Find out everything sugar does to your body and 5 valuable tips to reduce its consumption.
Life inevitably holds some bitterness for us and perhaps for this reason we are naturally attracted to all forms of sweetness . We like photos of puppies and babies, romantic movies, happy endings and we love cuddles of all kinds, even food-related ones.
When it comes to food, we are more likely to focus our improvement efforts on avoiding palm oil, reducing saturated fat, using less salt and more fiber and vegetables than on removing the sweet taste .
All things useful but not enough if we continue to abuse refined sugars and grains. In the US, the average sugar consumption is around 70 kg per year (almost two ounces a day!).
In Italy the estimate is about 24 kg per year to which are added massive doses of bread, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, sandwiches that bring refined flours that in the body behave in a very similar way to sugar.
Sugar is nutritionally useless and potentially harmful
And then you have to consider that sugar is present practically everywhere , from mustard to smoked salmon. The use of excessive amounts of sugar stimulates the production of insulin by the pancreas and, in response to chronically high blood sugar and insulin levels, the tissues become less and less sensitive to insulin itself.
This condition is linked to many diseases including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, dyslipidemia, Alzheimer’s, polycystic ovary syndrome, acne, gout and some forms of cancer (colon, breast and prostate).
The advice is therefore to eliminate sugars completely from your daily diet and instead indulge in a break from time to time to fully savor the taste without guilt.
The high concentration of glucose in the blood also leads to increased glycation , a process that alters the functionality of many molecules. In practice, the sugar “sticks” to the circulating proteins and lipids, rendering them inactive.
Endogenous glycation (produced inside the body) occurs when the sugar circulating in the blood is too high; the exogenous one (introduced from outside the body) increases when sugars are cooked together with proteins or fats at temperatures above 120 ° C or for very long times.
The glycation reactions also form acrylamide, a carcinogenic molecule, and some sugars passed off as healthier, such as fructose, have instead 10 times the glycating capacity of glucose.
Now that you have a clearer idea of the harm that sugar can do, let’s see how to reduce its use :
- Avoid industrial foods containing “hidden” sugars of any kind by getting used to reading labels. Remember that the ingredients are written in descending order of quantity. If sugar is the first or second ingredient it means that its content is very high.
- Avoid adding sugar to coffee or tea , get used to the real taste of these drinks. If you really can’t, sweeten with stevia. Alternative sugars, such as cane sugar, syrups, fructose or honey offer no advantage.
- Do not include sugary foods in your daily diet such as jams, biscuits, honey, snacks, cakes, brioches, candies.
- Use fresh fruit as the only natural sweet food.
- Give yourself a break from the rule every now and then fully enjoying your favorite dessert. The best time on the metabolic level is immediately after an intense workout: the sugar will be used for energy recovery and will not alter the metabolism or tend to make us fat.
Sugar is food-wise useless and potentially harmful . A use in small daily quantities is difficult in practice to manage because the more you take, the more you want.
The advice is therefore to eliminate sugars completely from your daily diet and instead indulge in a tear from time to time to enjoy the taste fully and without guilt.
