Why change to a sugar-free diet?

Why cut out out the sugar?

I’m always talking about reducing sugar intake and substituting white sugar and other refined sugars for healthier alternatives. But why?

Lets start with the biggest one as it influences most of the other areas in your body ;

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Sugar lowers your immune system and destroys healthy gut bacteria

Refined sugar reduces how white blood cells perform and increases inflammation in the body. The fewer the white blood cells, the more reduced capability our body has to fight infection.

Additionally, around 80% of our immunity is located in the gut and consuming sugar wipes out the beneficial bacteria that lives in our gut, that we REQUIRE for a well functioning immune system! Along with sugar, stress, poor diet, alcohol and antibiotics also wipe out good gut bacteria. So, it makes sense then that sugar would place a significant strain on our immune system.

Another factor is something called glycation.  Glycation occurs when a sugar molecule sticks to a protein molecule, inhibiting that protein molecule’s ability to perform its physiological function. This too impacts immune responses and contributes to disease.

A further negative affect is when you consume sugar your body has to work even harder to process it, and in doing so, uses up a hefty supply of magnesium. For every molecule of sugar, your body requires 54 molecules of magnesium to process it. – and if your magnesium deficient in the first place this just creates a never-ending vicious cycle!!

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Sugar wreaks havoc on hormones

The hormonal effects of sugar and the immune system are complex, but insulin is a major player.

When you eat large amounts of sugar, your blood sugar increases. Insulin helps normalize those blood sugar levels, but over time, your cells become overwhelmed and resistant to the signals of this hormone.

This condition is called insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes and all of its related complications including impairing the immune system. 

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It’s addictive

Eating a little sugar can leave you wanting more sugar. In fact, studies suggest that sugar might be more addictive than cocaine.

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Depression

Part of sugar’s addictiveness stems from its impact on your brain’s chemical messengers. Daily binging on sugar releases dopamine, associated with your brain’s reward centre.

But that feeling doesn’t last — after the initial dopamine release comes the negative effects of sugar on the brain. Consuming food and beverages with refined sugar can trigger depressive symptoms.

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Psychological Stress

Sugar can also impact long-term psychological health. Insulin sometimes over-compensates and pulls your blood sugar down too low, creating mood swings, fatigue, and mental fog that can make your day stressful.

Excessive sugar can also impact your adrenal glands, which produce cortisol. Research shows large amounts of sugar can keep this stress hormone chronically elevated and increase levels of visceral fat, the most dangerous kind of fat that sets the stage for type 2 diabetes and other complications. 

Whenever your blood sugar level changes too fast, your adrenal glands release cortisol to pull it back up again. Unstable blood sugar can make you feel the same as you would feel when an event makes you angry, frustrated or frightened.

That stress makes us gravitate towards pleasurable, palatable sugary foods, which only exacerbates psychological stress that weakens the immune system.

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Inflammation

Chronic, low-grade inflammation is a key factor for numerous diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and dementia. Sugar is one of those inflammation triggers.

Refined sugar breaks down into two simple sugars in your body: glucose and fructose. While nearly every cell can use glucose, only liver cells can metabolize fructose. Studies show fructose can increase inflammation while raising your stress hormone cortisol, which in turn increases belly fat.

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So we can see how sugar’s impact on the immune system and overall health can be cumulative and far-reaching.

While a few natural sweetener alternatives including stevia can be healthy in small amounts, artificial sweeteners are often worse than sugar. Several studies have found that sucralose (Splenda/ aspartame, phenylamine – all just different marketing names for aspartame) induces liver inflammation and adversely impacts your gut microflora/ healthy bacteria.

A sugar-free diet doesn’t mean you have to consume no sugar entirely, but rather try to substitute for healthy non-sugar alternatives, and avoid refined sugar in processed foods. (This is white sugar and anything with the word sugar in it such as cane, raw, brown, white, rapadura etc etc).

Check out my recipes section for lots of yummy sugar-free recipes, or get yourself a book of sugar free treats/ baking/ desserts to have on hand for when you d feel like something sweet. I’ve also just released my own sugar-free recipe book which you can get by going to the recipes tab and clicking on recipe book.

And lastly, just don’t buy it in the shopping and have it in the cupboard. I find that this way the temptation isn’t there and it makes it that little but harder to succumb those sugar cravings.

Magnesium also helps with cravings and if your particularly craving chocolate that’s a tell tale sign that your body needs more magnesium! Add that into your daily life and you’ll notice how much those sugar cravings/chocolate cravings decrease!