V-Day is approaching, and it means a lot of temptation to eat chocolates and sweets. You want to pamper yourself, but you are probably also a little worried about what this sugar will do for you. And it should be you!
It’s kind of an old story like time. Since you are a child, you have probably been warned about sugar. Maybe your parents rationed your sweets after Halloween or gave you an ultimatum without soda. When we are young, we learn that too much sugar is not good.
But then we grow. And we all make our own food choices. And suddenly sugar becomes that reward. Like, it’s a way to please yourself. And this is in many things with which we celebrate, from funny cocktails to cookies and cakes.
So, what’s going on? Really, I think it’s just a question of forgetting what we learned when we were young. Sugar will not become less bad for us when we grow up. We just decide to eat it anyway.
And I think it’s easier to eat too much sugar if you don’t really understand how bad sugar is for you. So let’s get things straight! If you want help crushing your next sugar craving, think about these five reasons why sugar is bad for you.
#1: it’S SO SNEAKY!
Honestly, this is driving me crazy. The thing is, a little sugar is fine. But the problem in our modern society is that sugar is now in almost everything. Like, take fruit smoothies from the store. Fruits already naturally contain sugar, so you think that they would have covered their bases there. No. They also add sugar!
Seriously, sugar is hiding in all the places you don’t expect, like pasta sauces and salad dressings. If you take our 7-day sugar detox guide, you’ll see a section that specifically lists things with sneaky sugar so you can be careful.
But in the end, there’s one big thing you can do to avoid sneaky sugar: Read these nutrition labels, my daughter.
#2: WE EAT TOO MUCH OF IT
One of the main reasons why sugar is not the best is that it is difficult for your overall health. The American Heart Association (AHA) has therefore developed guidelines. They say that women should not eat more than 6 teaspoons — or 25 grams — of sugar per day.
Now get ready. The average American eats 77 grams of sugar a day. That’s THREE times the amount we should have. Yikes.
#3: IT INCREASES OUR HEALTH RISKS
Okay, but really, we know we should avoid sugar, but why? There are quite a few reasons, in fact. So you do not need to do your own research, I’ll just say that excess sugar contributes to this:
Acne
Weight gain
Type 2 diabetes
Heart issue
Cancer
Cell ageing
Paces
Caries
Gout
Cognitive decline
Still convinced? Don’t let sugar devastate you! If you want help to throw the sweet stuff, my daughter, you need to check out our detox guide!
#4: IT RUINS HOW WE FEEL
In addition to all the body risks of sugar, too much of it can wreak havoc on your mental state. You’ve probably experienced this seizure before after eating too much sugar.
If you eat a lot of sugar, your blood sugar level will rise (no surprise there). You feel super energetic for a while because of this. But then those levels go down as fast as they went up. When your blood sugar level drops, your total energy also drops. You feel tired and grumpy.
But that’s not all! Sugar literally affects your mental well-being, and too much can contribute to get-down and anxiety.
We all indulge, and this is quite normal from time to time, because we deserve it, but we also deserve to feel healthy, detoxified and confident. And sugar is not doing you any favors there. Seriously, mental effects are one of the main reasons why you need to avoid sugar.
To help you feel your best in your body and brain, I definitely recommend that you pair our sugar detox guide with our much loved challenge. We are launching it on February 15th to help all of us strengthen our self-esteem.