sugar effect

Sugar has become a very crucial component of our diet. It is one among many factors that increases the risk for heart diseases. It is crucial to keep your sweet tooth under control to stay fit. Every cube of sugar entering your body is degrading your health standards.

The level of sugar in food depends upon the type of food you choose to consume. The impact of sugar on your body depends upon the physical activities you undergo. It is advisable that you go on a very strict exercise regime.

The initial step involves finding the sugar content in the food you are consuming. Unfortunately, the attention we pay to the nutrition panel is very brief and there are higher chances of possible ignorance of sugar ingredients contained in the food.

Sugar content is majorly judged by the amount of both added and natural sugars. Natural sugars include the one added in milk (lactose) and fruit (fructose). The product made from milk (such as yogurt, milk or cream) has a higher content of natural sugar.

It is advisable to know the basic difference between the types of sugar and carefully analyze the ingredient list of the processed foods to ascertain the disguised sugar.

Some of the common names by which sugar is referred in food industries are listed below:

  • Corn sweetener
  • Corn syrup
  • Fruit juice concentrates
  • High-fructose corn syrup
  • Invert sugar
  • Malt sugar
  • Molasses

A quick tip sugar molecule is usually the ones which end with “ose” for instance dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose etc.

Inculcate the concept of 4 calories per gram of sugar as this will go a long way in distinguishing between healthy and not so healthy food.

Another common rule you need to understand and embed in your brain is about the content of natural sugar in the food in which there is a high content of milk where the percentage of added sugar is low, and the natural sugar is high.

It is crucial that you reduce your sugar intake in your day to day diet. You can follow the below-listed steps to reduce the sugar intake:

  1. Get those lovely sugar cubes away from the sight and away from your dining table.
  2. The mouth-watering food like cereals, pancakes, coffee, and tea are to be shown the exit door from your diet immediately these foods are high in sugar content and act as an artificial sweetener which is not good for your health.
  3. Choose a sugar-free or low-calorie beverage. For instance, during breakfast, swipe sugar with cereal or oatmeal. While baking the tasty pancakes reduce the sugar content by one-sixth. This minor difference would go unnoticed by you. Every cube of sugar entering your body is destructing your body in some of the other ways.
  4. Choose from a zero-calorie sweetener for slight moderation for your taste buds. Sugar is misinterpreted in many ways, whereby Oreos are consumed without any second doubts and gulping down the entire can of coke doesn’t make much of the difference because you fail to realize the amount of sugar you are consuming and what harm it is going to cast on your body.

According to the research it is recommended not to consume more than seven teaspoons of added sugar per day which is equivalent to about 100 calories. Here we are specifically discussing the added sugar, not the natural ones. A high-sugar diet boosts the odds of tooth decay, diabetes, and heart disease.

You’ll quickly realize just how often sugar is added to foods when you look for it on ingredients lists there are things which you can’t even imagine contains the high content of sugar like tomato sauce, crackers, condiments, and salad dressings are jampacked with sugar which can result in massive weight gain.

So, the only solution is literacy. Below listed ways can help you to reduce the harm caused by sugar:

  1. Learn sugar’s aliases

 Learn to read the food label very carefully, try looking beyond words, sugar is certainly disguised beyond the unnoticed ingredients. It is relatively hiding under the sheets of some unknown names like fructose, corn syrup, dried cane syrup, invert sugar, molasses, sucrose or basically look for any word ending with “ose”.

   There is sometimes more than one sweetener in the food. People get tricked by the food labeled as healthy like cereals and yogurt even they are having the higher percentages of sugar.

  1. Buy unsweetened

Sugar is hidden under the dark robe of different names. It’s crucial to know where the sugar is hiding. So that you can keep yourself away from the disastrous cubes of sugar.

  Once you know where sugar hides, you can start making changes. The best strategy is to pay close attention to the ingredient list.

  1. Think protein and fat

Unhealthy carbs can raise the level of sugar. To maintain the same sugar levels, you must have a well-maintained diet of protein, healthy fats, and fiber with your meal. This content helps to control the sudden fluctuations in blood sugar in your body and will keep your tummy full for longer durations.

Add almonds to your boring breakfast to make it healthy and crunchy. Fats are the key factors that will help you to stay fuller, and thereby reducing the sugar temptation.

  1. Never go fake

The journey to opt for a no sugar diet can raise your temptation for artificial sugar, to suffix this issue, it is recommended that you stay away from diet soda, and don’t fall easy prey to the falsified image of “sugar-free” candy. The moment you eat something sweet, your body starts expecting calories, but you fail to get any healthy calories from artificial sweeteners.

