Contents:
- Medical Video: Break Your Sugar Addiction in 10 Days
- How many spoons of sugar can you consume every day?
- What will happen to the body after you reduce sugar
- 1. Skin becomes healthier
- 2. The heart also becomes healthier
- 3. The accumulation of fat in the body decreases
- 4. Improved brain work
- 5. The risk of diabetes decreases
Medical Video: Break Your Sugar Addiction in 10 Days
Sugar is one of the things that the intake must control, in addition to oil and salt. This is because too much sugar intake can cause blood sugar imbalances in your body. If it occurs continuously, it can cause type 2 diabetes mellitus. To avoid this, it is recommended that you reduce sugar. Well, if you reduce sugar, what can happen to the body?
How many spoons of sugar can you consume every day?
Have you ever calculated how much sugar you consume in a day? Not only table sugar that you add to your coffee or tea dish, but also the sugar content in your food, such as donuts, cakes, ice cream, candy, chocolate, dry food, or other sweet foods. The amount may be difficult for you to calculate and maybe very much.
In fact, the American Heart Association recommends that you consume extra sugar no more than 9 teaspoons for men (equivalent to 36 grams) and 6 teaspoons for women (equivalent to 25 grams). Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia recommends that men and women consume additional sugar no more than 4 tablespoons.
So from now on, you should pay attention to your sugar intake, especially sugar intake in drinks that you usually don't realize. Try starting to reduce the added sugar in tea or coffee drinks, or replace it with a low-calorie sweetener. And, don't get used to ordering sweet tea or other sweet drinks when you eat in a restaurant. Replace with healthier water.
What will happen to the body after you reduce sugar
Reducing sugar not only lowers your risk for type 2 diabetes. But it can also improve your overall health. Well, here are the benefits that you can feel on your body when you start reducing sugar.
1. Skin becomes healthier
Research shows that sugar in the blood can form a molecular domino effect called glycation. Glycation is a process in which sugar molecules bind and damage collagen and elastin in the skin. This causes the skin to become less firm and elastic, so that wrinkles easier to appear. So, by reducing sugar, your skin will look younger.
2. The heart also becomes healthier
Excessive sugar consumption, besides influencing blood sugar, also affects heart health. Reporting from Prevention, excessive sugar consumption can increase insulin levels, which can then activate the sympathetic system, increase blood pressure, and heart rate, according to James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD, cardiovascular researcher at St. Luke's Mid-Atlantic Heart Institute in Kansas City.
A study in the 2014 JAMA journal showed that excessive sugar consumption (more than 21% of calorie consumption per day) could have the risk of death due to heart disease double that of people who consume sugar 17-21% of calories per day.
3. The accumulation of fat in the body decreases
Sugar contains calories. That is, consuming excess sugar can contribute to excess calories in your body. These excess calories can be stored in the form of fat in the body so that you gain weight. Conversely, by reducing sugar consumption, it means you also reduce the calories that enter the body, so you can avoid weight gain and obesity.
4. Improved brain work
Excess sugar intake can in turn inhibit communication between cells in the brain, thus blocking the learning and memory process, concludes a study from UCLA in animals. This might be seen when you consume a lot of sugar in the morning that can make you sleepy, making you less focused.
For that, you should reduce your sugar consumption or replace it with a low-calorie non-sugar sweetener. The brain can use sugar to be energy more efficiently when you do not consume it excessively.
5. The risk of diabetes decreases
Excess sugar intake can cause accumulation of abdominal fat in the body. This makes the risk of insulin resistance increasing, so the risk diabetes also increased. Now, by reducing sugar consumption, your risk of developing diabetes will decrease. When sugar intake is reduced, the body will produce less insulin and the liver will more effectively break down poisons stored in the body.
