Faced with all these sources of sugar, how do you determine the limit you shouldn’t cross? If you experience the following symptoms, it’s time to significantly reduce your sugar consumption:
Sugar is addictive, just like cocaine, and its effects are similar. It stimulates the production of dopamine, the pleasure hormone. Often, without even thinking about it, we can be tempted by sweets and simple carbohydrates to get our “fix.” As with other addictions, our bodies develop a tolerance to sugar, meaning that the more we consume, the more we crave, even when we’re not hungry.
2. Lack of energy and fatigue
Orexins, a type of neuropeptide, play a role in the sleep-wake cycle. Sensitive to sugars, they react to glucose levels in the body. A slight increase in blood sugar can inhibit the transmission of neuronal signals by orexins, leading to drowsiness. Thus, after the fleeting energy provided by sugar, a state of fatigue quickly follows, resulting from the inhibition of neurotransmitters.
3. Weight gain
Excessive sugar consumption leads to weight gain. Of course, other factors such as activity level and metabolic rate play a role, but the body first burns sugar for energy. What it cannot use immediately, it stores as fat.
Furthermore, eating too much sugar makes you overeat by suppressing the hormone leptin, which signals to the body when to stop eating. If you feel tired and lethargic after consuming sugar, you are also less inclined to exercise.
A rise in blood sugar stimulates insulin production to bring it back to normal levels. Insulin lowers blood sugar levels: when it fluctuates or becomes too low, your body thinks it needs more fuel. So you eat even when you don’t really need to.
4. Frequent colds and flu
Too much sugar weakens the immune system. This is because glucose reduces the activity of white blood cells, which are responsible for eliminating pathogens like viruses. Regularly eating too much sugar makes us more susceptible to infections because our bodies are less able to fight them off.
5. Blunted taste buds
Many people find the taste of sweetness pleasant. Our tongue gets used to different flavors, and sugar is no exception.
British researchers have discovered that overweight individuals have a decreased sensitivity to sweet tastes and a preference for sugary foods. In the same study, healthy, fit individuals who started drinking two soft drinks a day experienced dulled taste buds and increased sugar cravings after just four weeks.
A 2016 study found that after a month of reducing their sugar intake, the experimental group experienced increased sensitivity to sweet flavors. Therefore, if you reduce your sugar consumption, foods will begin to taste sweeter without it.
A study published in the journal Neuroscience found that mice fed a diet “similar in composition to the typical diet of most Western industrialized societies, high in saturated fats and refined sugar,” experienced a reduction in brain function in just two months. This is because large amounts of sugar affect the proteins and neurotransmitters in the brain that are responsible for learning and memory. In short: sugar makes you dumber.
7. Skin problems
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and is responsible for skin elasticity. By nature, sugar molecules bind to collagen and help collagen cells move.
Too much sugar in the body makes collagen cells less mobile, causing tissue stiffness, including in the skin. This loss of skin elasticity becomes apparent with the appearance of wrinkles, among other things.
Furthermore, sugar causes cellular inflammation. As you probably know, whenever there is chronic inflammation, you know you’re going to have problems.
In addition, high sugar levels cause acne and dermatitis. Carbohydrates such as bread, cereals, rice, and pasta cause an increase in insulin and androgen (a male sex hormone) production. Androgens cause the skin’s glands to produce excess sebum, clogging pores and leading to breakouts.
Candida is a yeast that lives in the digestive tract and on the skin. As a yeast, it thrives on sugar. Eating too much sugar causes the yeast to proliferate, leading to nail infections, vaginal infections, athlete’s foot, and oral thrush.
In addition, high blood sugar can also lead to diabetic neuropathy, causing tingling and pain in the feet.
