Sugar – sweet, delicious, addictive, and dangerous.
It’s a sticky topic that can easily put scientists, doctors, dietitians, and nutritionist in different corners.
Let me start by being really frank with you …
You know you shouldn’t have sugar, don’t you?
Now you’ll probably argue me, “everything in moderation!” – nope … not this crap!
If you’re already turning red with anger at my statement, you may not want to watch today’s video. But, if you’re willing to hear me out, or curious as to why I’m so anti-sugar – I’d encourage you to watch it.
It’s a longer-than-usual video, so if you don’t have time for it – just scroll down to read the goods!
The Truth About Sugar
I bet you know sugar’s bad for you … but do you know why? Or how you can get off of it?
Why is Sugar bad for you?
1. It’s totally empty calories
This means it’s high in calories but contains no nutritional value. No vitamins, no minerals, no nothing. Just pure empty calories.
In other words, if you’re consuming all of this sugar (energy) without using energy, the extra calories will be stored by your body in your fat cells.
2. It affects your metabolism
Sugar is broken down into glucose and fructose.
Glucose is used by every cell in your body, so it is used up almost immediately. Fructose is metabolized by the liver and gets turned into:
- Free Fatty Acids (FFA’s)
- Very Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL)
- Triglycerides
Now keep in mind – metabolism by the liver creates a lot of toxins, waste, and uric acid which can cause high blood pressure, gout, and more.
3. It contributes to disease, duh
Insulin resistance can lead to type II diabetes because high levels of sugar cause the pancreas to secrete insulin, but if you consistently consume too much sugar your cells will become resistant to insulin, and chronic elevation causes insulin to store energy from food as fat. Gah, right?
It can also contribute to heart disease and cancer. In fact, your risk of developing these increase within just 2 weeks of consuming high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Woah.
Also, dietary fructose can promote cancer via inflammation, altered cell metabolism, and free radical formation.
How does it affect your body?
1. Physically
Fructose is the most lipophilic carbohydrate (dissolves in fat). Here’s how it works:
- Fructose gets turned into activated glycerol (g-3-p)
- g-3-p turns FFA’s (free fatty acids) into triglycerides
- Triglycerides get stored in your body as fat
But here’s what you have to remember – the more g-3-p you have … the more fat you store. In other words, the more weight you gain.
Let’s bring a little bit of perspective to this:
- 120 calories of glucose = 1 gram stored fat, whereas
- 120 calories of fructose = 40 grams stored fat
And it gets worse! Glucose decreases hunger by suppressing ghrelin (hunger hormone) and by stimulating leptin (satiety hormone). Fructose doesn’t affect ghrelin, but it interferes with the brains communication with leptin causing you to overeat and therefor gain weight.
2. Emotionally
Mood swings are associated with hypoglycemic responses. Up to four hours after a heavily refined meal, blood sugar levels drop rapidly causing the body to release adrenaline. In other words – this stresses out your body! Stress is often the root cause of most people’s health issues … so don’t stress your body out!
How happy are you when you’re stressed? Point made.
So if you want to be emotionally stable, and you want your kids to be emotionally stable – cut the sugar.
It can also bring on symptoms of depression, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, etc. All of this simply being caused by the rise and fall of your blood sugar levels.
3. Mentally
This is the biggest one, in my opinion. I firmly believe that sugar is what causes so many people to not be able to concentrate at work and school, as well as the cause of most diagnoses of ADHD and learning disabilities in children.
Sugar causes lack of concentration. This goes back to your blood sugar levels – the quick rise and fall disrupts communication between neurons and adds stress to the body causing it to release cortisol. As a result, confusion and anxiety are stimulated.
How do we expect our kids to focus if we are stimulating their blood sugar levels like this?
It is also highly addictive. Studies have proven that sugar triggers the same part of the brain as cocaine for addiction … cocaine! And like any addiction your body craves what it’s addicted too and this brings on mood swings.
Oh, and then there’s memory and learning … insulin resistance damages communication between brain cells that affect learning and memory. Plus, if concentration is disrupted that will also affect memory and learning ability.
3 ways to remove sugar from your diet
1. Do it in stages
Though I’m a big fan of going off of sugar cold turkey, it can be intimidating for some people. If that’s you, try one of these options instead:
- Cut a certain percentage each week (25% week 1, 50% week 2, etc)
- Cut it out of a certain category each week (snacks week 1, breakfasts week 2, etc)
- Cut it out of certain days each week (monday’s week 1, monday’s and tuesday’s week 2, etc)
2. Healthy Swaps
- Swap out unhealthy sugars for healthier ones like raw honey, pure maple syrup, blackstrap molasses, or stevia
- Skip agave – it has anywhere from 50-70% fructose, is highly processed, and acts like high fructose corn syrup in the body.
3. Reduce your …
- Carbohydrates to reduce your cravings
- Hidden sugars (if you eat it, make sure you know it’s there!)
- TV time because lazy causes cravings as your body is looking to increase your energy
8 practical tips to help you reduce sugar
- Remove all juice and pop from your diet
- Bake at home using healthy ingredients (skip store-bought!)
- Keep fruit handy – it’s great to reduce cravings
- Replace your sugary cereals with healthier options like eggs, oatmeal, etc
- Swap chips for air-popped popcorn
- Pre-cut your veggies and keep them accessible
- Have a container in the fridge and pantry with pre-portioned healthy snacks
- Swap traditional granola bars for homemade trailmix