Benefits of giving up sugar

Reducing or eliminating sugar offers many benefits. However,  it is important to note that sugar in certain forms is essential for healthy living.

This is why it’s a good idea to identify “good sugar” foods (those found in natural foods that we would happily eat raw – such as fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts and also identify “bad sugar” foods (anything containing refined sugar or processed carbohydrates, or natural food items that have been processed, such as dried fruit and fruit juice).

As soon as you eliminate (or at least reduce) the amount of bad sugar in your daily intake, there are many, many immediately noticeable benefits:

• Mood swings

Those mood swings you presumed were due to work stress or the kids playing up (or both) suddenly disappear (bad sugar plays havoc with blood sugar levels, and moods fluctuate accordingly).

• Energy levels increase

Far from providing valid daily boosts in energy – bad sugar, like all manufactured stimulants, actually ends up suppressing your true energy levels and making you feel tired all of the time (apart from the moments immediately following consumption of bad sugar). The constant disruption of blood sugar levels has you constantly swinging from “tired/exhausted” to “energised” instead of just feeling “great” all the time.

• Appearance

If you look at any sugar addict (the same goes for caffeine addicts) they don’t look to be in vigorous health and full of beans all the time…they look tired and lethargic all the time – eventually even after they take bad sugar on board. It’s a downward spiral.

• Sleep

After reducing or eliminating bad sugar – the resulting “balance” in blood sugar levels pays tremendous dividends with sleep. Rather than staying up late, in some cases just so you can consume more junk food, you decide when you fancy going to bed and tend to enjoy restful nights rather than poor sleep (which is a symptom of too much bad sugar).

• Skin and eyes

All look brighter, clearer, and more youthful. The effects of eating bad sugar and bad carbs mess with your complexion and sharpness – as soon as you stop taking the junk on board – skin and eyes regain their natural look/brightness.

Simply put, you lose weight and feel fantastic.

If you have type 2 diabetes – or if you have been told you’re in danger of developing it – avoiding bad sugar cures you entirely.

Why do we find sugar so addictive?

It’s the way that sugar disrupts blood sugar levels in an unnatural way.

It creates a feeling (which most people describe as a high) followed by a huge sense of loss (which most people describe as a crash). We react by having more bad sugar – and the resulting “high” seems to relieve the “crash”.

The effect, as with all addiction, is akin to wearing tight shoes – just for the relief of taking them off. We don’t realise that bad sugar is causing the crash – not relieving it – so we keep eating and drinking it.

Allen Carr described this relationship with addiction as being similar to George and Lenny in Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’.

Lennie felt entirely dependent and grateful to George and felt he owed George his life because he once saved him from drowning. Lennie’s problem is that it never dawned on him that it was George who encouraged him to jump in the river in the first place (knowing that he couldn’t swim).

That perfectly describes the sugar addict’s relationship with bad sugar. No matter how low sugar drags us down – we remain grateful for the apparent boost it seems to give us.

What happens to our bodies when we ingest sugar?

Blood sugar – otherwise known as glucose is produced as a result of the food and drink that you consume.

Your body creates blood sugar as it digests food and the blood sugar/glucose circulates in your bloodstream to your organs.

Glucose is used for energy and any energy that isn’t used to fuel your body right away gets stored in cells (as glycogen) for later use. If your glycogen stores are already full then glucose is converted and stored in fat cells.

Find the right weight loss & sugar addiction programme for you