6 Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar
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Sugar in your coffee, sugar in your tea, sugar in your cold drink and your sweets! While the sugar content in these might seem like nominal amounts if you consider them individually, combine them and you’ll realize you’re having way too much sugar. Much more than you think, despite the self-imposed sugar control program!
The excess sugar content in your body is not good news, even if it feels great on the taste buds. Sooner or later, your body will start showing signs that it’s suffering from too-muchness of sugar and that you need to curtail your consumption of it.
In fact, here are 6 signs that strongly suggest it’s time to limit your sugar consumption to the bare minimum!
1. You Get Sugar Cravings All The Time
The first sign you’re having too much sugar is that you want more of it. That’s why quitting sugar seems so hard! A study has shown that the unyielding urge to consume more sugar is comparable to medication dependence, where you feel like you can’t function if you don’t have it (1). When you have more sugary items, your brain releases chemicals that make you feel good, which leads to severe sugar cravings just to re-experience that feeling again.
To satisfy your sugar cravings and even curb them to an extent, try having fresh fruits instead of desserts and other junk. Foods such as bananas, oats, potatoes, and lentils can help.
2. Wrinkles Develop On Your Skin
Sugar can deeply affect the two skin-building proteins of your body – elastin and collagen. Together these two provide your skin with flexibility and quality. When you have too much sugar, the process of glycation multiplies, which can rapidly age your skin. Glycation is a process in which two particles of sugar, namely fructose and glucose, attach themselves to lipids and proteins in your body (2). Too much of sugar consumption can also make it difficult for collagen atoms to repair themselves when damaged.
If you want to protect your skin and keep it younger for longer, cut down on sugar and hydrate yourself constantly. Also, make sure you wear sunscreen when you go out.
3. Visceral Fat In Your Body Has Increased
Excess sugar consumption can raise the levels of visceral fat in your body, which is fat the fat found in and around your organs.
In one particular study, participants were divided into 4 groups and each group was given a particular type of drink every day. The drinks allocated include sugary cola, diet cola with sweet aspartame, semi-skimmed milk, and water. Each group had their drinks daily for 6 months, after which scientists examined the results and found out that those who had regular cola more had skeletal, visceral, and muscle fat as well as high cholesterol levels as compared to the others (3).
The only way to fix this is to work out and go sugar-free.
4. You Get Toothaches
It’s a well-known fact that sugary foods can lead to tooth decay. The microorganisms that lead to tooth decay feed off of sugar and create acids, which cause the separation of the two layers of your teeth, i.e. the dentin and enamel, which then leads to cavities and rot. Plus, tooth decay is not just restricted to children. It happens in adults too as we consume much higher amounts of sugar than we realize.
It’s important for you to understand that desserts and sweets are not sources of nourishment. Moreover, foods high in starch or natural sugar (fructose) content can also harm your teeth. Therefore, it’s vital to maintain proper dental hygiene and cut down on these foods as much as you can.
5. Worsening Of Other Symptoms
One study found out that children aged between 2 and 9 years, who had high amounts of refined sugar every day, were more likely to suffer from severe mood swings and irritation as compared to children whose diets primarily comprised of fresh vegetables and fruits.
Another study discovered that having beverages with a high fructose content can adversely affect the health of women. The study examined 80,000 women over the course of 22 years, analyzing their consumption of high-fructose drinks. They found out that women who had more than one serving of such beverages were 95% more likely to get gout (4).
6. Onset Of Stomach Problems
Excess sugar consumption is bad for your gut health too. High amounts of fructose can lead to a cracked gut, a condition in which substances enter the circulatory system via the small intestine. Fructose can even damage your liver and lead to tumors in the organ. Besides, sugar also affects the natural flora of your gut, which can lead to stomach upsets as well as insulin resistance (5). That said, having a fiber-rich diet can help fix this.
Too much of sugar can be very dangerous for you. So, if you want to live a long, happy, and healthy life, try eliminating refined sugar from your diet.
