4 Reasons to Decrease Your Sugar Consumption

There’s been a lot of talk in the media about the evils of sugar consumption. It’s hidden in all sorts of foods including bread and salad dressing. Add to that our love for things like cookies and ice cream and it’s no wonder our sugar consumption is skyrocketing. Unfortunately, all this added sugar is doing a lot of damage to our health, and it’s making us gain weight.

It’s time to cut added sugar from our diet — a sugar detox if you will.

Did I actually write that? I have the biggest sweet tooth in Texas. No package of Oreos was safe from me during my younger years. Ice cream, cakes, chocolate? All best friends. But now – I really have to watch my sugar intake. While I have a specific reason to lower my intake, everyone should consider it – for better health.

Here are five reasons why you should do a sugar detox and do what you can to avoid consuming sugar as much as possible.

Consuming Sugar Spikes Your Insulin

As soon as your body starts to digest sugar, your insulin level spikes up. Insulin is the hormone that is in charge of keeping blood sugar levels from rising too high and converting any extra sugar into fat for storage.

It’s a delicate process and consuming sugar in large quantities will cause your insulin to spike. Over time the insulin may become less and less effective which can negatively affect your health.

Consuming Sugar Makes You Gain Weight

Because of the insulin situation above and because sugar adds a lot of calories to food, sugar can make you gain weight without eating a lot of candy and cakes.

Since the late seventies, when health authorities advised consumers to watch and lower their fat intake, the food industry has provided us with all sorts of low-fat and fat-free food options. To make these low-fat foods taste ok, they had to add a lot of sugar. Look at regular and low-fat or fat-free salad dressing. The lower fat options have a lot more carbs and in particular, sugar. You may not taste it, but it’s there.

In addition, sugar is much more quickly digested than fat, so you may be hungry sooner after eating a low-fat, high carb meal and you eat again. The end result is weight gain.

Consuming Sugar Increases Your Risk for Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome

With all that increased sugar and weight gain comes a higher risk for diabetes and a condition called metabolic syndrome. Metabolic Syndrome is a group of symptoms and behaviors that put you at a much higher risk of developing heart disease and Type II diabetes.

Fortunately, metabolic syndrome can be reversed, but you have to make changes to your diet – like cutting down on sugar – and exercise.

Sugar Doesn’t Have A Lot of Nutritional Value

Finally, it’s important to remember that aside from a little boost of energy, sugar doesn’t provide a lot of nutritional value. If you want something sweet, you’re much better off grabbing a piece of fruit than a cookie. At least with a piece of fruit, you’re getting some vitamins and fiber with your sugar fix.

If you want or need to lose weight, the first thing you should cut out is sugar.

Sounds daunting, right? I’m not sure I can completely cut sugar out right now, but I have cut down a lot over the last 3 months. Once you start your sugar detox, your taste buds will adjust. It’s science!

For more on your Sugar Detox, click on the link for free report!

Have a great day!

Loving life – the Reboot!

Dominique