In part two of this three-part series, former sugar addict Theresa Fowler explains why sugar is causing you to make the wrong choices.
Sugar and cocaine have more than just the fact that they are white crystalline powders in common. Brain scans have proven that sugar is even more addictive. So why is it that sugar isn’t classed as a drug that’s just as dangerous? This is why kicking your sugar habit isn’t as easy as you might think, although arming yourself with these facts will help you to navigate your way through the fog.
When you eat too much sugar, it has the ability to cloud your judgements. Although it is becoming more known that if you overindulge in sugary foods, even from natural fructose in fruit, it can lead to a myriad of health problems, including weight gain and obesity, blood sugar imbalances and Type 2 diabetes, too much acid in the blood, adrenal fatigue and yeast overgrowth such as candida albicans. But little known is that sugar causes a hangover-like effect, making you feel tired during a sugar crash, bloated and fuzzy in your thinking.
If you don’t believe this is true, then pay close attention to how you feel after eating sugary foods or even too many natural sugary fruits, such as mango, pineapple and bananas, especially if you suffer from any of these symptoms:
- Inability to concentrate
- Tiredness or sleepiness after meals
- Excessive gas, bloating or extended stomach after meals
- Headaches
- Aching limbs
- Joint pain
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Skin eruptions
- Stiffening of the arteries
- Symptoms of allergies
- Mood swings — emotional highs immediately after eating, then lows such as lack of willpower (reaching for more), beating yourself up for doing so, anger or even violent behaviour
The Candida Crisis
You may have noticed that many of these symptoms are also what you might feel after drinking too much alcohol. And there’s a reason for that, because like alcohol (which also contains a huge amount of sugar) too much sugar from foods affects your internal organs like your kidneys, liver, stomach and small intestines. This means dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, gastrointestinal disturbances and sleep disruption are some of the results.
In addition, if you have an imbalance of candida in your gut, which many people do these days as a result of eating too much sugar, you’ll be flooding your body with a toxic by-product called acetaldehyde, which produces similar symptoms in the body to a hangover from alcohol.
Acetaldehyde is not to be dismissed either. It is poisonous to your tissues, is not easily eliminated from the body and accumulates in your brain, spinal cord and muscles. Bearing in mind that your heart and intestines are also muscle tissue, you may now be beginning to understand why you have symptoms of brain fog, muscle weakness and even pain.
Take a wild guess at what feeds candida. Did you guess correct? It’s SUGAR! Did you know that refined sugar has absolutely NO nutritional value whatsoever? No vitamins, no minerals, no enzymes, no fibre. Unfortunately, in today’s fast-paced, want-it-now society, most of the foods and drinks available in most supermarkets and outlets have so much hidden sugar that the average person is (often unknowingly) consuming up to a 238 teaspoons of sugar each week.
That is simply too much sugar for the human body to digest effectively and will simply keep you in the fog.
Let us know how you have been cutting down your sugar intake… Part 3 Coming soon!
Theresa Fowler is the UK’s Only No Diet, No Calorie Counting Real Food Expert, author of Feel Like Sh*t? How to Stop Being Fat and founder of fitand40plus.com. Having lost 100lbs herself, she coaches women 40+ who have a history of yo-yo dieting to lose weight, feel better and look younger, all without counting calories.
