Sugar
1. Eating sugar increase your insulin level
The higher your insulin, the more likely you are to store fat because insulin is the main hormone that puts fat into fat cells. Anything that drives insulin up will drive weight gain.
2. Sugar can accelerate ageing
When you paint your barbecued meat with barbecue sauce, it browns faster. This is also happening inside your body, known as ‘Maillard’ reaction, which causes cellular ageing. This is the main reason why fructose is added to bread because it browns better.
3. Eating sugar doesn’t make you feel full
A hormone in our stomach called ‘ghrelin’ goes up when our stomach is empty which sends hunger signals to our brain. When you consume sugar, ghrelin doesn’t change, so you stay hungry.
4. Sugar makes you lethargic
Eating less sugar will drive your insulin levels down resulting in feeling more energetic. This results in wanting to engage in more physical activity ultimately leading to weight loss.
5. The more sugar you consume, the more you want
Studies conducted indicate that sugar triggers the same reward centres in the brain as nicotine alcohol or cocaine. Increasing sugar consumption down regulates the receptors in the brain, making it more necessary to consume even more the next time to get the same level of reward. You become sugar tolerant and can lead to addiction. Sugar has potential for abuse and should be regulated like tobacco and alcohol.
