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Obesity and sugar
Effects of sugar on the human body
Effects of sugar on the human body
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Recommended: Obesity and sugar
Although sugar addiction is often discussed in jest, the reality is no laughing matter. Refined sugar can wreak havoc on your body and mind, leading to weight gain, fatigue, premature aging, heart disease, depression and anxiety. While many people have come to rely on sugar for a quick mood or energy boost, the long-term effects far outweigh the short-term gains. If you’re looking for a way to feel better, reduce stress, and lose weight quickly, a sugar detox may just be the ticket.
Added Sugars Vs. Natural Sugars
It’s important to note that not all sugars are bad. Those found in vegetables and fruits are bound to dietary fibers and proteins and will actually provide you with a healthy energy boost.
Refined sugars, on the other hand, are often stripped of any nutritional value, leaving only empty calories. So although you may experience a temporary energy boost after consuming them, a hard crash is soon to follow. This is because refined sugars are absorbed far more quickly than natural sugars, which increases blood sugar levels, which increases insulin, which causes low blood sugar, which in turn, will make you crave more sugar. It’s a vicious little cycle.
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Axing refined sugar from your diet will help you lose weight quickly, improve your mood, and increase your energy levels within days. Over time, your palate will actually change, increasing your appetite for fruits and vegetables and reducing the appeal of sugary snacks and
I first would like to apologize for thinking that it was easy to give up. I really struggle with giving up sugar. The first week I started was a nightmare. I experience headaches, mood swings, stress, fatigue, irritability, and depression. According to mental health daily (2014), these are some of the symptoms that an individual will experience during sugar withdrawals.
Can sugar really make you happy? When sugar is consumed, then the mood will increase. When sugar is consumed, blood sugar peaks. Glucose, a type of sugar, helps provide energy for most cells in the body. Nerve cells are included in that category. Nerve cells take up half of the energy for sugar in the body. Therefore, glucose levels and brain function, like memory and learning, are very closely related. When the body’s glucose levels are low, energy is low. So, when sugar is consumed, then energy levels will increase. Increased energy levels will lead to a happier mood. While doing this controlled experiment, 10 test subjects rated their mood on a scale of 1-5 before and after the consuming the sugar.
Sweetness is usually correlated with sugar. The problem with sugar, otherwise known as sucrose, is that it has a lot of calories. These calories lead to weight gain if not spent by exercise, but now that humans have the knowledge and technology to create various substances, there are artificial sweeteners that do not have calories at all and taste even sweeter than sucrose. Many Americans avoid sugar-sweetened drinks by drinking beverages filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame to avoid weight gain. However, studies have shown that the adverse neurological and visceral effects of aspartame demonstrate that artificial sweeteners are more harmful than helpful; therefore, artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame, should not be ingested.
“there’s a fundamental difference between the sugar that you find in fruits & vegetables and the sugar that you find in a large Mountain Dew. The sugar in a lot of these carbonated drinks is highly concentrated simple sugar, the kind that will spike your blood glucose levels, reduce your insulin response over time (leading to Type 2 diabetes) and almost immediately get stored in your body as fat.” There is a difference between sugar from nature and sugar that is processed. Sugar that is processed is highly concentrated because of this it tends to increase your blood glucose levels higher than natural sugar. With high
The body breaks down various carbohydrate foods (whether simple or complex) into glucose, which is used easily for energy or saved away in muscles and fat stores for later use. Carbs are the body’s preferred, No. 1 energy source. However, they aren’t the only macronutrient that supplies energy to cells. This is why it’s possible to follow a low-carb diet and still have enough energy, endurance and muscular strength. However, special care should be taken in relation to Refined and processed carbs which release glucose (sugar) into the bloodstream more quickly, leading to symptoms like low energy levels, cravings, overeating, weight gain and brain fog. Eating lots of processed/fast carbs can also increase risk for insulin resistance and diabetes. “Slow carbs” like veggies, whole pieces of fruit, ancient grains and legumes provide a slower release of glucose and better supply of energy for our cells that lasts for
According to the article, Too Much Can Make Us Sick (http://www.sugarscience.org/too-much-can-make-us-sick/), “Heart disease. Diabetes. These chronic conditions are among the leading causes of death worldwide. Increasingly, scientists are focusing on a common set of underlying metabolic issues that raise people's risk for chronic disease. It turns out that the long-term overconsumption of added sugars is linked to many of these dysfunctions.” This means that people living today, have a lot more trouble with diseases because of our unhealthy sugar intake compared to the
American's spend millions of dollars on sweets, ice-cream, cakes, pastries, soda, and chocolates as the holiday's and birthday's season approach. A recent study indicates that cutting back sugar for 10 days has significant impact. When a study conducted with 43 kids, diet, it was noted that after 10 days of cutting back sugar, their bad cholesterol dropped, reduced risk of diabetes, blood glucose and insulin levels were back to normal. This was a very significant result just by cutting back sugar for 10 days. It suggests that adults can also benefit from this study.
