Sugar danger: Let’s talk about how sugar affects your body and what you can do about it.
I’ve talked about how nature provides fiber to balance the sugar in fresh fruits. (To be clear, we’re talking about real fruit, not fruit juice, dried fruit, or fruit snacks.) This fiber helps the body properly absorb sugar without many of the unwanted side effects.
When we consume sugar in any other form, however, that sugar hits the blood stream and is converted into fructose and glucose. Fructose can’t be used for energy and can only be metabolized or stored as fat by the liver. Glucose is regarded as the “good sugar” in that it is helpful for bodily function. Still, too much glucose isn’t a good thing.
Here, I’ll talk about the ways in which sugar (regardless of the source) affects our bodies.
Sugar Danger – Sugar Is the Bane of Our Existence
Consuming too much sugar affects your brain, heart, blood pressure, joints, pancreas, liver, kidneys, and weight.
Brain – Consuming sugar causes the brain to release dopamine, a “feel good” hormone. Over time, you crave more sugar to get this feeling of pleasure. However, the more sugar you consume, the more that sugar interferes with learning and memory. (When you eat a lot of sugar, you may find yourself falling into a “brain fog” — lack of focus, poor memory recall, and reduced mental acuity.)
Heart – Higher sugar consumption creates more stress on the heart muscle, leading to heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Blood Pressure – Sugar consumption is a cause of higher blood pressure. Research shows reducing your intake of sugar-sweetened beverages can significantly reduce blood pressure.
Joints – Higher sugar consumption is linked to increased levels of inflammation, which causes joint pain and increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Inflammation also often appears as skin irritation and premature aging.
Pancreas – The pancreas produces insulin, the hormone that converts sugar to energy. The more sugar consumed, the more insulin output required. Eventually, the pancreas can no longer keep up with demand and begins to break down, allowing for higher levels of sugar in the blood stream.
Liver – Over time, the liver becomes resistant to the greater amounts of insulin, which contributes to your increasing inability to control blood sugar. The inability to control blood sugar leads to Type 2 diabetes.
Kidneys – When sugar isn’t converted to energy, it remains in the blood stream. Sugar in the blood stream must be filtered out by the kidneys or it will leak into the urine. When kidneys are unable to effectively filter your blood, kidney failure can occur.
Weight – Last but certainly not least, higher sugar consumption contributes to weight gain. Sugar interferes with your feeling full (satiated); as a result, you eat more, and excess sugar is stored as fat.
How to Manage Blood Sugar
Like salt, sugar is in a lot of foods that you wouldn’t expect. For example, did you know that most bread from the grocery store contains added sugar? Added salt and sugar help to “addict” us to those foods.
So how can you address sugar danger and all the physical effects sugar can have on your body? Start by cutting all added sugar from your diet.
First, learn how much sugar is added to processed and packaged foods. Use the list of alternative names for sugar to help identify the “hidden” sugars in foods.
To reduce blood sugar, also remember to exercise. Any moderate exercise that makes you breathe harder will cause your muscles to burn glucose. Beyond cutting sugar from your diet and adding exercise, you may find that drinking an herbal decoction can help you reduce sugar danger.
Phyllanthus niruri (Chanca Piedra, Stonebreaker) is a small herb found in tropical rainforests and coastal areas. Chanca Piedra has been used for thousands of years to eliminate kidney and gall stones and has proven to be a powerful antioxidant, reduce blood sugar levels, and protect against potential liver damage.
Find out more about how this powerful supplement can help optimize your health here.