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Understanding What Sugar Really Does to Your Brain
Reward Response
For many people eating a little sugar stimulates a craving for more. Sugar can lead to intense feelings of hunger.
Sugar has addiction-like effects in the reward center of the brain, causing a loss of self-control, overeating and weight gain.
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Reward Response
For many people eating a little sugar stimulates a craving for more. Sugar can lead to intense feelings of hunger.
Sugar has addiction-like effects in the reward center of the brain, causing a loss of self-control, overeating and weight gain.
Sugar Addiction
Sweet foods can be more addictive than cocaine, one study found.
Over time, greater amounts of the substance are required to reach the same level of reward.
Memory
Even a single occasion of increased glucose levels in the blood can harm your brain. It can impair your memory and attention.
High sugar consumption causes inflammation in the brain. But, it can be reversed by following a low-sugar, low-GI diet.
Mental Capacity
Raised blood glucose damages blood vessels. Damaged blood vessels are a major cause of vascular complications of diabetes. It leads to injury to blood vessels in the brain and eyes and can lead to difficulty in learning, memory, motor speed and other cognitive functions.
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Sugar creates intense cravings
Sugar activates the brain's reward system that releases feel-good hormones. Too much sugar too frequently will hijack this reward system and will cause a loss of control, cravings and increased tol...
Sugar slows the brain down
A diet high in sugar makes learning difficult by slowing the brain down. Overconsumption of sugar damages synaptic activity in the brain.
When you consume too much sugar, you could develop resistance to insulin, the hormone responsible for regulating the function of brain cells.
The sugar crash
When you eat too much sugar, your blood sugar levels peak and drop. This causes you to experience irritability, mood swings, brain fog, and fatigue. You may find yourself feeling anxious or depressed. Carb-laden foods create the same response.
Chronically high blood sugar levels are linked to inflammation in the brain, which may be a cause of depression.
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Ketosis
Is a metabolic state. Think of being in or out of ketosis like the settings in a hybrid car; you can rely on gas or electricity to different degrees.
In ketosis, we...
The function of ketones
Ketones aren’t just a form of energy, they’re powerful signaling molecules. They regulate the expression of genes and dampen inflammatory processes.
Your body is always producing a very low level of ketones, irrespective of your diet. You start producing more of them when following a diet that’s high in fat and low in carbs.
Getting in ketosis
- The stricter you restrict carbs (or total calories), the quicker you will be in ketosis.
- Restricting your carb intake to 20g per day is a good heuristic (loose rule) for entering ketosis. It will generally get you into ketosis within a few days.
- Fasting gets you into ketosis very quickly.
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Sugar Substitute
Stevia, a sugar substitute, is generally regarded as safe by health and food safety organizations. The studies that they rely on are industry-funded, so we have to take their take on this artificia...
Artificial Sweetener Stevia
Though Stevia is 300 to 400 times sweeter than sugar, the Center of Science in the Public Interest, which is a food advocacy group, considers it safer than other substitutes and artificial sweeteners.
Many products club Stevia with other sugar alcohols like erythritol, which can cause digestive complications.
Long Term Usage of Nonnutritive Sweeteners
It can cause metabolic effects, and may not be helpful for weight loss.
Sweeteners are also associated with obesity, diabetes and heart disease, apart from affecting our gut microbes.