  1. Maintain arm’s length distance from soft drinks

Avoiding soda is a huge favor you can do to yourself, some drinks that are otherwise considered healthy contains a higher ratio of sugar, which makes it unhealthy.

To reduce sugar content in your diet the very first thing you can start to do is reduce the intake of regular soda or any other sweet beverages. Tiny steps from your end will eventually contribute to something very huge in your health. Start cutting on the usage of sugar as this will be very beneficial for your health.

The higher intake of sugar ultimately means exceeding waistlines which will ultimately hike the heart-related issues and will cast a negative impact on your overall psychological well-being.

What happens to your body when you consume sugar?

  1. Sugar is super active in creating an intense craving

The moment you consume sugar, it activates taste receptors. signals are sent to the brain that lightens up the feel-good hormones, like dopamine, Sugar “hijacks the brain’s reward pathway which in- turn stimulates the brain’s reward system, for instance, pancakes which are very tasty but at the end harmful is the problem which is constantly interfering with our natural system. The moment this reward system activates it follows a series of unfortunate events -for instance, loss of control, craving, and increased tolerance to sugar.

According to research, the brains of obese children react differently when they taste sugar which reflects the elevated urge to have food.

  1. Sugar no doubts impairs your memory.

High intake of fructose hinders memory which reduces the activity of brain substantially. over-consumption of sugar damages the synaptic activity of the brain which in turn impairs the brain cells drastically.

  1. Sugar is responsible for depression and anxiety

If you are experiencing sudden pick and drop in blood sugar levels coupled with the symptoms like irritability, mood swings, brain fog and fatigue, they are largely due to high sugar-laden food in your diet like a donut, soda etc.

  1. Sugar is responsible for the sudden mood swings

Sugar-rich and carb-laden foods can invariably mess with neurotransmitters that are responsible to keep your moods stable there is a high chance for sudden mood swings.

Teenagers are the majorly affected by this factor. According to research, the higher the levels of sugar higher the chances of depression and anxiety.

At the end reasons you should be conspiring against sugar:

  1. Not so good for your teeth

The Added Sugar is worst for your teeth as they provide easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria present in your mouth.

You may have heard it like for zillions of time let me repeat it again. Added sugars contain a bunch of calories with no nutrients accompanied. For this reason, they are popularly known as the empty calories.

  1. Sugar is very harmful to the liver

The percentage of Added Sugar is quite High in Fructose which is going to Overload Your Liver. Before sugar enters your bloodstream, it is broken down into two types of sugar glucose and fructose.

Glucose is found in every single living cell. If we don’t consume it, our bodies are responsible to produce it.

Fructose, on the other hand, are not that necessary for the normal functioning of our body.

The problem arises when the level of sugar is higher than normal.

  1. Sugar can be a responsible factor beyond cancer

Cancer is leading causes of death worldwide and the same can be characterized by the uncontrolled growth and multiplication of cells.

There is evidence that sugar is harmful to the overall metabolism of the body and is the major contributory for cancer.

  1. Reduction in brain activity

Some type of food you consume is going to impact your brain in a negative way which will ultimately result in the decreased levels of brain activity. Sugar causes the massive release of dopamine which makes sugar very addictive. Many people are commonly addicted to sugar, making them a host of many diseases.

The problem commonly associated with sugar is the release of dopamine which results in deterioration of good health.

Dopamine is the main reason which makes people addicted to sugar and other junk food.

  1. Sugar is a Leading Contributor to Obesity

The way sugar affects hormones and brain, it makes for the perfect recipe for sudden weight gain. People get easily addicted and losses control over the amount of food they are consuming, and the possible option of surgeries are explored.

Not surprisingly, people consuming higher sugar are likely to be more overweight. This applies to all age groups.

Many studies have examined the strong link between sugar consumption and obesity.

The association of sugar with obesity is very strong in children, where daily intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a whopping rise in weight beyond normal levels.

One of the most important things you can do if you need to shed those extra pounds of weight is to significantly cut sugar consumption.

The harmful effects of sugar on hormones and brain has become the major contributor to making the person overweight and obese.

  1. Sugar is the main culprit for cholesterol

Sugar is responsible for the rise in cholesterol and heart-related problems. It’s the common misconception that saturated fat is the reason beyond heart disease, but the entire fact is not always true.

According to the latest studies, it’s clear that saturated fat is harmless for the body.

The evidence suggests something opposite where the fat is not entirely responsible, but it is the sugar which is the leading cause of heart diseases and increased cholesterol level.