How Does Sugar Affect My Body?
It’s in our nature to be driven toward sweet tasting things. Honey, chocolate, and berries are all examples of primitive treats our ancestors would treasure when they came across them. That same love for sweets has followed us to the modern day where sugar has become the norm in almost every processed food item. This isn’t the same sugar found naturally in fruits or honey. Processed sugar is a product that can cause a number of symptoms within your body. It can make you more susceptible to illness and disease. Let’s take a look at a few more consequences of too much sugar.
Processed sugar contains a nutritional value. What you are ingesting is essentially empty calories. These nutrient void calories can quickly add up, leading to a caloric surplus in your diet. From here, a number of things start to happen:
- Skin Health: When sugar is broken down, it causes inflammation in the body. This inflammation produces enzymes that destroy collagen and elastin. As a result, fine lines and wrinkles will begin to form.
- Energy Crash: Sugar is an empty calorie simple carbohydrate that will spike your blood sugar and insulin levels. This may leave you with a feeling of energy but it is only temporary. That famous “crash” attributed with many sugar-based products can leave you feeling more fatigued than before.
- Weight gain: When your body isn’t burning calories for fuel, it’s storing for later. As you ingest these empty calories, your body is placing them directly into fat storage.
- At Risk: The presence of processed sugar, along with the weight gain, can quickly lead to metabolic syndrome and diseases such as diabetes.
- Really At Risk: Processed sugar is notorious for spiking insulin levels to the point where you may become insulin resistant. Extreme levels of insulin caused by sugar ingestion throughout the day play a direct role in the development of cancer cells.
If you’d like to cut back on your sugar intake, try limiting soda, limiting fast-food intake, and exercising more. These are a few great examples of how you can avoid the dangers of sugar and improve your health. If you are looking for healthy snacks that are high in protein to replace those sugar-loaded treats, Nashua Nutrition has got you covered. Try our Ostrim Meat Jerkee, made with beef and ostrich. Only one gram of sugar! If protein bars are more your thing, check out our Control Bar, complete with 12 grams of protein and only one gram of sugar!
The post How Does Sugar Affect My Body? appeared first on Nashua Nutrition Blog.
- Bold Commerce Collaborator