10 Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar
#10.
“Strong Cravings”- If you have a constant craving for foods that are loaded with carbohydrates
or find yourself constant trying to satisfy your sweet tooth, you probably have already
had too much sugar.
This is due to the fact that sugar, though necessary for the human body to function,
is highly addictive.
So the more sugar you eat, the more you want, and the more difficult it is to wean yourself
off.
Part of the reason it becomes so addictive is that after eating foods that are high carb
or high in sugar, your blood sugar drops severely.
Since your blood sugar controls the brain’s ability to manage impulses and stop you from
eating these foods, the body gets trapped in a perpetual cycle of sugar, crash, craving.
There are several types of sugar addiction that can stem from reasons like fluctuations
in hormone levels and illness.
Doctors have said that constant sugar cravings can be a sign that other things in the body
might not be functioning correctly such as thyroid issues or adrenal gland failure.
Another way you can tell that you might have a sugar addiction is if things that used to
be sweet no longer taste that way, and you are eating more and more in order to achieve
sugar satisfaction.
#9.
“Sluggish”- If you find it hard to get out of bed and even after your morning coffee
find yourself nodding off--you might be eating too much sugar.
Scientists have found that a chemical in the brain called orexin regulates your body’s
ability to stay awake.
The increased consumption of sugar can block the ability to create this valuable chemical.
As it turns out the feeling of a sugar rush that one gets after eating sweets, is actually
just temporarily anesthetizing your body so you don’t realize you aren’t producing
orexin.
Studies have also shown that eating protein can actually increase the brain’s production
of orexin.
So if you are starting to feel sleepy during the day, instead of grabbing a high sugar
energy drink or depending on a sugar rush from a soda reach for a snack like nuts that
are high in protein.
In addition, the sugar that a person eats the day before can greatly affect their energy
for the next day.
If you binge on sugar or carbohydrates the night before you have a good chance of waking
up with a sugar hangover, which is very similar to that of alcohol with symptoms of extreme
dehydration, headaches and general fatigue.
It’s no wonder that alcohol when mixed with sugar produces the worst of kinds of hangovers.
#8.
“Urination Problems”-The eating or drinking of excessive amounts of sugar can severely
damage the the nerves in your bladder.
Damaging these nerves can result in many different types of problems with urination.
The nerves control the bladder muscles which can greatly affect your ability to hold urine
in, and lead to involuntary urination or leaking.
Bladder nerve damage can also lead to a person not being aware when their bladder is full
or make the muscles spasm and cause a person to feel the need to urinate when they don’t
have to.
The worst of the effects that sugar has on your bladder is that when the nerves are weakened
or destroyed the bladder can’t fully relieve itself.
When urine stays in the body too long it can lead to urinary tract infections and because
certain bacterias live off of sugar these infections can be very hard to get rid of
and twice as likely to occur in the first place.
Too much sugar can also create severe kidney problems such as kidney stones and these can
further inhibit regular urination as well as the rest of your body.
#7.
“Skin Issues”- If you find yourself with dry skin no matter how much moisturizer you
use or photo days being ruined by pesky pimples no matter how strict your face washing regimen,
it may be because of your sugar intake.
After sugar is processed by the body it finds a permanent dwelling within the skin’s collagen.
This is called glycation and it takes skin conditions like rosacea and acne, and adds
fuel to their fire.
Glycation and the high-spikes in insulin can permanently damage the vital proteins, elastin
and collagen, which are what gives people’s skin its elasticity and healthy appearance.
So too much sugar can cause wrinkles and sunken facial features.
Having constant spikes in the body’s glucose levels and insulin can also cause dehydration
and one of the main symptoms of dehydrations is dry skin.
Dry skin combined with glycation can be a double whammy when it comes to acne and other
skin conditions as one irritates the other.
#6.
“Difficulty Concentrating”- If you have a hard time concentrating, or find yourself
having to re-read things when you relax with a book, you might be suffering from too much
sugar.
Sugar can affect your memory in ways that makes you confused when approaching subjects
that you may have even mastered in the past.
Confusion and trouble concentrating have a direct correlation to a person’s blood sugar
levels.
Eating excessive amounts of sugar or simple carbohydrates makes your blood sugar peak
and plummet because the body processes them faster than complex carbs and protein.
This tricks your brain into energizing quickly and just as quick it has to scrounge for energy
reserves because the sugar kick wears off.
High amounts of sugar makes it incredibly difficult for your brain to receive sustained
energy, think of it like a garden hose where instead of having a constant stream of water
it keeps kinking and building up pressure and then releasing it in a flood.
This build-up and let down exhausts the brain and can cause permanent damage if not regulated
in time.
When a person has high blood pressure over an extended period of time the enzymes in
the brain focus on regulating insulin instead of doing their normal job of fighting off
dangerous proteins like those that cause Alzheimer’s disease.
Having high blood sugar can also have detrimental effects on one’s arteries, nerves and even
cause atrophy in parts of the brain.
