Are YOU addicted to Sugar ???
This white stuff unfortunately is legal, and it’s called “sugar”.
Studies have shown that the effects of sugar on the brain is quite similar to the effects of illegal drug use. Added sugar is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet.It can have harmful effects on metabolism and contribute to all sorts of diseases.
It’s not just sugar in its pure form that produces this effect on the body. Most carbohydrates found in processed foods turn to glucose very quickly, having the very same negative effects. And it’s not just energy highs and lows, there are actual hormonal changes that take place, making us hungry and driving us to overeat.
Here are 5 disturbing reasons why you should avoid added sugar like the plague.
1. Added Sugar Contains No Essential Nutrients and is Bad For Your Teeth
Added sugars (like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) contain a whole bunch of calories with NO essential nutrients.For this reason, they are called “empty” calories.There are no proteins, essential fats, vitamins or minerals in sugar… just pure energy.
Bottom Line: Sugar contains a lot of calories, with no essential nutrients. It also causes tooth decay by feeding the harmful bacteria in the mouth.2. Added Sugar is High in Fructose, Which Can Overload Your Liver
In order to understand what is so bad about sugar, then you need to understand what it is made of. Before sugar enters the bloodstream from the digestive tract, it is broken down into two simple sugars… glucose and fructose.Glucose is found in every living cell on the planet. If we don’t get it from the diet, our bodies produce it.
Fructose is different. Our bodies do not produce it in any significant amount and there is no physiological need for it.The thing with fructose is that it can only be metabolized by the liver in any significant amounts.When repeatedly eating large amounts of sugar, this process can lead to fatty liver and all sorts of serious problems Keep in mind that all of this does NOT apply to fruit. It is almost impossible to overeat fructose by eating fruit.3. Overloading The Liver With Fructose Can Cause Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
When fructose get turned into fat in the liver, it is shipped out as VLDL cholesterol particles.However, not all of the fat gets out, some of it can lodge in the liver.This can lead to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), a growing problem in Western countries that is strongly associated with metabolic diseases
Studies show that individuals with fatty liver consume up to 2-3 times as much fructose as the average person. Excess fructose gets turned into fat, which can lodge in the liver and cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.4. Sugar Can Cause Insulin Resistance, a Stepping Stone Towards Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes
Insulin is a very important hormone in the body.It allows glucose (blood sugar) to enter cells from the bloodstream and tells the cells to start burning glucose instead of fat.Having too much glucose in the blood is highly toxic and one of the reasons for complications of diabetes, like blindness.
This is also known as insulin resistance, which is believed to be a leading driver of many diseases… including metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease and especially type II diabetes (9).
When people eat a lot of sugar, it can cause resistance to the hormone insulin, which can contribute to many diseases.5. It’s not the Fat… It’s SUGAR That Raises Your Cholesterol and Gives You Heart Disease
For many decades, people have blamed saturated fat for heart disease… which is the #1 killer in the world.However… new studies are showing that saturated fat is harmless. The evidence is mounting that sugar, NOT fat, may be one of the leading drivers of heart disease via the harmful effects of fructose on metabolism.Studies show that large amounts of fructose can raise triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (very, very bad), raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity… in as little as 10 weeks.These are all major risk factors for heart disease.Sugar is addictive, and some of us who have difficulties with it, need to treat it as we would treat any other substance that is highly addictive. Just. Stay. Away.