If ever there was a reason for switching to black coffee over the sugary alternatives, this article may provide it.
First, you need to understand how much is too much, and how much you are actually having.
There are 12.5 grams of sugar in a tablespoon of pure sugar. Now, when you look at the back of products at their food labels, you have a bit of a reference point.
WebMD says that women should be having the equivalent of 6 tablespoons of sugar per day, and men should be having 9. However, the actual American is consuming over 20.
This is easy to understand how easy it is to have too much when a venti unicorn frappuccino from Starbucks has almost exactly 6 tablespoons of sugar all by itself. Heck, a single cup of milk has one tablespoon just by itself, and that’s a relatively healthy food item.
So, what happens to your body when you have too much sugar?
Well, first your brain makes you crave it. It releases lots of dopamine, and literally is comparable to an addiction to cocaine. This is why you want it, and why even during reading this article you probably won’t admit that you are addicted, and if you do, you will probably take no action.
Oh, and high sugar intake has been linked to depression.
Your skin ages more quickly.
Your body becomes inflamed. This inflammation can also worsen any joint pain you may have, or even create it.
Sugar is acidic, which weakens your tooth enamel while also attracting the bacteria that will cause cavities.
Insulin is an important hormone in our body. Sugar causes too much insulin to be released, not only messing up your body’s natural hormone regulation, but this negatively affects many other body parts.
When your liver becomes resistant to insulin because it is around it too much, it will start having trouble converting sugar into energy, and can cause type 2 diabetes.
Once your body starts resisting insulin, your pancreas starts creating more insulin to try and regulate your body better, but this just speeds up the damaging process.
This causes excess blood sugar, which your kidneys then have to filter through. It is hard for your kidneys to filter through a constant barrage of excess sugars, so this can lead to kidney failure and a need for dialysis.
Aside from all of this, it also affects your heart by making the arteries tense and causing the walls to grow too fast. When this happens, it can cause heart attacks, strokes, or heart disease.
Oh, and while your heart and circulatory system are struggling? This can cause impotence, men.
And, of course, with all of this excess sugar flowing around, your body naturally stores it as fat when it does not have an immediate use for it. And, we all know that obesity comes with a slew of serious health risks as well.
So, what can you do?
Well, for one, stop adding sugar to things. There is already lots of sugar all around us. If you absolutely cannot stand black coffee, try non-fat or low carb milk, and stay away from pure sugar additions.
When you have snacks, have them in small quantities. This means when you get our coffee and snack subscription pack that you do not eat all of your snacks at once. Or even on consecutive days. Save it for when you need it most, and then savor it in small bites with your coffee that does not have sugar added.
Keep an eye on your carbohydrate intake. This means be cautious of your breads, rices, pastas, potatoes, dairy, cheese, and dessert intake.
Don’t worry about eliminating it all at once, however. It’s when people make drastic changes that they are unable to sustain it. But, what about if you just made a conscious decision to consider an alternative each time you were about to purchase one of those foods?
The possibilities are endless. What has worked for you guys? Or, what hasn’t worked for you all? Are you scared now? Or do you perhaps not care? We love to hear from you guys both on here and Facebook and Instagram.
Let us know!
