We’ve all heard eating too much sugar is bad, but why? Well, here are some negative effects of over-consumption of sugar.
Sugar can harm the body in countless ways. Below are serious implications of a high-sugar diet.
Rising obesity rates have been attributed to added sugar. Sugar increases your hunger and desire for more sugar. Excessive sugar consumption may also cause resistance to leptin, which is an important hormone that regulates your appetite.
Excessive consumption of added sugars increases the chances of obesity, high blood pressure, and inflammation, which are risk factors for heart disease.
There are a number of lifestyle factors that account for diabetes. However, there is a clear link between excessive sugar consumption and diabetes risk.
Excessive amounts of sugar may increase your risk of developing certain cancers. This is due to the increased inflammation caused by sugar. Sugar is also linked to obesity and insulin resistance which are risk factors for most cancers.
When it comes to my areas of specialty, gut and adrenal health, sugar can really “fuel the fire.” Sugar is what pathogens, viruses, unhealthy gut bacteria, and cancer cells thrive on. Intense sugar cravings could be an indicator that you may have an overgrowth of bacteria or yeast, for example. Eliminating sugar from the diet is the only way to starve such harmful organisms, leading them to die.
Adrenal health is also tremendously impacted by eating too much sugar. Any stressor on the body, including gut dysbiosis, leads to an increase in the production of the stress hormone cortisol. When cortisol rises, so do blood sugar and insulin. The body is thinking it needs more energy to ward off an oncoming threat. Now, imagine adding more sugar to the already high blood sugar via unhealthy food choices. This adds yet another stressor on the body, high blood sugar, and worsens adrenal dysfunction even more!
See how this becomes a snowball effect.
These are just a few of the many reasons why a high-sugar diet is detrimental for your health.
“No matter how much it gets abused, the body can restore balance. The first rule is to stop interfering with nature.” -Deepak Chopra