What are benefits of breaking an addiction to sugar?
Breaking a sugar addiction is good for your health in many ways; from taking in less empty calories, to having more energy, to breaking sugar cravings. Watch psychologist Ramani Durvasula, PhD, discuss the benefits of breaking an addiction to sugar.
Transcript
The more sweet food you eat, the more sweet food you want. Once you break that cycle and eat less of it or eat more natural sugars, you're
less likely to be a sugar craver. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Breaking a sugar addiction is good for your health in so many ways. We'll start with the most basic. Now, you're taking in less calories.
So if you are attempting to manage weight issues, you are eating less calories now, and that will certainly enhance your weight loss process.
In addition, you're also dropping inefficient calories. Not all calories are created alike, and those processed sugar calories are actually
just not good for you. They have more negative effects than positive. They don't give you the kind of energy boost that lasts. So now, you're sort of taking away
inefficient calories, which you can then substitute with far more better calories that are sort of marathoners instead of sprinters, which
is what sugar often is. Other benefits include definitely more energy. Once again through those first couple
of days or weeks of frustration and not having your usual go-to goodies, that increased energy you will get,
just sort of less lethargic, a little bit more springy, sometimes, even people report that they think better and they just feel generally healthier, that
benefit sort of cuts across and it's a really holistic benefit of getting rid of sugar. Another huge benefit of getting rid of sugar
is that sugar begets sugar. The more sweet food you eat, the more sweet food you want. Once you break that cycle and eat less of it
or eat more natural sugars, you're less likely to be a sugar craver. And so, slowly but surely, you get control of it
simply by cutting the sugar out. And again, you're getting-- you're getting all the health benefits, the greater energy, and also,
getting healthier, other kinds of calories in that give you a better burn, as well as allow you to manage your weight
at a healthier level. And then, finally, there are the bigger long-term effects, for example, dropping the risks of illnesses like type 2
diabetes that lifelong sugar consumption can place a person at risk for, in line with other kinds of health
conditions, such as being overweight or family history. While completely cutting sugar is not a guarantee that you won't develop type 2 diabetes,
it's definitely going to then put you in a healthier dietary direction that may be a prevention against later life issues
that are often caused by earlier in life diet issues. So it's never too late to start changing these habits.
It's also never too early. And this is a great pattern to start with children. [HEART BEATING] [AUDIO LOGO]
diet nutrition
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