Not all sugar is alarming for health. Natural resources like fruit, honey, and maple syrup are not as bad as the processed sugars and high fructose corn syrup. Giving up all natural sources of sugar is equal to giving up all those antioxidants, phytochemicals, fiber, minerals, and vitamins at the same time. Let us understand why you should cut sugar out of your diet.
Here is Why You Should Cut Sugar Out of Your Diet
To understand why you should cut sugar out of your diet, it is necessary to understand the way in which consuming added sugar plays with your health. To maintain good health, it is important to concentrate more on the added sugar in your daily diet because:
- It may be unbelievable but it’s a proven fact that many of the so called healthy low-fat foods are actually loaded with sugar. Added sugar in your daily diet is actually an unconscious intake of more and more harmful carbohydrates.
- In fact, the added sugar in your daily diet is far tougher to digest than fat or cholesterol. In so many forms, sugar is added in our daily diet.
- Processed foods are available with added flavor, texture or color etc.
- The most common sources of added sugars include soft drinks, cakes, pies, chocolate, fruit drinks and desserts.
Sugar has now become the biggest concern of the health practitioners around world. Awareness campaign against this most silent and sweetened killer is running around the world to spread consciousness about this recognized enemy of wellness. Eating too many of these empty calories in your daily diet has many health effects, the most obvious being major weight gain. Added sugar drives your insulin levels, messes with your metabolism, and causes those calories to turn right into belly fat.
Hence, when you cut sugar out of your diet, you can see immediate and positive effects on overall health and wellbeing. Cutting back on the sweet stuff is just a start to live well with more health benefits.
There are many reasons to cut sugar out of your diet. Relief from many such problems is why you should cut sugar out of your diet.
- It fuels up cancer cells
- It impairs the function of white blood cells
- It promotes weight gain
- It prompts the body to produce less leptin (needed for appetite regulation)
- It disrupts how amino acids transfer to muscles
- It spurs insulin resistance, which can lead to Type II diabetes
- It induces oxidative stress
Here are some conditions explained why you should cut sugar out of your diet.
Less Sugar Intake Means Stable Blood Pressure
- The main reason why you should cut sugar out of your diet, is to reduce the risk of obesity and other risk factors of lifestyle disorders.
- Obesity poses major risk for high blood pressure. It is one of the main consequences of excessive added sugar intake.
- High blood pressure decreases the capability of the heart and arteries and can cause damage over time to the whole circulatory system.
- High blood pressure leads to some serious coronary diseases like heart failure, heart attacks, stroke etc.
- It is also responsible for kidney damage and artery malfunction causing less elasticity.
- It is observed that 25 percent of calorie intake on an average adds to the risk of cardiovascular decreases.
Added Sugar Is A Source Of Bad Cholesterol
- Another important reason why you should cut sugar out of your diet, is to reduce the risk of high cholesterol.
- Taking more added sugar in your diet lowers the level of good cholesterol namely HDL
- It heightens the level of LDL or bad cholesterol.
- Regular intake of added sugar over a period adds to the level of triglycerides or blood fats.
- Such causes clog up the arteries and blood vessels thus leading to heart disease.
Dull Skin with Acne
- Another reason why you should cut sugar out of your diet, is to protect your skin and delay aging, as too much added sugar can make skin dull and wrinkled.
- Excess sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins to form Advanced Glycation End or AGE
- AGEs damage the protein fibres namely collagen and elastin.
- Collagen and elastin responsible for keeping skin firm and elastic
- This damage leads to skin wrinkles and sagging or aging of skin
- It also effects on natural antioxidant enzymes badly,
- Skin becomes more lifeless while exposed to direct sunlight and gets damaged.
- Foods with added sugar contains a high glycemic index and triggers hormonal fluctuations like Acne
Added Sugar Increases the Risk of Diabetes
- One of the most important reasons why you should cut sugar out of your diet, is to reduce the risk of diabetes and glucose intolerance.
- Excess sugar intake in form of fructose, glucose etc. especially added in your diet can get into the cells and become sticky with the bloodstream.
- Presence of excess sugar in the blood stream is highly resistant of insulin
- This high blood sugar leads to pre-diabetes and eventually the threat of actual diabetes.
- Drinking of one or two sugary drinks per day increases the chance of developing type 2 diabetes
Added Sugar Does Intensify the Risk of Fatty Liver
- Yet another important factor why you should cut sugar out of your diet, is to protect your liver and reduce the risk of other disorders.
- Excess intake of sugar in diet drives fat into the liver cells, causing inflammation and scarring
- It can aggravate fatty liver disease
- Fatty liver is a major risk factor for diabetes, heart attacks, and sometimes even cancer.
Other Reasons Why You Should Cut Sugar Out Of Your Diet
To Avoid the Dentist’s Chamber
- Residue of the sugar that remains in your mouth for quite some time prompts cavity and other dental problems.
- Sugar develops coating all over the tongue and the taste buds fail to grab exact taste
To Allow Effective Functioning of Immune System
- Intake of much sugar through foods and drinks can damage the immune system significantly.
- It causes a drop in the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria.
- Less consumption of sugar keeps the fighter cells working to fight off infections, allergies.