Reducing the intake of added sugar over time is beneficial for overall health. It helps maintain a moderate weight and healthy blood sugar levels. Consuming too much added sugar harms your overall health. Unfortunately, people tend to consume too much sugar in the form of soda, candy, sweetened baked goods, sugary breakfast cereals, and more. Cutting back on added sugar is important, as excessive consumption is linked to an increased risk of certain health conditions, including fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
One of the biggest reasons why we are consuming so much sugar is because it is literally in everything we eat. Even food items like salad dressing, yogurt, ketchup, bread, pasta, and many other products contain sugar. Let's know the benefits of quitting sugar.
What Happens If We Stop Eating Sugar?
1. Aids In Weight Management
Diets high in added sugar are associated with obesity. One is unlikely to gain weight staying below the recommended daily amounts for added sugar. In particular, diets high in added sugar are linked to belly fat. Also known as visceral fat, belly fat wraps around your abdominal organs. It is related to chronic diseases, including diabetes and heart disease. Limit sugar-sweetened foods and beverages for your long-term health. Choose food items that are low in added sugar, such as sparkling water, fruits, and vegetables. This will help you manage your weight and reduce belly fat.
2. Helps Regulate Blood Sugar Level
Insulin resistance occurs when the pancreas releases a lot of the hormone insulin to keep up with excess sugar in the bloodstream, which further leads to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. People who frequently consume sugar-sweetened beverages tend to have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Reducing added sugar intake, exercising, and following a healthy diet help improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of diabetes.
3. Helps Improve Heart Health
Added sugars are both indirectly and directly linked to heart disease. Diets that contain greater than 20% of total calories from added sugars are associated with high levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat. Elevated triglycerides boost the risk of heart disease. Even after being on a healthy weight, reducing added sugar intake can help keep the blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides at healthy levels. This also decreases the risk of heart disease.
4. Improves Oral Health
Sugar breakdown by bacteria in the mouth produces an acid that destroys the surface of teeth, causing dental cavities. Too much bacteria also leads to infected or inflamed gums, resulting in gum disease. Hence it is recommended to reduce the amount of added sugar in your diet to less than 10% of your total calories to reduce your risk of developing cavities.
5. Lowers the Risk Of Depression
What we eat affects how our brain functions, thus impacting our mood. Likewise, a lower risk of depressive symptoms is associated with eating foods like fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Sugary beverages are linked to a higher risk of depressive symptoms and depression.
6. Reduces Acne and Improves Skin Health
Too much sugar intake leads to an experience of body-wide inflammation and increased production of sebum, an oily skin substance. The result of too much sebum is acne. Cutting back on added sugar helps to slow your skin from aging. Sugar and grilled, fried, or roasted foods contain more substances that react with the collagen and elastic fibers in the skin.
7. Reduces the Risk Of Liver Disease
Excessive added sugar is linked to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This type of liver disease is unrelated to alcohol, heavy metal poisoning, and viral infection. The liver breaks down the fructose, a type of added sugar. Excess fructose particularly from all the sweetened beverages reaches the liver and is turned into fat. And further too much fat is stored in the liver, which develops NAFLD. Reducing added sugar intake helps to reduce your risk for liver disease.
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