How Sugar Affects the Body – 8 Reasons to Decrease Your Sugar Intake
Sugar is hiding in most processed foods, and it can take a sneaky toll on your health.
Many of us consume way too much sugar daily without even knowing it. And it may surprise you to learn how sugar negatively affects the body and the brain.
You have way more control over your fatigue, anxiety, and mood swings than you’ve been led to believe. If you're feeling this way, you may need to examine your food and sugar intake.
Let’s take a look at the effects of high sugar intake and how you can take back control of your health by decreasing it.
How Sugar Affects the Brain
Do you know what it feels like to get the 2 pm slump? You’re having a productive day at work. But when you come back from lunch, you feel like you can barely trudge through your tasks. Your brain is foggy, and your eyes feel heavy.
You want to feel energized and engaged all day, but it feels like your brainpower is a finite source. When you go to your traditional doctor, they say your labs are normal. So, you keep on chugging through your days. Everyone talks about how tired they are – fatigue is just a part of life, right?
It doesn’t have to be.
Too many of us are conditioned to think fatigue and other lingering health issues are normal. But fatigue is your body's first sign of telling you there's an imbalance going on in your system. When you uncover this balance, you can get the energy back that you desire.
One of the primary sources of fatigue is your diet, specifically how much sugar you consume. Sugar has a massive effect on your brain, energy, and how your body functions.
When you consume sugar, your blood sugar rapidly rises. This increase triggers your pancreas to release insulin. The insulin moves the sugar out of your blood and into your cells. (1)
When your blood sugar spikes and then falls rapidly, it takes a ton of energy out of you – leaving you feeling exhausted and unsatisfied. Sugar can impair your cognitive function and decision-making skills, leading to the brain fog you dread. (1)
Aside from fatigue, sugar affects the brain in other ways, leading to…
Anxiety
Depression
Mood Swings
Brain fog
These feelings are often diagnosed as psychological issues without considering other factors. While you may want to seek psychological support, you can also look into your diet and how your sugar intake could be affecting you.
8 Ways Sugar Affects the Body
Most of us know that too much sugar is bad for us. But do you know why? Learning about the toll sugar takes on your health may inspire you to say no the next time you’re craving that bowl of ice cream before bedtime.
Sugar affects the body negatively in many ways, including…
Heart. Sugar causes oxidative stress in your arteries, leading to cardiovascular damage. That’s why sugar is linked to heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes (more on this below)
Teeth. When you eat something sweet, sugar usually stays hidden in your mouth. Bacteria thrive on sugar, which can lead to cavities.
Joints. Sugar causes inflammation in your body, which leads to joint and muscle pain. Eating sugar frequently also increases your risk of developing fibromyalgia, osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis.
Liver. Your liver’s job is to store the sugar you consume either as glycogen or fat. Since your body can only store a limited amount of glycogen, the liver is forced to convert most sugar into fat. Too much sugar overloads the liver and leads to liver damage and fatty liver disease.
Gut. Bacteria and fungi thrive on sugar. So, eating too much sugar can lead to bacteria-induced issues. Obvious gut issues include acid reflux, dysbiosis, gas, bloating, and constipation. But gut problems can cause other downstream issues like sleep, mood, and energy issues.
Cellular and DNA Damage. The oxidative damage that sugar causes to your cells and DNA increase your risk of all cancer. Sugar is essentially fuel to the fire for developing carcinogenesis, the agent that leads to cancer.
Aging. Oxidative stress caused by sugar causes damage to all your cells and your DNA, which leads to signs of premature aging.
Skin. Sugar leads to inflammation and oxidative stress which causes damage to the integrity membranes of your skin cells and damages the collagen in your skin. Collagen is the protein fiber that keeps your skin firm and prevents wrinkles.
Too much sugar increases your risk of developing metabolic syndrome. This condition refers to a group of risk factors that together increase your risk of cardiovascular diseases.
The risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome include….
Increased abdominal fat
High blood pressure
High blood sugar
High cholesterol
High triglyceride levels
Metabolic syndrome can result in life-threatening cardiovascular diseases like heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, PCOS, fatty liver disease, and more.
Metabolic syndrome is caused by your dietary and lifestyle choices, not genetics. Decreasing your sugar intake is one highly effective way to prevent the risk of this condition.
Countries with the highest sugar intake also have the highest rates of type 2 diabetes. Your risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 25% if you regularly drink one sugar-sweetened drink.
You deserve to let yourself have a sugary treat now and then. But too much sugar is slowly damaging the health of so many Americans. Because it’s hiding in almost all processed foods you buy, even in foods you may think are healthy – like conventional Peanut Butter.
How to Spot Sugar in Your Foods
Companies put massive amounts of sugar in processed foods. And they tend to label sugar misleadingly on food labels. So, you may not realize how much sugar you’re actually consuming daily.
For example, most breakfast bars advertise their products as a healthy energy source and boost. You usually associate them with a workout and grab one on your way out to the gym in the morning.
But one leading breakfast bar has a whopping 23 grams of added sugar – which is close to the entire daily dosage recommended by the American Heart Association. So, the food bar that’s advertised as an “energy boost” is actually going to spike your system and drain your energy. (2)
Companies use many names that don’t sound like sugar, so you don’t know they’re included. But one sure way to spot sugar is to look for the “added sugar” line item on the ingredients list. The sugar did not come naturally from the food, and the manufacturer added it.
The best choice for your health is to reduce any or all consumption of added sugars and artificial sweeteners. Many foods, like fruits, already contain sugar naturally. Once you train your palate to enjoy the natural sweetness of foods like fruits, your cravings for sugar decrease.
It may shock you to learn how many of the processed foods in your cabinet include more sugar than you should consume in an entire day in just one serving. For more information on reading food labels and what to avoid, check out our comprehensive article.
Take Control Over Your Sugar Intake
Are you experiencing anxiety, fatigue, or brain fog? Your diet could be making a significant impact on these feelings and your health. And you don’t need to live your life feeling tired all the time.
You’re constantly bombarded with advertisements and yummy-looking foods that make you crave sugar. It’s so much easier to eat sugary foods that are more available than healthy foods.
If you need support in making healthy choices and optimizing your diet, book a consultation with Denver Sports and Holistic Medicine. We’ll perform functional lab testing to get a complete picture of your health and help you make the proper steps towards improving it.
Learn how sugar affects the body and get to the root cause of your fatigue once and for all.
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