Quite some time ago we were told to cut back on salt. Then, we were told to cut back on sugar because scientists linked it to obesity, type-2 diabetes and a whole host of other health problems.
In 2016, the general advice was to drop sugar from our diets altogether. This, of course, proved very difficult for the majority of people as most have a sweet tooth, thanks to all the food manufacturers who add sugar to their products because they want us to eat more of it!. The more sugar we have eaten over the years, the more our body craves it now. It’s a fact!
Related reading: Sugar Detox: Dangers Of Hidden Sugar
The Huffington Post reports that in the US, the average person consumes more than 100 grams of sugar daily, which is almost twice the average sugar intake of all 54 countries observed by Euromonitor. Imagine that!
100 grams is two times more than the recommended daily intake, which the World Health Organization designates to be 50 grams daily for people of normal weight.
Eliminating sugar from your diet could save you from myriad health problems in the future. Here are ten reasons why you should consider dropping the white stuff altogether:
1. Sugar Is Linked To Depression
Sugar is on Prevention’s list of 5 foods that cause depression – and for good reason. Multiple studies have suggested that there is a link between a diet rich in sugar and depression.
It’s important to remember that the foods you eat don’t just release their nutrients, sugars, and calories into your belly and thighs; they also send them up to your brain.
2 Sugar Is Linked To Obesity
In 2014 an alarming headline was published by a prominent UK newspaper that claimed, “sugar is the new tobacco.”
The National Heath Service found that the link between sugar and obesity is indeed very real, and is caused because sugar is loaded with empty calories (energy) that your body stores for later days. Only, the later days never come and eventually all that built-up energy is turned into fat.
3. Sugar Is Linked To High Blood Pressure
More and more American’s are being diagnosed with high blood pressure, and Mayo Clinic suggest that a poor diet is one of the biggest risk factors.
The more sugar you eat, the more your bad cholesterol levels surge, which in turn boosts your blood pressure.
4. Sugar Increases Your Risk Of Heart Attack
We now know that the damage done to your heart is not down to fat as we’ve been told for years but down to sugar. It doesn’t matter how much you weigh, consuming more sugar just improves your chances of having a heart attack.
Figures in the past have shown that people who consume 25% more sugar than everyone else have a stronger chance of dying of a heart attack.
5. Sugar Is Addictive
While sugar is not classed as a drug, its effects are similar to heroin. For this reason, sugar is just as addictive as illegal drugs. They hijack the same neural pathways in your brain as heroin and cocaine and leave you craving more and more.
Just like drugs, sugar can easily be abused.
Related reading: The Sugar Detox Diet Revisited
6. Sugar Is Linked To Fatty Liver Disease
Sugar is largely composed of two simple types of sugars:
• Fructose
• Glucose
Fructose is very much the “evil twin” and heads immediately to your liver. Over time, too much sugar can cause a fatty liver, which, if left untreated, can lead to full-on liver disease.
Related reading: Will a Liver Cleansing Diet Help Correct a Fatty Liver?
7. Sugar Is Linked To Diabetes
No doubt, the biggest connection researchers have made is the one between sugar and diabetes.
Diabetes happens when your pancreas doesn’t create enough insulin, which is the hormone we rely on to turn sugar into fuel or the cells become insensitive to it.
Diabetes as I’m sure you know is a disease that causes a lot of complications unless carefully managed BUT it is totally preventable.
8. Sugar Could Cause Cancer
Although tests are still at their tentative stage, there is some research that suggests sugar could cause certain cancers. Cancer Research UK state “there is an indirect link between cancer risk and sugar”.
9. Sugar Rots Your Teeth
Although sugar is certainly not the sole reason for problems with teeth, it can certainly cause some pretty nasty damage to your molars. This is because it leaves behind a trail of debris in your teeth, which, over time, can lead to plaque, which, if left untreated , can lead to cavities.
10. You’ll Feel Less Hungry
Because sugar is so addictive, it just makes you want to eat more and more. It give you a boost initially but when it triggers insulin to bring the blood glucose back to normal it can actually make it drop too low and then you crave more sugar. This is a common yo-yo effect. Cutting it out from your diet will eventually normalize your appetite and you’ll no longer feel like a bottomless pit of starvation.
Ready to give it up?
I completely understand that you want to eat foods that taste sweet and delicious. I was a sugar addict. I love sweet food myself but I learned to avoid it. I knew it wasn’t doing me any good. I have learned to live without it and you can too.
My 7 Day Sugar Cleanse Program will show you how.
What about honey? Can it substitute sugar and avoid all these issues?
Hello Kofi,
That’s a good question and one that results in quite a lot of controversy. I did answer that question in this post:
Sugar Detox Diet: Is Honey A Good Alternative To Sugar? I will make a link to it in this article so thanks for that.
If you don’t have time to read it then I will say that honey you find in the supermarkets has usually been highly processed and heated so a lot of if not all it’s benefits have been destroyed. Raw honey is less refined and more “natural” than white sugar but it still contains sugar and calories. To it’s advantage honey does not cause an immediate sugar spike and elevated insulin release like white sugar. One Paleo expert says “raw honey might be a nice choice for a treat. It’s clearly superior to refined sugar, and the extent of the damage we normally see from sugar intake doesn’t seem to occur with honey”. However paleolithic man did not eat it every day in the quantities that people are using these days. it encourages a sweet too as well so be careful with it if you decide to use it.
Good health,
Sandy