Sugar is a word we hear every day and it is one of the most used substances in our diet. But did you know that sugar can harm your health? Read on to find out why …
Sugar is believed to be one of the leading causes of obesity and is also linked to diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.
- When we eat sugar regularly our bodies can become insulin resistant – this means your body needs more insulin for the cells to use up the glucose (sugar) in the blood, causing further liver damage leading to type 2 diabetes. There are many other things that can cause insulin resistance, but eating too much sugar certainly doesn’t help with that! This process takes us down an unhealthy path where people gain weight frequently… which makes losing weight difficult. Everything is a question of balance! Refined sugars should not make up more than 11% of the total amount of energy consumed per day.
- Much of the sugar we eat is “hidden” in our food, such as bread and breakfast cereals. It takes a bit of detective work to find out where it’s hidden! We need to start reading labels when buying sugary foods to keep an eye on what’s lurking there. If you don’t want your kids to have too much added sugar, try making their own snacks … that way they will know exactly what ingredients are in them – just be careful not to add too much salt or fat if you are doing home cooking, for example. chips!
- Sugar has no nutritional value, but it offers a lot of calories that can lead us down the slippery slope towards weight gain (and all the health problems associated with it). It’s best to avoid sweetened drinks and snacks, but it’s all up to moderation! Try not to limit yourself entirely to sugar. Instead, try changing your treats so that you don’t get bored of them – that way you won’t feel the need to eat them so often….
- If we eat too much sugar our bodies will have trouble regulating insulin, which means that blood glucose levels will rise above normal after a meal (this process can lead us to diabetes). Even if we are fairly active most days of the week, eating too much sugar can be harmful as it causes you to put on weight around the waist, where there are more fat cells.