It is nearly impossible to never take anything that contains sugar, but it is plausible to decrease the amount of added sugar one consumes.
You might deem it unnecessary to do that until you realize that there have been several studies highlighting the harmful effects of added sugar on one’s physical and mental health.
In this article, we have highlighted 7 benefits of cutting your added sugar intake that would convince you that the benefits far outweigh the temporary delight of taking ‘sweeter’ sugar.
Types of Sugar
There are two types of sugar: natural sugar and added sugar.
- Natural sugars are found in various foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, milk, and cheese.
- Added sugar, on the other hand, provides little to no nutrition and is added by manufacturers into products like candy, chocolates, ice cream, cookies, and soda.
Benefits of Cutting Added Sugar
1. Weight loss
Sugar is known to contain empty calories. These provide no added nutrition to the body.
To regulate body weight and reduce fat in the system, the body requires lots of fibers. Food substances that contain a lot of added sugars do not have the fibers that the body needs. So, they are just converted to glucose and stored as fat in the body.
Hence, they make losing weight hard with a constant intake of added sugar.
2. Enhances focus and mental health
Sugar gets addictive when there’s a compulsive inclination to ingest it. When this happens, it leads to emotional imbalances, poor eating habits and can also cause feelings of constant tiredness.
Several studies have also shown that about 80% of people who stopped their intake of added sugar products noticed an overall improvement in their mental health and wellbeing.
3. Reduces inflammation
Various researches have shown a direct causal link between added sugar and inflammatory diseases. This is one of the rather concerning adverse effects of ingesting added sugar.
Inflammation often leads to chronic pain, constant headaches, and even food allergies. Therefore, a decisive decrease in your ingestion of added sugar can lead to a decreased level of inflammation in the body.
In case you notice any of the symptoms of inflammation, contact any primary care clinic near you.
4. Lowers risk of heart disease
Triglycerides — a type of fat in the blood — increase one’s risk of heart disease. Cutting how much added sugar you take could help you reduce the amount of triglycerides in your blood system, reduce the amount of fat build up and reduce weight.
All of these, if not properly managed, increase one’s risk of heart disease. If you notice anybody near you having the symptoms of heart disease, do not hesitate to take the person to the nearest community health center near you.
5. Healthier teeth
Sugar is one of the major sources of nutrition for the bacteria that reside in our mouth and causes tooth decay, cavities, and other mouth infections.
Hence, cutting your sugar intake would help you slow down and perhaps stop any form of decay or mouth infection.
6. Healthier skin
High sugar levels in the body have been shown to lead to an effect called glycation. Glycation is a process that hampers your body’s ability to repair the skin’s collagen. Collagen is the protein that makes your skin look healthy, plump, and very young.
Therefore, a reduction of sugar intake can lead to more healthy and plump skin.
7. Reduces risk of Diabetes
Sugar is one of the carbohydrates that digest very fast. This requires the pancreas to produce lots of insulin after eating meals that contain sugar. Excessive ingestion of sugary products can overtask the cells in your body that produce insulin and cause them to malfunction.
The secondary effect of this is the increased risk of diabetes. Therefore, cutting down your sugar intake would reduce your risk of having diabetes.
In conclusion, the benefits of cutting down sugar intake into your system far outweigh the temporary delight you might get from it. Contact us here to get started on more healthy alternatives to sugar and a diet plan on how to manage your sugar intake.
