2022-08-30
I stopped eating sugar about three weeks ago. Because I learned it has bad effects on my health and mind.
I convinced 3 of my friends to cut sugar. and I’m hoping to do the same with more people.
This is the second time I stopped eating sugar. the first time was about a year ago, I managed to stop it for 5 months until Ramadan came.
Now I’m doing it again.
I’m still eating natural sugar that is found in fruits, honey, and date.
I’m stopping what’s known as added sugar.
this includes most of the processed food you find at a grocery shop like Cakes, Cookies, Potato chips, soda, and ice cream.
But why would anyone stop doing something fun and enjoyable like eating sweet foods?
I’m no expert or doctor, But I will talk like I am.
When we eat sugar, the amount of sugar in our blood increases. when our pancreas knows about this, it releases insulin into our body.
Insulin asks the cells to take in sugar from the blood, either for energy or to be stored for later (as fat).
The problem is our pancreas is stupid and cannot handle our newly invented sweet foods well. because those foods are soo high in sugar, insulin is released in a large quantity. thus lowering the amount of sugar in our blood below the average, this explains why we feel tired after eating sugar.
We conclude that avoiding sugar will give you more stable energy levels, instead of having frequent highs and lows.
Do you know that person who is a coffee addict and needs a lot of it to wake him up?
While someone who never had a coffee can stay up all night cuz he had a small cup in the morning.
It’s the same thing with insulin.
It’s when your cells no longer respond to the normal amount of insulin. they need more in order to take that sugar. so your pancreas produces more insulin, and the cycle repeats.
Over time, chronic insulin resistance can develop into diabetes.
It also raises the risk that you develop over 13 types of cancer (because cancer cells consume a lot of glucose sugar) you can read more here. or google it
I’m not going to dive deep into the diseases that they can cause, but it’s worth knowing.
When you eat sugar, you tend to want and eat more sugar because your monkey brain thinks we still live in a forest as hunter-gatherers and sees sugar as a rare resource.
And when your blood has too much sugar, it stores it in fat cells.
One thing about fat cells is they never get full. they can expand forever.
Most people never use that fat. and they become fat.
You can get fat by eating healthy food, but It will be difficult, you will have to eat all day long.
When we eat sugar, our brain turns on the reward system, which tells us to do it again. eat more sugar.
With time you start craving sugar more.
which creates a cycle that enforces all the points mentioned above.
The last point (dopamine) is one of the main reasons I stopped sugar, When I’m eating sugar, I tend to experience sugar cravings. I lose focus on what is in front of me.
When I stopped eating sugar, I experienced higher and more stable energy levels throughout the day.
I can easily make healthy choices about the food I eat. in fact, healthy foods taste good now, and unhealthy foods don’t appeal to me anymore. the sugar cravings are gone.
And most importantly, once again I proved to myself that I’m in control. that I’m not driven by wanting short-term pleasures. I can take this and conquer other areas of myself, and life.
