Who doesn’t like indulging in a sweet treat occasionally? Nothing beats a good rush of endorphins that comes with your desserts, whether it is diving into a hearty cake, drinking the most delicious sweetened ice tea, or enjoying a box of chocolates. But, no matter how delectable the treat may be, you may need to learn to let go of overeating sugar to avoid the effects. This silent killer sneaks up on you and takes a massive toll on your health.
When you eat processed sugar, you pile on calories, increase the amount of glucose flowing through your blood and gain weight at an alarming rate.
In The United States, the average adult consumes an estimated seventeen teaspoons daily. This is an unhealthy amount and makes up 14% of the daily 2,000-calorie amount you are allowed to consume. But what else does sugar do to your body? Read on to find out more:
Why Do You Need To Monitor Your Blood Sugar Levels?
Your blood sugar indicates if your body can handle the glucose in your system. To do this, you need to get a blood test. While you can administer one on your own using a blood glucose monitor, it is best to get it done at a hospital.
A healthcare practitioner, like a nurse, can carry out the exam for you. But instead of using a portable blood glucose monitor, they will conduct a comprehensive blood test. Nurses of today are much more skilled at their job. They can even guide you about your lab results and tell you what your chart indicates.
This is because nursing education has become highly diverse, and these medical professionals can opt for BSN nursing online programs over traditional schools to pick up the clinical and theory skills they need to do their job. While a bachelor’s degree nurse cannot do your routine exam, they can update your medical charts and carry out diagnostic tests.
If your fasting blood sugar level is about 99 mg/DL, you are healthy, but if your range is above 126 mg/DL, you may have diabetes and can have effects on your health.
Diabetes is a disease that impacts your production of insulin. When you cannot produce enough, it can affect your heart, eyes, nerves, and feet. About 37 million Americans have diabetes, yet one in five people don’t know they have this condition.
What Does Sugar Do To Your Body?
Sugar is present in almost every popular food item. Delicious sauces like marinara, ranch, and salad dressing also contain trace elements of sugar that can get absorbed by your body. Even unexpected products like peanut butter have sugar in them. So while you may snack on these treats and mind how many desserts you eat, sugar will still enter your body.
According to dietary guidelines, you need less than 10% sugar daily, so you should immediately start looking into sugar-free options. But, if you don’t make this lifestyle adjustment, you risk many health complications, the details of which are as follows:
1) Accelerate Skin Aging
Aging is a natural process, the effects of which gradually appear on your skin. However, if you have too much added sugar in your diet, you may accidentally accelerate this aging process and experience the effects soon.
Premature wrinkles can make you incredibly self-conscious about your features. This can lead you to spend an excessive amount on expensive treatments and procedures to reduce them. The reason why you experience this accelerated aging is that there is a biochemical reaction that happens within your body between sugar and protein.
This produces advanced glucagon end products, which are pivotal in aging. Hence, if you have too much sugar in your diet, you trigger sugar and protein reactions that can make your skin age rapidly. Additionally, wrinkles also indicate a loss of collagen and elastin, impacting your youthful appearance and reducing the suppleness of your skin.
2) A Drastic Increase In Weight Gain
Your body will go through many changes in one day. While subtle weight gain is okay, putting on too much in a short amount of time is terrible for your health. Obesity is a global healthcare problem.
Conditions like heart attack, blocked arteries, and high blood pressure become more potent because of weight gain. So, when you drink sugary drinks like sodas or use artificial sugar loaded with fructose, your body starts resisting hormone-like leptin, which regulates your appetite.
Eating more calories than your body can handle is a one-way ticket to obesity. Consequently, after having one sugary-rich drink, you may be tempted to drink more and yet continue to feel hungry. You may notice a massive fluctuation in the amount you put on within a few days. Belly fat is hard to eliminate, and the more you ignore your health, the greater you jeopardize your well-being.
3) Sugar Can Be Addictive
Addiction is a type of mental health condition that occurs because of the reward systems in your brain. Sugar releases an influx of opioids and dopamine in your bloodstream, making you feel good and putting you in a high state of euphoria. To chase this feeling, you may need to eat more sugar and continue amplifying this sensation. Before you know it, you may consume way more sugar than you should and use it as a coping mechanism.
Hence, if you go into a state of mental and emotional distress, your cravings may kick in, and you may start eating more sugary foods. This can cause you to overeat and mess up the delicate balance of calories you need to maintain. Food addiction is a genuine problem, and the only way out of your dilemma is to be hospitalized and join support groups, none of which are easy and make it harder for you to break your cycle of addiction.
Final Thoughts
As much as you enjoy sugar, getting carried away with how much you can take a toll on your well-being. Numerous products are loaded with sugar, which you may indulge in without knowing the risk & effects. So, start paying attention to what you eat and monitor your health closely to ensure you don’t have underlying symptoms of a severe illness.
If you consume copious amounts of sugar and do not control your everyday intake, you will see the effects of your choices around your body. This includes rapid aging and increased weight gain, which may be hard to lose.
Furthermore, sugar is highly addictive and can cause you to develop an unhealthy dependency on the ingredient that may require rehabilitation for you to wean off this substance.
Hi, I’m the Founder and Developer of Paramedics World, a blog truly devoted to Paramedics. I am a Medical Lab Tech, a Web Developer and Bibliophiliac. My greatest hobby is to teach and motivate other peoples to do whatever they wanna do in life.