These days, the big “bad guy” in healthy eating is sugar. Evil, evil sugar. It makes us gain weight, and it’s devoid of any nutrition. However, sugar does much more than make the number on the scale creep up.
Sugar does some really bizarre things to your body, and learning about these weird changes just might help you kick the candy bar habit for good.
1. Sugar gives you wrinkles.
When sugar enters your bloodstream, it seeks out proteins and creates a molecule known as an “advanced glycation end product.” These molecules overpower other proteins and injure them, including the essential protein fibers in collagen and elastin. Sugar destroys the proteins that are responsible for keeping your skin firm and leaves you with sags and wrinkles.
2. Sugar puts you at risk for depression.
A study of almost 9,000 people showed that those who consumed the most junk food were at much greater risk of developing depression than the patients who maintained good nutrition. For people who develop insulin resistance, they get a lower dose of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine.
3. Sugar steals your energy.
We’ve all experienced the classic “sugar crash” after downing a bag of chocolates. Your body panics when it receives a jolt of sugar, and it releases serotonin, which is a sleep compound. The truly terrible result is that your body develops an addiction for the sugar high and puts you into zombie-mode where all you can think about is your next sugar fix!
4. Sugar scrambles your brain.
If your brain doesn’t tell your body that you’re full, you’ll just keep eating as long as there’s a plate of food in front of you. Sugar makes your brain forget to tell you, “hey, I’m full!” Research even suggests a high-fructose diet will make you feel ravenous even if you’re overeating.
5. Sugar addiction is similar to drug addiction.
Drug addicts must feed their addiction because they eventually become immune to the high they get when they take the drug. Frighteningly, the same thing happens with sugar. Your body will develop a tolerance for sugar and will need more of it as time passes. A study involving rats actually showed the animals experienced withdrawal symptoms after sugar was taken away.
6. Sugar creates fat globules in your body.
A diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease was rare before we started eating tons of sugar, but it’s a condition that may develop after a diet high in sugar makes your liver produce fat globules that build up around the organ. How frightening!
7. Sugar does terrible things to your cholesterol
Not only does sugar increase bad cholesterol levels and the amount of fat in your blood, but it also pummels your good cholesterol (HDL). Scientists aren’t sure why this happens, but they theorize sugar jumbles your liver and causes it to malfunction and create excess bad cholesterol.
These are just a few of the terrible things that happen to your body when you eat sugar. It’s not just extra weight; it’s also diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and the list goes on and on… It’s time to make a change for the better and lower your sugar intake, wouldn’t you agree?
