Sometime ago, I decided to stop drinking carbonated and fizzy drinks. The reason was simple. I felt I needed to start living a sugar-free life and the best place to start was all those bottled and canned drinks.
It was okay the first few days even though I went through spells where I was just dying to take just one innocent bottle of soft drink. But it did not last long.
Family and friends did not find it funny at all. How many times would you keep rejecting drinks offered to you when you visit them? No matter how many times you tell them of your new lifestyle choice, they go, ‘Come on, just one bottle won’t harm you.‘
The underlying feeling is that you are rejecting their offer of kindness if you stood your ground.
So in the interest of my social life, I had to rescind that decision.
The question is why I had to even consider going down that route in the first place. It all had to do with the awareness that certain foods don’t do any favors to our long term health.
In the case of sugar, too much of it can seriously affect your libido in a negative way; lead to heightened stress levels; significantly increase the body’s ability to produce fats; and it generally makes you tired each day you take it.
So there was enough motivation to start living a sugar-free live. And the benefits of a sugar-free life in the short run should be enough for you to adopt that life style.
Tell me what you think about them or the challenges involved in the comments section below.
A sugar-free life is like a drug-free life
Many people are addicted to sugar without knowing it. And because the addiction doesn’t come with the awful consequences of addiction to hard drugs, the issue is hardly ever looked as a problem.
When you stop taking sugar, the first few days are the worst. The itch to take sugar in any form can easily overwhelm you; don’t be surprised to see yourself unconsciously reaching out for the nearest cake, candy or drink.
Resisting the urge and finally killing the sugar habit is like a test of how strong-willed you are. Knowing that you can do it would give you a lift; you get the comforting knowledge you can beat any problem if you put your mind to it.
Sugar-free life is good for the taste buds
Indulging in a sugar habit over a long time numbs the taste buds. Of course, if you are a sugar addict, you’d think it’s normal not to like healthy foods like vegetables and whole grains. You would consider them tasteless.
That is what a lifetime of too much and consistent sugar-intake does to the taste buds.
When you quit or cut down on your sugar intake, natural healthy foods begin to taste better for you. You begin to appreciate and eat healthier foods more and more.
A sugar-free life means you are on top of your game
An increase in your blood sugar level due to the consumption of sugar foods usually stimulates the production of insulin to regulate the sugar in the blood.
There is a tendency for insulin in the body to produce too much insulin to compensate for the high levels of sugar in the body. The immediate result is that blood sugar becomes very low leading to low energy levels, hunger and tiredness.
Cutting down on sugar therefore results immediately in feeling more energized throughout the day with just your normal daily diet. You won’t feel the need to eat between meals thereby making sure weight-gain is minimized.
Bad memory linked to sugar intake
This research is just one of the many studies out there that had made the link between sugar intake and brain function.
The bottom-line is that sugar impacts negatively on the brain leading to memory problems for the individual.
By cutting down on sugar intake, you are doing your brain a favor. In the short term, you’ll be more alert and be able to remember things easily. In the long term, memory issues associated with advancing years could be prevented or at least slowed down from making our lives a misery.
If you decide to take my advice and lead a sugar-free life, just know it would not be easy at first. You can start by cutting down on your intake.
Then over time, you work towards totally eliminating processed sugars from your daily meals and drinks. While you are cutting down on processed sugars, your body’s sugar quota can be gotten from fruits, fruit juice and natural foods.
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