How using excess sugar slows your weight loss journey

Oct 30, 2022 News

Fit-Nest…

By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – If you’ve been trying your best to lose weight for weeks or even months with no results, you may need to take a closer look at the amount of sweet you have been consuming while sweating out in the gym.

Consuming foods rich in added sugars, such as those found in aerated beverages, juices, candy, chocolates, baked goods and even breakfast cereals not only slow down your weight loss, but also contribute to chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

In this week’s Fit-nest, we’ll look at how sugar affects your weight, as many people often get carried away with the thought that drinking a can of fruit juice is a healthy option.

One of my favourite websites that really makes information comprehensible, ‘Healthline.com,’ explains that excess sugar may cause you to pack on weight because it’s high in calories and offers few other nutrients.

In fact, added sugars are often referred to as empty calories, as they’re relatively high in calories yet void of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, and fiber, which your body needs to function optimally.

Using small amounts of added sugar is unlikely to cause weight gain, but regularly indulging in foods high in added sugars may cause you to gain excess body fat quicker and more drastically.

Besides containing empty calories, indulging in sugary foods is also known to significantly raise your blood sugar levels. It must be noted that enjoying a sweet treat every now and then is not likely to harm your health but daily consumption of large amounts of added sugar can lead to chronically elevated blood sugar levels.

‘Healthline’ explains that prolonged elevated blood sugar levels- known as hyperglycaemia — can cause serious harm to your body, including weight gain.

One way hyperglycaemia leads to weight gain is through promoting insulin resistance.

Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas that moves sugar from your blood into cells, where it can be used for energy. Insulin is also involved in energy storage, telling your cells when to store energy as either fat or glycogen, the storage form of glucose.

Insulin resistance is when your cells stop responding properly to insulin, which leads to elevated sugar and insulin levels.

High blood sugar levels impair normal cell function and promote inflammation, which increases insulin resistance, furthering this destructive cycle.

Though cells become resistant to insulin’s effect on blood sugar uptake, they remain responsive to the hormone’s role in fat storing, meaning that fat storage is increased. This phenomenon is known as selective insulin resistance. This is why insulin resistance and high blood sugar are associated with increased body fat — specifically in the belly area.

Additionally, high blood sugar levels and insulin resistance interfere with leptin, a hormone that plays a major role in energy regulation — including calorie intake and burning — and fat storage. Leptin decreases hunger and helps reduce food intake.

Likewise, high-sugar diets are associated with leptin resistance, which increases appetite and contributes to weight gain and excess body fat.

This brings me to my other point that foods high in added sugars tend to be less fulfilling. What does this mean? Even after eating, you’ll still be craving food!

Sugary foods, such as cakes, cookies, ice cream, candy, and soda, tend to be low or completely lacking in protein, a nutrient essential for blood sugar control that promotes feelings of fullness.

Conversely, eating protein stimulates the production of hormones associated with feelings of fullness that help reduce food intake.

Eating foods rich in carbs — particularly refined carbs high in added sugars — yet low in protein can negatively impact fullness and may lead to weight gain by causing you to eat more at subsequent meals throughout the day, ‘Healthline’ explains.

Notably, high-sugar foods also tend to be low in fiber, a nutrient that can increase feelings of fullness and reduce appetite — though not as much as protein.

After swallowing these hard to accept facts, I started watching the amount of added sugar I consume each day and it paid off well! Remember, be good to your body and it will be good to you. Use lots of water throughout the day, especially after you had something sweet and preferably with your meal instead of with a bottle of soda or a can of juice.

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