If you don’t know where to start and need a bit of help quitting the sugar. I highly recommend this 7 Day Detox Guide. It’s helps you bust the sugar addiction FAST and it really explains everything.
We all suffer the cravings of the sugar beast but there are very good reasons why we need to overcome the need for that 2 minute taste sensation. The long term affects and consequences of excess sugar and carbohydrate consumption has an impact on our health on so many levels.
Personally I’ve never felt better since going sugar free, not to mention losing weight rapidly!
So let’s look at 7 great reasons to follow a sugar free diet.
1. Sugar has a direct affect on weight gain/loss
Sugar has a direct impact on your blood sugar levels and sends you on a roller coaster ride in energy levels as well. This is not conducive to weight loss and is directly linked to weight gain as well. In order to ignite your fat burning furnace, you have to get your blood sugar levels to stabilise. So cutting out sugar is obviously the best place to start, and if you want to kick start weight loss, sugar should be at the top of your elimination list!
2. Sugar adds no value to your body
Apart from providing a very short taste sensation, sugar really doesn’t add any value to your body. Sugar goes through a massive amount of processing and is depleted of all nutrients, vitamins and minerals. It literally provides the body with nothing. You are simply consuming empty calories that the body cannot effectively metabolise.
Here’s an interesting fact:
“Incomplete carbohydrate metabolism results in the formation of ‘toxic metabolite’ such as pyruvic acid and abnormal sugars containing five carbon atoms. Pyruvic acid accumulates in the brain and nervous system and the abnormal sugars in the red blood cells. These toxic metabolites interfere with the respiration of the cells. They cannot get sufficient oxygen to survive and function normally. In time, some of the cells die. This interferes with the function of a part of the body and is the beginning of degenerative disease.” Source
Sugar is literally killing our cells. They can’t breathe under the load of excess sugar/carbohydrate consumption. And that’s a great reason to quit eating it, wouldn’t you agree?
3. Sugar is a highly addictive drug
If you wondering why you may have difficulty quitting the sugar and feel like you’re addicted, that’s because you probably are addicted. In fact Eric Stice, a neuro scientist who studies the affects that sugar has on the brain, reveals that sugar affects the brain in exactly the same way as cocaine, it literally is that addictive! Can you believe that?
I certainly didn’t but it’s true. They have linked people up to brain scanners and have given them both cocaine and sugar and you can see the same parts of the brain getting stimulated…incredible!
The second important part to note is that just like a drug our body builds a dependence and resistance to sugar. We need to have it but at the same time the more we have it, the more we need to consume to satisfy the need. Consuming excess sugar eventually blunts the brains response so we need to eat more, and more, and more of it in order to feel satisfied. Crazy!
Yes, it’s hard to give up sugar but well worth the effort.
4. Sugar messes with your hormones
Hormones are responsible for making our body tick. But if our hormones are all over the place how can our health possibly be any good? The answer is, it can’t. The state of our hormones has a direct impact on the development of disease in our body and for women it has everything to do with weight loss too. Sugar is one of the main hormone wreckers that affects every single hormonal process and function in the body.
5. Sugar is a killer
The fact that modern health is in a terrible state can be related back to excess consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates. The astronomical rate of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental health issues, stress, you name it, sugar is a BIG part of the problem. Perhaps not the entire picture, but a big contributing factor in many instances. Research in the area of sugar and it’s affects are still in the early stages. Most doctors wouldn’t be able to identify you had an issue with sugar. I truly believe in the future there will only be more and more information available for us to draw on in this regard.
6. Sugar effects your emotional and mental health
Neuro scientist, Eric Stice has clearly shown in his research that sugar has a direct impact on the brain. It interrupts normal function and causes chemical reactions that may have a negative impact. These changes in brain function can then lead on to more serious emotional and mental conditions such as depression, panic attacks, anxiety, mood swings, anger issues, bi polar, ADD/ADHD, lack of mental clarity, brain fog, cognitive disorders, alzeimers, and all sorts of things.
It really is quite astounding. I personally know that sugar affects my moods alot. It definitely has a direct impact on my emotional states and it doesn’t take long for me to experience that when I reintroduce sugar. I’ve also seen the direct affects with my daughter, so these things really are real.
7. A Sugar Free Diet Makes You Feel Great
We’ve gone through all of the above negative reasons why quitting the sugar should be high on the priority list. But the one awesome positive thing is that following a sugar free diet makes you feel so incredibly great. It’s not until you take the plunge and do it that you realise how crap you really felt while you were eating it. You have increased energy, sleep better, function better, your brain works better, you lose weight, and overall you just feel fantastic, what more can I say!
Now that you’ve read this list and know that quitting sugar is worth the effort, you might need some help.
Make sure you take a look at the 7 Day Detox Program, it has everything you need to quit the sugar FAST, supplements, food lists, meal plans and everything you’ll need to make the process easier.
Your health is your wealth,
Jedha
P.S. Eating sugar free does not mean boring food. You can still eat loads of great things. The 7 Day Detox Plan has a 7 day meal plan with loads of great delicious sugar free recipes. Click here to grab your copy.
THANK YOU for emphasizing the health costs of sugar! Too many people think our health problems are just about eating too much, and miss the fact that sugar is simply toxic. It’s in all sorts of food you wouldn’t expect, and our government only makes things worse by PAYING for its production with corn subsidies.
It’s definitely not just eating too much Sarah, the quality of our food is far more important
I recently gave up sugar and artificial sweeters, and so far I feel better and have lost some weight. I don’t believe the conspiracy theories about artificial sweetners, but I do think that they are harmful for another reason: they increase appetite by discouraging the eating of fiber. I believe a causual link will be found between obesity and BOTH sugar and artificial sweetners. My personal experience is that when you cut yourself off from “artificial” sources of sweetness – both table sugar and the fake stuff – you are less inclined to eat fruit. My taste buds go crazy now at the taste of a banana or apple – they didn’t when they were getting a constant influx of real and fake sweetness. More fruit means more fiber – fiber is filling and causes you to eat less. It is for this reason that I believe the focus should be on ridding the diet of all non-fiber sources of sweetness (including juices).
I’m 100% with you on that one Brandon. Fiber helps our body in so many ways and one of the main obejectives with people I work with is to get them eating at least 5 serves of veggies a day. It helps with appetite, blood sugar regulation not to mention delivering bioavailable vitamins and minerals. Fruit juices are just injecting your body with sugar and provide no value whatsoever, something I wrote about recently here http://goodfoodeating.org/2100/juicing-for-health/
Researchers have also shown that artificial sweeteners do increase appetite and contribute to conditions such as obesity and diabetes, something we are not commonly told trhough main stream health channels.
Thanks for your comment and I’m glad you’ve worked out what’s best for you
I never thought I was overweight at 6 feet, weighing 192 lbs. I gave up sugar, and, after a little more than two months, I am at 172 lbs, which is around my high school weight. I have no intention of going back to sugar, except for the sugar found naturally in fruits. By the way, is man the only creature who adds sugar to food ?
Anton.
Hi Anton, thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment
That’s a fantastic result, CONGRATULATIONS!! It’s amazing what can happen when you cut out sugar, right?! Yes I think man is the only creature who does that. Your comment reminds me of a great saying by a researcher named Barry Groves, he said “Man is the only creature smart enough to make their own food and the only ones stupid enough to eat it”. Isn’t that a classic?!