5 Proven Reasons Why You Should Quit Sugar | How Sugar Affects Your Brain + Body | Optimize Your Health by Removing Sugar
Why eliminate sugar from your diet?
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Always consult with your doctor or healthcare professional before making health or lifestyle changes. The following information is provided for informational purposes and has been documented by scientific studies and findings, references are listed below. This information is not a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
If you when to optimize your brain function, your body, your workouts, and ensure you are in optimal health, you may want to consider eliminating sugar from your diet, specifically added sugar.
In order to to do this, you will have to start paying attention to food & beverage labels, as it’s in almost everything in a “typical” American diet, except for whole, natural foods.
Once I started reading and researching more about the effects of sugar on the body - and brain! - the decision became much easier. To me, it is well worth the effort to check labels and just straight-up avoid foods due to the sugar content. It did take 2-3 weeks to normalize cravings (sugar is more addictive than cocaine) but after that period, it’s been relatively easy. Now, years later, I almost never crave sugar.
There are so many reasons to eliminate sugar from your diet, here are just 5 of the top reasons that have been proven by numerous studies:
Sugar has been found to be more addictive than cocaine.
Sugar feeds bad bacteria, fungus, and other harmful cells in the body.
High sugar consumption (especially from "added sugar") leads to inflammation in the body; chronic inflammation has been increasingly shown to be the underlying factor to many diseases including diabetes, many cancers, heart disease, and more.
Excess sugar consumption has been shown to lead to brain fog, as well as deficits in memory and attention.
Many studies have shown that higher sugar consumption is associated with higher rates of depression.
Tips for removing sugar and guidance from experts:
Easy guidance: Avoid processed foods, sodas, energy drinks, and any that isn’t “natural” or grown from the earth.
Many people say it’s hard for them to just drink plain water, try teas or adding citrus fruits to your water - lime, lemon, and orange are extremely beneficial options!
If you can’t fully eliminate sugar from your diet, switch only to dark chocolate (the higher the cacao content the better) for a few weeks.
Additional guidance from experts and nutritions suggests that sugar from natural sources - like fruit - can be OK in moderation, but this depends on your current state of health. Generally speaking, most experts now recommend that even natural sugar should be avoided late in the day or after a large meal.
What I’ve learned on my own journey is that if you want to improve your health and reduce your risk for disease, you must become an advocate for yourself. No one is going to come to save you. Our bodies are incredibly resilient, but we have to listen to them and take care of them!
What do you think? Does this resonate with you? Have you removed sugar from your diet? Let me know in the comments!
References / Further reading:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-sweet-danger-of-sugar
https://www.angelesinstitute.edu/thenightingale/daily-sugar-intake?ref=U5fnETGk
https://www.zumanutrition.com/blogs/health/how-sugar-effects-the-body?_pos=1&_sid=503d77cab&_ss=r
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3492709/?ref=U5fnETGk
https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-018-1381-2
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-sugar-affects-the-brain-4065218
