We all know how bad excess amounts of refined sugar is on our overall health but still some of us reach for the sweet stuff. If your 2018 goal is to quit sugar but your struggling, allow me to give you more than enough reason to stop altogether. It really is a public health concern and it can be a major struggle to a lot of people who are dependent on a high sugar diet. It effects so many parts of your body from your skin health, mutation of cells causing cancer, your brain function, hormones and insulin resistance.
A sugar craving is created over a period of time. Your brain creates an odd reward system in where your intake of sugar sends signals flying through your brain creating dopamine.
Why are you so addicted to sugar?
Because these dopamine ‘reward’ signals are from your very first bite and guess what… they send the exact same feeling or reaction that any drug, nicotine or alcohol have to your brain.
So, the addiction is real and it takes a lot of replacing habits and mind power to push through the initial stages of trying to give up sugar. It is so crucial to your health that you strive to give up your cravings no matter how hard it is, you can do it.
Try to replace sugar at first with alternates like honey and natural sweet fruit. These are still high in sugar but it is a healthier type and your body can use these types for energy in a healthier way. Even after a week of lowering your sugar intake your body will have drastically improved so the effects of quitting are fast and beneficial.
You need a little more encouragement to quit the sweet stuff so here you are;
We all strive to have amazing, anti-aged, healthy skin. Sugar causes premature aging and free radical damage.
Sugar (glucose and fructose) bine to collagen and elastin damaging these tissues.
This sticky bine causes glycation and it happens in all body tissues when your sugar intake is high. It can show through the skin’s surface as a marking which looks exact to pigmentation.
We need healthy collagen and elastin to have bouncy, tight, youthful skin and an interruption from high sugar intake can cause you to look years older than you truly are.
Let’s now state the most obvious fact. A high sugar diet can cause obesity and increase your body’s demand for insulin – a hormone that helps your body convert food into usable energy. When your insulin levels are consistently high, your body’s sensitivity to the hormone is reduced, and glucose builds up in the blood. Most will not know they are insulin resistant until it forms into diabetes.
In a 2012 study on rats, conducted by researchers at UCLA, found that a diet high in sugar hinders learning and memory by slowing down the brain. The researchers found that rats who over consumed fructose had damaged synaptic activity in the brain. The communication among brain cells became impaired.
The heavy sugar intake caused the rats to develop a resistance to insulin. Which regulates the function of the brain cells. So, when insulin levels in the brain are lowered as the result of excess sugar consumption, cognition can be impaired.
If you have ever suffered from a sugar crash you would understand the sudden peak and drop in blood sugar levels can cause you to experience symptoms like irritability, mood swings, brain fog and fatigue. A long period of excess sugar intake can cause these highs and lows to contribute to depression and anxiety.
Please try your very hardest to push past the low points and cravings of quitting sugar. Realise these are only temporary and your health and wellbeing is important.
You can do it and it doesn’t take long for your body to recover.
Make your 2018 sugar free!
