Top 5 Reasons to Stay Away From Sugar

Corn syrup, fructose sweetener, evaporated cane juice...it goes by many names and is an increasingly common ingredient in processed foods: it's sugar! Without even knowing it, many of us consume what is equal to 53 heaping teaspoons of white sugar every single day! Many experts in the healthcare field agree that reducing sugar intake is essential to achieve natural health.

If those reasons weren't enough, here are five reasons to stay away from refined (white) sugar.

1. Ingesting sugar causes the pancreas to work double time in order to produce insulin. Diabetes is a result of an overworked pancreas that can no longer remove sugar from the bloodstream.

2. When you eat sugar, you cause you body to release more adrenaline, which has been linked to hyperactivity in children. 

3. Sugar lowers the efficiency of your white blood cells (for a minimum of five hours) and has been known to compromise the body's immune system.

4. Eating sugar increases anxiety, irritability, and mood swings. If you are already suffering from anxiety or stress, sugar will only make your life more challenging.

5. Sugar can decrease high-density cholesterol (HDLs) aka good cholesterol and result in an increase in harmful cholesterol, or LDL.

Healthier Options

Just because sugar isn't good for you doesn't mean you can't sweeten your food! Try adding honey, dates, or raisins to your meal. There are also a number of alternative sweeteners, like Stevia, which are available in several forms, have no calories and won’t raise blood sugar levels.

For more information on the importance of reducing the amount of sugar in your diet, just ask during your next adjustment!