First things first, We now know that sugar is unhealthy. If you look on page 27 of ‘Death By Sugar?’, you will find proof of this.”New studies have linked high-sugar diets to a
“Sugar addiction is a rapidly growing epidemic (Teitelbaum, 2010).” According to researchers, on average an individual consumes one-hundred pounds of sugar each year. Americans spend billions of dollars a year on gym memberships, healthy foods and beverages, and exercise equipment. Despite the economic strain, Americans continue to make room in their budgets for weight loss products.
For years doctors have been saying that refined sugars are empty calories and consist of absolutely no vitamins or minerals that people need to survive. Dentists warn that sugary foods encourage tooth decay. Many people avoid sweet food because it can lead to obesity, heart problems, diabetes and cancer. These negative responses by people’s bodies are actually warnings. Maybe people eat sugar for other reasons than the sweet taste. The human body's negative responses to sugar may be a similar purpose to the reason kids feel pain when they are playing too roughly. People’s consumption of sweet foods might also serve as a sign of defiance against their bodies’ health limitations. What many people do not realize is that their tasty treats can affect their mind and emotions.
The big problem is the surplus sugar (to help the food taste better) is engineered into what we digest. The pancreas turns the excess sugar into insulin that our bodies store. The insulin that is created by the excess sugar is why Americans are becoming obese (Soechtig). According to Fed Up, the consumer exceeds the healthy sugar intake allowance of six to nine teaspoons daily, by eating on average more than forty one teaspoons. Secondly, the movie mentions that sugar is seven times more addictive then cocaine. In addition, eighty percent of the food items in a local grocery store have added sugar (Soechtig). With that said, the addict is faced with a dilemma. The addict will have to choose to eat or not to eat the substance that he or she is addicted to. In most cases, the addict will choose to eat the sugar that is constantly surrounding him or her. The truth is, exercising and not eating fatty foods play an insignificant role and sugar is what is causing us to become obese
When choosing carbohydrate-rich foods for your diet, always select unrefined foods such as fruits, vegetables, peas, beans, and whole-grain products, as opposed to refined, processed foods such as soft drinks, desserts, candy, and sugar. Refined foods offer few, if any, of the vitamins and minerals that are important to your health. In addition, if eaten in excess, especially over a period of many years, the large amounts of simple carbohydrates found in refined foods can lead to a number of disorders, including diabetes and hypoglycemia (low sugar). Yet another problem is that foods high in refined simple sugars often are also high in fats, which should be limited in a healthy diet.
When a person gains weight, they think the main cause is the fat that is included in the food they eat. They are terribly mistaken. According to the video Hungry for Change, they say, “ In the 1900’s, an average person only consumed about 15g of sugar a day. But in the present, modern adults consumes 70-80g of sugar a day, and teens consumes about 120-150g”. Sugar is not only a unhealthy diet and obesity, but it is the main cause of overweight. Sugar does not contain fat, but when people eat more calories than they burn, the remaining calories stays as fat. By being overweight, it can impact a person’s entire quality of life. In the physical health, the right kind of food gives you the strength and energy to make it through in your everyday lifestyle. In other words, by eating the wrong kind of foods, you won't get the energy you need in your life. In the mental/emotional health, a little stress is good for your body because it gives ...
But is sugar really that bad for you? Chances are you already know sugar isn’t the healthiest thing out there. Yet you’re probably still overdoing it. The average New Zealander consumes over a kilo of sugar a week, more than double the recommended amount. Which is shocking seeing how damaging sugar is for our health.
Even if junk food does not result in obesity for some people, which is classified as being 20% over the ideal body weight (Castledine, 2004), the regular consumption of junk food can still lead to disconcerting health problems such as the common stomach ache and head ache, which can impede on every day activities. Another short-term effect of eating junk food is the sugar crash, which commonly happens after eating snacks with nearly half their calories coming from sugar adding up to 200 or more calories (Risher, 2010). Eating junk food that is high in sugars and carbohydrates provides a temporary mood and energy boost, caused by a rapid production of insulin, but results in a drop in glucose levels, known as a sugar crash, which many people compare to the feeling of a hangover (Reid, 2014). Both the long-term effects and short-term effects of eating junk food impacts the body in such a way that impedes the performance of everyday activities and