It’s little secret these days that a low sugar diet is best for us in the long term, helping to prevent countless chronic and serious conditions and diseases as we age.
But did you know there are many benefits of a low sugar diet you’ll probably notice pretty much right after you say see ya to the sweet stuff? Here are just 7 of our faves.
Healthier teeth
This one’s a bit of a no brainer, but definitely worth a mention. Thing is, sugar wreaks havoc on those pearly whites.
Bacteria in your mouth LOVE the sweet stuff, and when they gobble it up, they create acids which pretty much dissolve your tooth enamel. Yikes!
You might lose weight
Although it’s widely acknowledged that weight maintenance is a little more complex than ‘calories in, calories out’, the fact is that sugar is pretty energy dense. And it comes without any of the good stuff to help our bodies function at their best.
Sugar is essentially there to make things taste great, and make us want to eat more and more of it (which was great back in caveman time where sugary snacks were rare).
But now sugar is literally everywhere, it can really muck with our body’s understanding of ‘hungry’ and ‘full’, leading us to eat more. (read more about that here).
So, it stands to reason that by cutting out sugary treats and snacks, you might find you have more room for more nutritious sources of food, AND you’ll be able to stop when you’ve had enough, leading to weight loss.
Clearer mind
Too much sugar can impact our mood, memory and decision-making processes by literally changing the pathways in our brain.
Some early studies have seen sugar produce similar behavioural and physiological effects to those we see caused by addictive drugs.
One study saw similar neural changes from high sugar intake as from nicotine addiction. Another found intense sweetness even trumps cocaine in triggering our reward pathways.
Glowier skin
You’ve probably heard of collagen and elastin, the proteins that give our skin shape, structure and fullness.
The science shows that a sugar overload starts to break down these vital proteins, leaving us to deal with wrinkles, dryness and dullness. Eek!
Excess sugar can also aggravate skin conditions like acne and eczema. If you’re prone to this sort of inflammation, it’s even more wise to lay off.
Balanced blood sugar
Overindulgence in high-sugar, high-carb foods can lead to chronically elevated blood sugar levels.
This can have all sorts of fun short-term effects like moodiness, fatigue, hunger and thirst (but, like, all the time), dizziness and immunity issues.
And when our levels remain out of whack over long periods of time, our body can get overwhelmed and stop responding to our hormonal messengers properly. This can damage your pancreas, your cells your blood vessels, and eventually lead to type 2 diabetes (read more about the deal with sugar and insulin resistance here).