Sugar, the Sweetest Enemy

You know the second it hits your tongue—that sweet sensation that follows as you enjoy whatever treat you’re indulging in, and then the guilt hits. There’s actually a good reason for that guilt, as it is a sign that you’re not doing your body any favors. Processed sugar is one of the worst things you can put into your body and it has more side effects than some prescription medications. When you put sugar into your body, it creates blood sugar spikes, which messes up the way your body produces natural insulin. This is the beginning of diabetes in many individuals, but they don’t realize it until it’s too late. Secondly, if you were stranded without water, you’d end up in pretty severe circumstances very quickly. Why? Water is necessary not just to keep your mouth moist and soothe your thirst, but it keeps your body hydrated from the inside out. People who suffer from chapped lips a lot will notice this decreases when they start drinking more water. Their body is not producing enough moisture to keep their lips soft and supple and they try to substitute chapstick, when they should have a glass of the healthiest stuff on earth. If you don’t keep your body hydrated in a healthy way, you’re going to start having internal problems that can all be prevented. Now, some of us keep jars of water on our desk to remind us to drink more. Others carry a bottle of water with them all the time, but may drink other things. Some of us can’t get up in the morning or go to bed at night until we’ve had a drink of water—it all depends on your current state of hydration. Here’s a great way to use water in your daily diet and avoid a monster thirst: Sugar has also been shown to cause inflammation inside the body, so those aches and pains, and joints that are giving you trouble are getting the wrong kind of support. Every time you take in another dose of sugar, you are actually creating more pain and making it more difficult to burn off calories during a workout.

It’s also been shown to increase stress inside your body, and this is important, because physical stress is just as significant as mental stress. When your body feels stressed—what does it produce more of? Cortisol. The short answer is that Cortisol eliminates the body’s ability to burn fat. When your body is stressed, it automatically begins to store fat in the trunk area of your body, which mainly consists of the butt and legs area—talk about conflicting with your workout attempts! There is clearly much more to this topic, but you can see that sugar doesn’t create a good chain of events inside your body.

If you want to work on lowering the amount of sugar you take in, then start paying attention to the glycemic index of foods and drinks you enjoy. Foods are normally rated between 1 and 100 based on how much sugar is inside. The closer a number is to 100, the more sugar it has—think candy bars and other similar foods. The lower the number is, the less sugar it has—think broccoli, celery and other similar foods at the bottom. This will give you a measuring tool to instantly reduce how much sugar you eat and drink.

It’s a job trying to kick the sugar habit, but if you’re consistent and you keep trying, your body will start to show positive results. You can also get great ideas from your trainer on how to keep going with your workout routine and stay away from the undesirable foods and drinks. Talk to them today and then take a close look at your diet to see where most of your sugar is coming from. Your body will thank you several times over!