I have a sweet tooth and I like to indulge in desserts. While the occasional sweet is perfectly ok for those who do not have diabetes, too much sugar is not healthy for the body. Excessive sugar intake can affect your body in many ways. Chances are you already know that eating too much sugar isn’t good for you. Eating too much sugar can affect many parts of your body and health. So how does too much sugar affect your body?
How sugar can mess with your health
When most people think about consuming too much sugar, they think about cavities, weight gain, and hyperactivity in children but sugar can be harmful to other parts of the body like the brain and the heart. Without going into too many details about excessive sugar intake and the body, I will list some parts of the body that sugar can wreak havoc upon. The below sugar information I found at WebMD.
Brain ~ Sugar can be addicting and eating sugar gives your brain a feel-good chemical called dopamine. This can be the reason why you crave sweets.
Mood ~ While sugar can give you energy, it can also give you a crash. So that sugary treat too often can have an effect on your mood and studies have linked high sugar intake to a greater risk of depression in adults
Teeth ~ Sugar can damage your teeth as the bacteria that cause cavities love to eat sugar.
Joints ~ If you have joint pain, eating lots of sweets can cause inflammation which can worsen the pain. Plus, studies show that sugar consumption can increase your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
Skin ~ The inflammation that sugar causes can make your skin age faster. As sugar can damage collagen and elastin which can result in wrinkles and saggy skin.
Liver ~ An abundance of fructose can damage the liver.
Heart ~ The extra insulin in your bloodstream can affect your arteries to get inflamed, grow thicker/stiffer which stresses your heart.
Pancreas ~ Sugar makes your pancreas pump out insulin. Too much sugar will overwork the pancreas, setting you up for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Kidneys ~ If you have diabetes, too much sugar can lead to kidney damage.
Body Weight ~ Excess amounts of sugar can inflame fat cells causing them to release chemicals that increase weight.
Immune System ~ Too much can sugar intake can suppress your immune system. When your immune system is compromised, you are more likely to get sick.
Check out this recipe for Healthy Homemade Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Granola
Sugar has many names
When I did research on eating too much sugar, I not only learned some new information on what sugar can do to the body but it also encouraged me to try to lower my sugar consumption. Sugar can be in so many foods like sweets, drinks, ice cream, and even foods like bread and tomato sauce. Sugar also has so many names like corn syrup, agave nectar, palm sugar, cane juice, or sucrose so it can be hard to know which foods contain sugar. Nutritional labels do make it easier to know how much sugar is in a food and whether it is natural sugar(from fruit) or added sugar. While one can totally eliminate sugar from their diet, it can be a difficult stressful thing to do. So I recommend lowering your sugar intake and swapping out sugar for natural sugar replacements. Some of the natural sugar replacements that I like to use are monk fruit, stevia, and Swerve. In foods that I would normally add sugar, I will replace the sugar with these natural sweeteners that have a similar taste to sugar.
Natural sweeteners help me lower my sugar intake
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Made With Swerve
Benefits of natural sugar replacements
Using natural sugar replacements can be beneficial to your health and many natural sweeteners are zero-calorie, non-glycemic, and safe for those living with diabetes. A natural sugar replacement will also contain no artificial ingredients, preservatives, or flavors. Many of these sweeteners taste similar to sugar and can be used in your favorite baking recipes or your cup of coffee.
Swerve is a delicious natural sweetener that measures cup-for-cup just like sugar! Swerve is made from ingredients found in select fruits and starchy root vegetables. Swerve can be used in your favorite recipes in place of regular sugar or other sweeteners. Swerve is keto-friendly, gluten-free, and plant-based.
Discover baking mixes that are gluten-free & sugar-free
These Swerve Sweet baking mixes are wonderful and will help you on your journey to lower your sugar intake. If you have sensitivities to gluten or dairy, then you will love that these delicious baking mixes are plant-based and gluten-free. The mixes are also keto-friendly and perfect for diabetics. While I don't have to follow a gluten-free diet, I do have a dairy allergy so I get excited when I discover baking mixes for cakes, cookies, and sugar-free brownies that are plant-based.
I made the Swerve vanilla cake mix and they were so easy to make. My family thought the cupcakes were so delicious. I also made a berry frosting using the Swerve Sweetener Confectioners. My frosting is naturally colored and flavored with an all-natural fruit/berry-flavored drink mix that I featured in my Better for You Beverages For Summer article.
You can use my code MOMKNOWSBEST to get 35% off at https://macrolifenaturals.com on this wonderful berry-flavored drink mix that is a perfect way to add color to frosting without any artificial colors.
Other delicious recipes that can be made without sugar
Once you discover how easy it is to bake without real sugar, you can make your favorite desserts sugar-free and lower your sugar intake. I use zero-calorie sweeteners in all my baking recipes in place of sugar and the cookies and cakes still have a delicious sweet taste. My family can't tell the difference and it makes me feel good that they are consuming less sugar. I like baking with natural sugar replacements that measure cup to cup so swapping out the sugar is simple. I also have recipes that use natural sweeteners like dates. So take a look at the below recipes and start consuming less sugar for a healthy body. While some of the below recipes may contain sugar, I have successfully used Swerve in place of the sugar for delicious results.
Non-Dairy Date Salted Caramels
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2019/01/non-dairy-date-salted-caramels.html
Plant-Based Healthy No-Bake Salted Chocolate Brownies
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2020/02/plant-based-healthy-no-bake-salted.html
Simple Dairy Free Apple Pie Cookies
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2019/11/simple-dairy-free-apple-pie-cookies.html
The Best Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2019/11/the-best-christmas-sugar-cookie-recipe.html
Low Sugar Cranberry Sauce
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2020/06/best-low-sugar-cranberry-sauce-made-in.html
No Peel Summer Apple Crisp
https://www.momknowsbest.net/2020/06/no-peel-apple-crisp-recipe-with-knively.html