8 Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar

by DailyHealthPost Editorial

Whether you have a sweet tooth or not so much, sugar in some form is added to almost every packaged food you buy. You are probably getting more sugar – even too much sugar – without even knowing it. The question is: how much sugar is too much?

Refined sugar (and its substitutes) is the bane of human existence, causing all sorts of illness, disease, and general malaise. A packaged food may not say “sugar” in the list of ingredients but it may be called by something else, like:

With all these sources of sugar, how do you know how much sugar is too much? If you experience the symptoms below, it’s high time you cut out sweets from your diet.

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1. Cravings for Sugar/Carbs

Sugar is addictive. It’s as addictive as cocaine and its effects are similar. Sugar stimulates the production of dopamine, a pleasure hormone. Without even thinking about it, we may crave sweets and simple carbohydrates to give ourselves a “fix”. And, like other addictions, the body builds up a tolerance for sugar so the more you eat, the more you want—even if you’re not hungry. (1)

“The theory is formulated that intermittent, excessive intake of sugar can have dopaminergic, cholinergic and opioid effects that are similar to psychostimulants and opiates, albeit smaller in magnitude. The overall effect of these neurochemical adaptations is mild, but well-defined, dependency,” writes a study published in Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews. (2)

See also: Reversing diabetes Type-2

 2. Lack of Energy and Tiredness

Orexins are a type of neuropeptide (an amino acid chain that forms protein in the brain). These neurotransmitters in the hypothalamus are responsible for the sleep/wake cycle, among other things. They are sensitive to sugars and respond to glucose levels in the body. (3) Even small increases in blood glucose inhibit orexins’ transmission of neural signals, thereby inducing a sleep state. (4)

So while you experience a sugar “high” shortly after eating/drinking, the “crash” that follows is how you experience the shut-down of neurotransmitters: you feel tired.

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