#5.
“Blurred Vision”- If things sometimes appear hazy, light seems too bright, or darkness
seems too dark, don’t blame your eyes just yet, it may be a sign of high blood sugar.
Even if you don’t normally have high blood-sugar you may notice this difference after a single
meal--when people consume too much sugar glucose builds up in the eye, causing it to swell.
The swelling of the eye can cause temporary vision impairment like blurriness or oversensitivity.
If a person continues to eat meals of high sugar this effect will only build on itself
making it harder and harder for the eye to return to normal.
People with diabetes can even develop what is known as diabetic retinopathy which is
a condition that is caused by damage to the retina’s blood vessels and can eventually
result in blindness.
If you experience constant visual impairment it is important to get your blood sugar as
well as your eyes checked before anything becomes too serious or results in injury.
#4.
“Depression”-If you suffer from depression and find comfort in cupcakes or cope with
everyday misfortunes by pigging out on a tub of ice cream, you might consider a different
approach to battling through it, as the sugar most likely will only make it worse.
As stated earlier in the countdown, the peaks and valleys caused by sugar wreak havoc on
the brain and body.
The constant fluctuation of fuel and oxygen getting to the brain and sugar’s effective
blocking of proper nutrients from getting through can really mess with a person’s
adrenal glands.
The adrenal glands are what are responsible for regulating hormone levels.
When our hormones aren’t balanced as they naturally should our behavior can become erratic
and uncontrollable.
Just like a teenager battling their naturally occurring hormonal difficulties, people who
eat too much sugar can become irritable, violent, anxious and depressed among other problems.
For those who suffer from mental disorders like depression and anxiety, the inability
to cope becomes intensified and too much sugar can nullify or adversely react to medications.
The added stress that high blood pressure brings can result in a dangerous cycle because
when the body is stressed certain bodily functions like digestion can be neglected or put on
hold in order to deal with the problem at hand.
If a process like digestion is thrown off it will only throw the body’s ability to
regulate blood sugar even more.
#3.
“Cavities”- Everyone who went to the dentist as kid knows that too much sugar can cause
cavities, but why and what other damage is it doing to our teeth?
Well the answer is fairly simple when we eat sugar or carbohydrates the bacteria that live
in our mouths have a field day.
These bacteria love sweets and junk food just as much as we do and when they eat and digest
the residual sugars from our food they secrete waste in the form of acid.
This acid then destroys the protective shell of enamel on our teeth and over time bores
holes in them.
These holes are what we know as cavities and if left untreated can lead to extremely costly
and painful procedures like root canals or tooth removal.
Sugar also wreaks havoc on your gums and is one of the most prominent causes of periodontal
disease.
This disease is when your gums become extremely swollen, sensitive and may even bleed.
If untreated, your gums can either get infected to the point that the tooth must be extracted
or the gums can recede to the point where the teeth become loose and fall out.
#2.
“Weight Issues”- It may be obvious to most that sugar can cause you to gain weight
but what may be surprising is that it can also cause you to lose weight in an unhealthy
manner.
First off, why does it make us fat?
When we eat sugar the fructose in it is turned into fat by our livers via metabolization.
The fat then shoots through our bodies in our blood systems and builds up along the
way.
The increased amounts of glucose that are produced when eating too much sugar can cause
our insulin production to go haywire.
Insulin communicates with our fat cells, telling them what to do with the fat that our livers
produce and when the insulin isn’t functioning properly due to too much glucose it can tell
the fat cells to store things it doesn’t need such as energy.
So how can too much sugar make us lose weight?
Well high blood sugar levels can cause the body to stop producing insulin in the proper
manner which can develop into diabetes.
When a person has diabetes or isn’t producing as much insulin as they normally would, the
body is unable to use glucose as energy.
Without enough glucose for fuel the body turns to other things such as muscles and fat, causing
dramatic drops in weight.
One of the tell-tale signs of diabetes is significant or abnormal weight loss.
#1.
“Slow Healing”-If you aren’t a hemophiliac but scratches and cuts still don’t seem
to heal properly, or you are constantly getting sick, it may be time to get your blood sugar
checked.
In a healthy person’s blood vessels the cell walls are flexible which allows red blood
cells and platelets to move freely and get to the damaged area in order to start repairing.
In a person with high blood sugar the walls of the vessels become tense and slow the flow
of the platelets and blood cells so that the wound will not heal as fast as it should.
Eating too much sugar can also halt oxygen from being released by hemoglobins which a
damaged area needs to fix itself.
In addition, because collagen development is inhibited by high blood sugar and collagen
is what gives skin its strength, it is easier for people with high levels to sustain injuries
in the first place.
As far as your general immune system, exceeding amounts of glucose can greatly affect its
ability to prevent infection or disease.
Because the bodies cells and enzymes are too busy finding a place to put or repairing the
damage caused by the superfluous glucose there aren’t enough of them to fight off bacteria.