Why Giving Up Sugar Can Be Really Good For Your Health

Many people have a sweet tooth. They enjoy foods that have sugar in them, including sweets, candy, and other treats. Sodas and even fruit juices sometimes have extra sugar added to improve the flavor. It turns out sugar is not good for a person’s health at all. Sugar does not contain nutrients, vitamins, minerals, or anything else that is good for the body. Sugar can add empty calories to the body and can harm overall health.

Why Sugar is bad

For years people have blamed cholesterol and saturated fats as the leading causes of heart disease. Heart disease is the number on cause of death in all of the world. While these things are not good for a person’s health, there is something that is worse. That something is sugar. Studies have shown that sugar can raise the oxidized LDL levels in the blood which is a leading cause of heart disease. Sugar can also raise insulin levels and increase the amount of fat that a person has. This can happen in as little as ten weeks. Sugar is the leading cause of obesity in adults as well as children. Beverages that are sweetened with sugar can put a person at a 60% increase risk of becoming obese. If a person is looking to reduce their body weight they need to carefully monitor the amount of sugar they are consuming. Many people would not think this, but sugar can be addictive. It raises dopamine levels in the brain which makes people crave foods that are high in sugar. Consuming extra sugar changes the blood sugar levels in the body. While blood sugar level spikes it can affect how a person is feeling. Eating a diet high in sugar can increase the risk a person has for developing type 2 diabetes. Sugar is said to release hormones in the brain that lead to fat building. Studies have shown that sugar increases the fructose levels in the body. This can lead to an increase in appetite which can lead to weight gain. Sugar also lowers the levels of the hormone ghrelin which leads to weight gain and makes it harder for the body to burn off calories.

Read More: Study Shows That Sugar Increase Cardiovascular Risk

How Much Sugar Do People Eat?

People are consuming much more sugar then they keep track of. Sugar consumption is very high in both children and adults. The average American consumes around 60 pounds of sugar per year. The average daily intake of sugar is 77 grams which is the same as 19 teaspoons. This amount of sugar adds an extra 306 calories to a person’s diet every day. While some experts are saying that the sugar consumption has dropped over the years, it is still alarmingly high.

Replacement for Sugar

While sugar is almost impossible to avoid, there are some changes that a person can make to their diet to reduce the amount of sugar they are consuming. For an occasional treat, a person can switch from regular soda to diet soda (editor’s note: be sure to avoid any diet drinks that contain aspartame or any other unnatural sugar alternatives). There are fruit juices on the market with no sugar added to them. If a person is looking for a sugar fix they can eat a piece of fruit which contains natural sugars. Honey is a great way to sweeten foods. Shredded coconut or dried cranberries can be used to sweeten brand cereal. There are a number of sugar substitutes on the market that can be added to coffee. They can even be used in baking instead of sugar. While there are replacements for sugar, the best thing to do is slowly break the habit of eating sweets.

How to Break the Sugar Addiction

While it may not be easy to break the habit of eating foods that are high in sugar and people may crave sugary foods it is possible to escape the sweetness. Hypnotherapy is one of the things that a person can do to break their dependency on sugar. If they get it into their mind that sugar is bad for them and they do not need to eat foods that are high in sugar a person will be able to break the habit. Getting into their mind that they do not need to eat the sugar is one of the best ways to break the addiction to this unhealthy substance.

There is so much sugar in today’s foods that it is having a negative impact on health. There are some things that a person can do to break their dependency on sugar. They can replace sugar, use willpower to avoid it, or just eat it on occasion. Sugar is one of the worse things for a person’s health and it is going to take some determination to escape this sweet trap. A person will notice they are feeling better and have more energy when they stop eating so much sugar that they will not even miss it from their diets.

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Vaileria Dennis is a Health and Beauty expert, having 10 years of experience in Beauty industry. She works on behalf of ConsumerHealthDigest.com as a content coordinator for the categories Health, Beauty and skin science. She is also passionate about fitness, women’s health and more. In recent years, she has had an opportunity to learn about Food and Nutrition. She always excited to share her ideas related to beauty tips, healthy food recipes and diet plans.