A carbohydrate used to address your loved one because of its sweetness. But sugar is not good for your body, not your loved ones — or maybe but the carbohydrate. Sugar is bitter to you and your body. It has a drug like effect at the center of the brain. Sweet food — just like salty and fatty food — can produce addiction-like effects in the human brain. It makes you lose self-control, drives your anxiety and oftentimes triggers your overeating habits.
In early humans when the food was scarce, sugar acted like a high-calorie food. But now when the food is abundant, it contributes to obesity and diabetes. Overeating alters the brain reward system which in turn drives overeating.
Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose, Maltose, Lactose, Dextrose, Starch are all types of sugar. Check the labels on your food items. Sugar isn’t just in candies and dessert, it’s also added to tomato sauce, yogurt, flavoured water etc. Since sugar is everywhere it’s important to understand how it affects the brain.
Ever Since it is found everywhere, chances are you are overdoing it. In excess, it negatively affects your body and brain. Eating sugar rewards your brain — dopamine release reward. Whole food doesn’t release as much dopamine as sugar does. Dopamine gives you the feeling of pleasure. Once you get used to it, dopamine regulates your moods. As soon as you eat sugar your blood pressure rises and gives you a quick burst of energy. But as it starts to break and get absorbed in the body you start to get jittery and anxious. In turn, you eat more sugar and this makes the situation worse.
Excessive sugar causes tooth decay, causes inflammation on the skin and makes skin age faster. The extra insulin in your bloodstream can make walls of arteries grow thicker which in turn gets stiffer, stressing the heart. This passive damage causes heart diseases like heart attack, stroke, heart failure etc. Similarly, Pancreas get overworked while pumping out more and more insulin. Too much sugar can lead to kidney failure. One who consumes more sugar weighs more and we are aware of the downsides of obesity. Each of these exploits your body.
So, think about all the different kinds of sugar. Each one is unique but each one causes a dopamine trigger making it more addictive. In this way, excessive sugar acts like a drug.