lately? It may be time to evaluate your diet. Our moods respond naturally to the foods we eat. While foods such as protein can give us a boost of long lasting energy, sugar does the complete opposite. A traditional sugar-high will only last a few mere minutes, followed by a major slump in your energy level. Sleepiness and fatigue are both natural side effects of too much sugar. If you think your caffeinated soda is giving you a lift each time you drink one, try switching to another form of caffeine such as Green Tea. You may be shocked at how much better you feel on something that is truly healthy for your body and naturally leaves out all the sugar.
Sugar can be as addicting as smoking.
If you find yourself craving the sweet stuff every day, odds are you could be addicted. Just like many other drugs or stimulants, sugar can lead to the same addictive behavior. Some countries have even gone as far as classifying its devastating effects with smoking or tobacco. Although our taste buds may love and crave it, sugar doesn’t provide anything useful for our bodies to work with. If you wouldn’t consider starting up a smoking habit, you may want to reevaluate your sugar intake as well.
Disease and illness love when you eat sugar.
This is especially true of cancer. Every time you indulge in a food or drink laced with sugar, cancer cells are throwing a party. The truth is that sugar causes cancer to grow and multiply. With our chances of cancer higher than ever these days, we can’t afford to throw more gas on the fire. Another disease that could land in your lap as a result of sugar is diabetes. While you might feel great now downing that donut, just give it awhile. A diet high on sugar most likely will leave you diabetic down the road. Heart disease, bad eyesight, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, infections are just the beginning of what your sugar habit can leave you with.
A diet high in sugar can leave you much heavier than you’d like.
Realistically speaking, it’s a nightmare to lose weight when eating sugar is a regular habit. If you are ready to shed some pounds…find another behavior to take the place of sugar in your life. Fitness like swimming, running, drinking protein packed smoothies, using a natural sweetener like Stevia, all promote body wellness. In the end, steer clear of sugar and indulge on something that could end up much healthier and sweeter for your body.