Are you eating a diet high in sugar? If so, consider the many health costs. As you chew on that sugary snack, those empty calories could be increasing your waistline and lead to a fatty liver disease.[1] Sugar is in practically everything these days — from your peanut butter to a loaf of bread. What’s even worse, high fructose corn syrup has quickly replaced pure sugar, leading to even further complications. Could cutting sugar out of your life completely be the answer to your health concerns? Well, there’s one thing – it certainly might help.
Reducing or cutting out sugar consumption could do wonders for your lifestyle. Not only could it support your energy levels, but it may also support healthy aging. Here are just four reasons you need to get sugar out of your life.
With the way many Americans drink sugary beverages, it’s no surprise the latest report suggests sugar is a factor in the obesity epidemic. The Obesity Society estimates Americans consume about six to seven percent of their calories in sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).[2] These beverages are brimming with empty calories, and cutting these out of your diet can only make a change for the better.
It’s not just weight gain that’s a possible concern, though; sugar could even add to your risk for heart disease.[3] In a recent study, sugar was linked to changes in blood pressure and in the body’s lipids. This latest finding only adds to evidence that continues to suggest there’s no such thing as a “safe sugar habit.”
The latest research even suggests sugar could be as addictive as a drug.[4] Sugar addiction could be a throwback to a distant time when food supplies were scarce, and people weren’t worried about empty calories. They were just eating enough to survive. At the time, our brains might have been wired to overload on carbohydrates, mostly fruit and grains, in order to maintain energy storage during times of famine. In this day and age, however, finding food isn’t the concern: it’s mindlessly eating sugar.
Certainly SSBs could be doing more harm than good to our physical health, but a recent finding even suggests they could be damaging the memories. [5] Drinking SSBs in excess has the potential to change the “brain's ability to function normally and remember critical information.” That’s one more reason to cut sugar out of your life!
Sugar can be bad news for our bodies, but sugar substitutes aren’t really that much better. The brain perceives artificial sweeteners as overly sweet, and this perception can still lead to overeating, like we mentioned above. [6] So we’re back to square one, it seems. With the rising sugar crisis, some have even suggested sugary foods need a warning label. [7]
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