Sugar is one word on everybody’s mind as it is both tempting and delicious. While it somehow brings us comfort during times of stress, it is however deadly bad for your mind, health, and especially your waistline. Oral health problems like tooth decay comes at no shock, but it is also found to be linked to depression, anxiety, heart disease, impaired brain function, and cancer.
Despite the basic knowledge of the harmful effects of sugar, Americans continue to consume more than five times the amount of sugar that is recommended by the American Heart Association. The average women are eating as much as thirty teaspoons of sugar and men eat up to forty-five teaspoons a day!
While this fact sounds unbelievable as no one would probably sit down and eat spoons full of sugar, 75% of process and packaged foods in the US contain hidden amounts of sugar. You don’t have to have like sweets to become at risk of having a sugar overload as starchy foods such as rice, pasta, bread, fries and chips all contain some form of sugar.
Bottom line: Sugar may appeal to your taste buds, but it does nothing good for you, so try skipping it. Yes, this means forsaking your favorite sweets and even taking more time in the kitchen to home cook meals. Let’s take a better look at these 7 surprising things that happen when you quit sugar.
1. Your body will feel better than ever
Sugar is known to give you a boost of quick energy, but in reality – it will drain just as quickly and leave you feeling irritable, exhausted, and craving for more. As fuel is used to keep our bodies going, our bodies use two kinds: fats and sugars. As most people are used to consuming sugar as a source of daily energy, this results to burning off much quicker and leaving you feeling more exhausted than you were beforehand.
2. You will stop craving for sugar
Do you often feel hungry within an hour after you gave in to your candy bar? Experts tell us that sugar can be almost addictive as cocaine however; sugar addiction is not a sort of emotional eating disorder as it is more of biological disorder that is caused by neurotransmitters hormones that cause us to crave carbs and sugar.
According to Dr. Mark Hyman, giving up sugar and going on a detox will only take 10 days or even less. When we consume sugar, our body releases beta-endorphin and serotonin, which are neurotransmitters that help improve your moods, increase your self-esteem, and reduce stress and anxiety. Our bodies will naturally crave that kind of mood enhancement over and over again.
3. Slows down the aging process
Sugar and aging goes hand in hand due to a process known as glycation. This is when sugar latches on to the collagen in your skin and causes inflammation while fighting the effectiveness of elastin and collagen, which are the healthy proteins that keep our skin young, healthy, and youthful. When these stop working, your skin will begin to age looking less supple, dull and dry.
4. Finally lose belly fat
Can you imagine that just one tiny lifestyle change can make a big impact on our belly? Studies show that diets high in fructose contribute to obesity and weight gain while diets low on sugar burned 300 calories more a day. With high intakes of sugar, our bodies form a resistance to insulin, which triggers the body to slow down the metabolism and store extra, unwanted fat. Once your body becomes insulin resistant, the process will become too difficult to reserve – therefore, prevention is the best cure.
5. Get better sleep
By foregoing sugar, especially before bedtime your body will avoid that rise of blood sugar levels which will actually keep you awake all night. Skipping sugar will also help you avoid the sudden drop which will cause the body to release needed hormones to help regulate levels of glucose while the brain is stimulated as you sleep.
6. Reduce risk of illness
Health experts claim that conditions of allergies, asthma, cancer and heart disease are actually rooted from chronic inflammation. While there is levels of inflammation that is normal, once it is triggered it will become a problem.
What leads to inflammation? Poor diets that are rich in refined carbohydrates and sugar are one of the main causes as it causes the body to release cytokines, which are inflammatory messengers.
7. You will have more energy
Research tells us that there is a connection between a poor diet of large sugar consumptions along with the health risk of schizophrenia and depression. Another study in 2004 found that high intakes of sugar may cause an affect on our mental health by leading to a chain of chemical reactions that encourage chronic inflammation and suppress any activity of the important growth hormone of BDNF.
Try quitting sugar for a week or two and fill up on healthy fats, protein and complex carbs instead. These foods are high in nutrients and dense as fruits like berries make a great snack with its natural sugar to create the right sort of sweetness. If you are really struggling to lose weight, Metabo379 is a product that works as a non-stimulant fat metabolism booster. However, it is important to gain more knowledge and research to the claims as well as any side effects that may occur while using the product.
Also Watch: Calorie Counting: How Many Calories A Person Needs Daily?
Author Bio:
Adonia Dennis (@adoniadennis) is a Health, Beauty and Skin Care advisor. She loves to read about general health and wellness information. She utilizes her experience in writing about beauty tips and health related problems. She works as a content coordinator for many Online health portals. She is very passionate to write anything related to human body and loves to dispense unbiased advice through writing.