YIKES! - Is sugar messing with your brain?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes making changes towards health are a little easier when we understand the underlying reasons why certain things impact our health.

We know that sugar is bad for the waistlines and for our teeth, but many people don’t realize the extent to which sugar and modern carbohydrates can impact our overall health, from fatty liver, to heart disease and even cancer…

Read on to discover how sugar can affect symptoms relating to:

Depression/ Anxiety
Addiction
Memory Loss

Depression/Anxiety

Consuming sugar throughout the day can send your blood sugar on a roller coaster ride. When I say this, the response I often get is, “I don’t eat sugar!” BUT, if you start your day with a wheat-based muffin, have a bagel for lunch and wheat pasta for dinner, your body acts as if it’s getting loads of sugar. These overly processed starches (modern carbs.) break down so quickly in the body that they will create a blood sugar rush. UP, UP, UP goes the blood sugar and whatever goes up, must come DOWN and that counts for your mood as well. A sugar crash can leave you feeling anxious and depressed.

Sugar can also lead to inflammation in the body and of course that includes the brain. An inflamed brain is not a happy one!

Countries with higher sugar intake also have higher rates of depression.

Addiction

Yes, sugar is addictive! We all knew this, but now there’s a growing body of evidence to support it. Sugar fuels every cell in your brain, which makes it keep wanting more and more sugar. This can make it a very tough habit to break.

A 2007 Study demonstrated that rats actually prefer sugar water to cocaine

Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) – that “DOWN” I was just referring to – is one of the most common biochemical imbalances associated with alcoholism. In a study of one hundred randomly selected clients at the Healthy Recovery Center, an Addiction Treatment Center in Minneapolis, 88 percent proved to be hypoglycemic. Diet and lifestyle can help to mitigate cravings due to addiction.

Well, they don’t call it the ‘SAD’ Diet for nothing… The Standard American Diet (which is now being adopted by most of the planet) is full of sugar. It may not actually cause anxiety, but it sure can worsen symptoms relating to anxiety and impair the body’s ability to cope with stress.

Learning and Memory

Sugar can also impact our ability to learn and retain information.

Brain cells exposed to high blood sugar levels can shrink over time and become tangled as seen in cases of Alzheimer’s. It’s for this reason that Alzheimer’s is sometimes referred to as Type 3 Diabetes.

Sugar can affect your long-term brain health, exasperating symptoms of depression and anxiety and possibly leading to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.

‘Craving’ more in-depth information and studies on the above topic? Check out the references listed below.

Stay tuned for more info to help calm your mind, boost your mood and improve memory…

In good health!

Glenda

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15123503?dopt=Abstract

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/da.10054/abstract

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/10/science/la-sci-sweet10nov10

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18325546

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19296910

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gerganakoleva/2012/05/17/binging-on-sugar-weakens-memory-ucla-study-shows/#5ff546556ef5

http://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-sugar-addiction