Too much sugar makes us want more sugar.
Early humans needed sugar to survive. They needed it for energy (glucose) and to help store fat (fructose) for times when food was scarce. In order to help them survive the human brain developed a craving for this delicious ingredient. Richard Johnson, professor in the Medicine Department of the University of Colorado, speculates that the “feel good” response modern humans get from sugar is a holdover from this early survival response.
Today, in our sugar-run-amuck world, that craving has the opposite effect. Too much of a good thing is making us sick. Most of us know it’s bad for our teeth and our waistline, but it is much more destructive than that. Overindulgence on sugar affects many areas of our body.
Heart
Sugar stresses the heart, causing a decrease in function. It also inflames the linings of the arteries and the heart, all of which lead to an increase in stroke and heart failure.
Brain
A study at the University of California, Los Angeles found that diets with a large amount of sugar decreased function of the brain in forming new memories and storing information. This is linked to a chemical known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Low levels of this chemical are linked to depressions and dementia.
Liver
Livers of people who ingest too much sugar look a lot like the livers of alcoholics. Sugar affects the liver by building up fat in the liver, causing scarring, or cirrhosis. Fatty-liver disease, the second most common liver disease after cirrhosis, is also caused by unhealthy eating. Sugar has a great ability to cause inflammation throughout the body, the liver being no exception.
Kidneys
Our kidneys perform the essential tasks of filtering our blood. High levels of sugar make the kidneys work harder, which leads to kidney damage later in life. Type 2 diabetes can be directly linked to high sugar intake, as well as an increase in waste products leaking into the body. The “cure” for kidney failure is an organ transplant or dialysis.
Skin
Inflammation caused by sugar leads to a break down in our collagen and elastin of our skin, as well as increased hair growth and dark patches of skin around body creases including the head and neck areas.
Joints
Inflammation is a common side effect of too much processed sugar. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in our joints. Chronic arthritis sufferers are advised to keep sugar intake low.
Sexual Health
A lot of sugar negatively affects blood flow, and a study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that a certain type of sugar (O-GlcNAc), found in diabetes patients, interrupts the enzyme responsible for erections in males. Another study showed a link between consuming too much fructose and glucose which causes a gene to turn off that regulates testosterone and estrogen. This can cause sexual arousal disorders in women.
Check out this helpful infographic from Prevention Magazine to show how that sweet substance affects us.
Knowing how harmful this treat can be is important, but scare tactics rarely produce a long-term change in lifestyle. The question you may be asking now is “how do I change my sugar-eating habits? Since our bodies are built to want more sugar, think about small changes, over time. First step is to, read ingredient labels.
Try to reduce “passive” sugar, added into your food by manufacturers. Look for spreads like nut butters that contain only the nut and possibly salt. The same with ketchups and salad dressings. Be sure to give your taste buds time to adjust to foods that are less sweet. Making some of these every day items your self is also easy and can make a huge difference in your hidden sugar intake.
Reduce the amount of sugar you use while cooking. Work on changing desserts from processed, packaged items to homemade products, where you can control the sugar. Applesauce can often replace ½ of the sugar in any given recipe with no noticeable change to the final product. Fresh fruit from your garden or farmers’ markets is also an excellent substitute for sugary desserts.
You can replace your sugar with other sweeteners, but stay away from chemical sweeteners like aspartame, and use agave syrup or stevia as your supplements. Remember these require some processing as well. Be sure to check the suggested serving size. These are ways to bring more natural sweeteners into your diet, but these products still break down into sugars in your body.
Avoid juice and sugared beverages. Drink water, or water infused with sliced fruit. If you miss sodas, allow yourself one when you eat out at a restaurant, but don’t keep them in the house.
You can break the attachment to sugar through awareness, information and small changes.
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