Most of us LOVE SUGAR. It´s very addictive. However, too much of it in any form can lead to cellular damage in your liver. Our general sugar consumption has increased dramatically over the last 30 years.
Some sugars are natural components of fruits and vegetables. However, many of the processed foods we eat contain added sugars, put in by manufacturers to foods and beverages to enhance their flavour or improve food’s appearance and texture. It’s nearly impossible to find any products that don’t have sugar added to them, which basically tells you and I that we don’t have any control over the amount of sugar we consume if we are consuming prepackaged, convenient, industrialised food.
The World Health organisation suggest people eat no more than 5% of their daily calories from added sugar. For a diet of 2,000 calories per day, this would amount to 100 calories or 6 teaspoons or roughly 25 grams (g) of added sugar. However, the most recent reports for Europe I could find from 2021 are much higher than this, with USA being the highest in the world. You can review the statistics on this link.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1416902/sugar-consumption-in-europe/
Drinking just one can of soda, accounts for all the sugar you should consume for one day. This means if you have the soda, you couldn’t have rice; you shouldn’t have a banana; you shouldn’t have a beet or apple. You shouldn’t have anything with sugar.” Sugar consumption has been related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, weight gain, obesity and type 2 diabetes and many hormonal imbalances. Added sugars are found in foods such as sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolates, fizzy and juice drinks. Whether it’s white sugar, cane sugar, sucrose, fructose, honey, agave or any other sweetener — are accumulating in its collective liver, the body’s primary processing plant for all nutrients absorbed into your intestines.
Sugar can cause inflammation in your liver by causing it to metabolise huge amounts of fructose or glucose and store that as glycogen.” A fatty liver can make it much harder to control blood sugar levels and lead to wild swings in blood insulin and sugar levels, which in turn cause the food addiction to perpetuate itself and potentially cause brain fog, moodiness, poor memory, headaches and shakiness.
Sugar & Perimenopause/Menopause
Rising Blood Sugar Levels – In menopause, as oestrogen and progesterone diminish, our cells become more resistant to insulin, meaning the body has to work harder to manage blood sugar.
You should know that if you’re on HRT (hormone replacement therapy) to reduce menopause symptoms like hot flashes, that insulin resistance can make HRT less effective. Even if you’re not on HRT, too much sugar can still worsen menopausal symptoms.
Sugar and Hot Flashes – High blood sugar has been linked to hot flashes. So, it makes sense that if sugar impacts blood sugar levels, it might also increase the number and intensity of your hot flashes. Building on the information provided above, blood sugar levels can be affected by a number of things, including stress, illness, lack of sleep, side effects from medications, and a diet high in saturated fats and sugar.
The glycemic index (a system that ranks foods on a scale from 1 to 100 based on their effect on blood-sugar levels) indicates that foods low on the index such as vegetables, some fruits, whole grains, nuts stabilise blood sugar levels. A diet high in saturated fats and sugar (fatty meats, processed baked goods, fruit juice, many condiments) leads to spikes in blood sugar levels, and that’s when hot flashes can occur.
By removing the additional sugars through your cleanse, you will help to balance the blood levels with whole foods, reduce inflammation and also support hormone balance.
