What Happens When You Eat Too Much Sugar?

It’s no secret that sugar isn’t good for you, and can lead to many health complications. Many people do not realize however, exactly how bad sugar is for you. Many large food corporations have made people believe that sugar isn’t quite as bad for you as it really is. Because of advertising and lack of education, many people think that sugar is really only bad for your waistline and your long term heart health. Of course these things are true, but there are many more complications your body will experience when consuming sugar.

Here are many of the negative things that sugar does to your body based on a particular body part:

Skin

Sugar is one of the leading contributors to undesirable skin. Many people have to deal with severe acne throughout their teenage years, and quite a few people that experience teenage acne also experience adult acne. Sugar is one of the leading causes of acne, because once sugar is digested it is converted into glucose. Once glucose is introduced to the body, insulin levels jump. When there is a large amount of sugar introduced to the system, insulin levels increases dramatically, which makes your body create more skin oils. These skin oils can clog pores and hair follicles, causing the sugar consumer to have increased acne.

Brain

Sugar, when consumed, causes your body to release a chemical called dopamine to the brain. Dopamine is widely considered to be the “feel good chemical”, and is also believed to be addictive, making you crave more and more sugar. Sugar also tricks your brain into thinking that you have more energy for a while (a sugar high), but then once your body absorbs the sugar you can experience a sharp decrease in energy (sugar crash). These sharp crashes can also severely affect mental health. People who consume large amounts of sugar, and experience a sugar crash on a daily basis are more prone to depression.

Teeth

You know how your mom has always told you that sugar will rot your teeth? Well it’s true. Sugar is the favorite food of cavity causing bacteria, which literally rot your teeth.

Joints

Joint pain, as you may know, can be crippling and debilitating, and sugar only makes it worse. Sugar, when consumed, makes your muscles, tissues and joints swell. This can either cause or exacerbate joint pain.

Liver and Pancreas

Too much sugar in your system, as explained above, makes your glucose and insulin levels spike. If this happens too many times, your system will either be unable to produce insulin, or it will become immune to your body’s insulin. This leads to Type 2 Diabetes, which means you will have to poke yourself with a needle everyday to check your blood sugar and insulin. Type 2 Diabetes is a very difficult disease to live with, but it can be avoided by not consuming sugar.

Heart

According to a Harvard University study, over a 15 year span, people who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were twice as likely to die from heart disease compared to people who only get 10% of their daily calories from sugar. It can increase your blood pressure, and make it harder for your heart to pump blood. Plus, sugar can also cause weight gain, and people who are obese or overweight are much more susceptible to heart disease.

What’s Next?

The first step of any change is awareness. Without awareness, real change is impossible.

Next time you reach for a packaged product in  the grocery store, turn it around and look at the ingredient list. If it has sugar, put it back down. The more you look, the more you come to realize that sugar hides in our food.

Why fill your body with food that will slow you down? Teach your body to crave food that will energize your body. You wouldn’t believe how simple it can be.

Shift your relationship with sugar and join our next 14 Day Reset  (see below).