Sugar Is a Drug

The brain responds to sugar the way it does to cocaine. So ask yourself: are you on the road to addiction?

Face it. Eating sugar makes you feel good.

Sugar stimulates a surge of pleasure molecules in the brain including serotonin and dopamine and the reduction in their degradation. It makes you want it until your brain receptors get used to it. But when it wears off, you crash, your brain receptors demand more and then you give in: you go hunting for another sweet fix. Sound familiar?

Not everyone has an insatiable sweet tooth, and scientists are conducting studies to determine what makes some people more susceptible to sugar addiction. They believe that a tendency toward getting hooked on the sweet stuff could help explain why obesity is on the rise worldwide. With snack cakes, candy bars, sodas and cookies constantly at our fingertips, we can all benefit from being aware of the slippery high-fructose-corn-syrup-slicked slope.

Here are three ways to monitor and control your sugar intake:

1. Avoid Processed (White) Sugars
Simple sugars in cakes, packaged foods, white bread and soda are taken up very quickly in your body. Cue the sugar high, sugar crash and the aggressive cravings! Not only do they perpetuate the cycle of wanting more, they also do direct damage to the proteins that serve as grout between the
cells lining your arteries, lead to insulin resistance and diabetes, and accelerate the wrinkling and sagging of aging skin.

2. Try Different Desserts
Every time we finish a meal, we’re programmed to end it with a sweet treat. Try to break the dessert habit by trying something other than a cupcake or a bowl of ice cream. Why not do what many Europeans do and have salad as the last thing you eat, or cap off dinner with an ounce of walnuts covered with blackberries? Revel in the natural sweetness of strawberries, or treat a glass of wine as your dessert.

3. Pay More Attention to Your Food
One easy way to cut back on the sugar is being aware of how much sugar you eat in the first place. Check the nutrition facts on foods you enjoy every day. You might be surprised how much added sugar is lurking in seemingly healthy foods, such as nonfat fruit yogurt and believe it or not, barbeque sauce. Never snack right out of the bag or box, because that makes it nearly impossible to track how much you’ve eaten. Portion out one serving into a small bowl, then put the package away. Not only will you eat less, you’ll also appreciate and enjoy it more.

Source: youbeauty.com