Have you ever heard that a THIRD of all Americans alive today are predicted to get diabetes at some point in their lives?? Diabetes really hurts and not just because it can lead to other complications, from heart problems to kidney problems…It also "hurts" because sugar scrapes your arteries. That doesn't hurt you physically, and yet it's doing you more harm and damage than ANYTHING else.
Do I have your attention now? Curiosity piqued as to what exactly I mean by "scrapes your arteries"?
Well, what if I told you, the sugar molecule is like glass cutting your arteries? The sugar molecule is oddly shaped and as it bumps down your bloodstream it does nothing but damage. Now, I know that sounds scary enough on its own, but that's not all…When we talk about plaque build-up in your arteries, how do you think that build-up happened? Well, the plaque has to be able to get STUCK somewhere. And the prime way for plaque to get stuck is in pockets formed by artery damage. So PLAQUE gets stuck in the pockets that sugar has ravaged through your arteries!!
Yep, seriously. If you have smooth artery walls, plaque doesn't get stuck and clog your arteries. But if you eat a lot of sugar, that could be the difference between clear and clogged…between life and death.
Or even if not that serious, it can mean the difference between health and diabetes.
I think most people don't realize how scary diabetes is, because if you've never dealt with it yourself or known someone with it, then you may not realize that it has tens of possible symptoms; not only the typical ones you already know about like heart disease, but it can actually cause serious vision issues, even blindness. And this is absolutely a chronic problem here in America. To quote Dr.Oz, "No public health problem compares in scale." And he's right. This is a problem that's costing Americans 175 billion dollars a year to fix, and not only is it being faced by 25 million Americans, but almost 60 million more are right on their heels as PRE-diabetics.
So if you're pretty freaked out by the fact that sugar scrapes your arteries, and you don't want to become pre-diabetic (or if you're already pre-diabetic, don't want to become diabetic!!), what do you do?
Now personally, I don't think the solution is swearing off sugar forever. Yes, it's pretty bad stuff, but it's very possible to enjoy a glass of wine, a bit of stevia in your baking, or a square of dark chocolate, and it won't have these same effects.
If you DO try to completely cut out sugar, you have a very admirable but also difficult path ahead! This is because sugar actually releases ENDORPHINS called "endogenous opioids." According to Healthline, you can actually experience a range of symptoms from going on a sugar detox, from anxiety, to lack of energy AND/OR insomnia, and even nausea!
