Hello Steemit!!! :)

Two months ago, after reading some scary articles about sugar, I decided to remove it from my diet almost entirely. The new research that has been coming out shows that the extra sugar that the average human eats everyday is even more dangerous to our health than we had originally thought! Some scientists even go as far as claiming that sugar is actually more responsible for the obesity epidemic than even fat itself. After reading all these, I decided to have an experiment myself and see how my body will react if I ate as little sugar as possible. These are some of the things which I discovered during my journey, either from reading or experiencing myself!

SUGAR IS EVERYWHERE!!

I thought that avoiding sugar would be easy, but I was so wrong!! It is literally everywhere. Other than the obvious sources such as candy, chocolates, ice creams and soft drinks, sugar is also in bread, sauces, dairy, ''healthy nutrition'' products (especially the low-fat ones), salad dressings, juices and even in some pre-packed meats! There is added sugar in most foods that you eat daily! Also sugar is often disguised and given different names in order to mislead people!! For example some other names of sugar are: corn syrup, barley malt, maltose, glucomat, diatase, xylose and mannitol! Most people who think they are ''calculating'' their every day sugar consumption, they are actually almost always underestimating the real amount they eat!

YOU DON'T NEED SUGAR TO SURVIVE

Who hasn't heard or read somewhere that glucose is our body's fuel? That is actually the partial truth. Even though our bodies love glucose because it is a quick and widely available source of energy, the only two nutritional components which are absolutely vital to our survival are actually only proteins and fats! Your body can run almost entirely on fat and if any glucose is needed, your liver can actually produce it by itself. Natural sugars, such as those coming from fruits are more than enough for out needs. In fact, people in low-carb diets can live just fine with less that 10g of sugar per day!!!

LOW-CARB DIETS ARE NOT EASY

Speaking of people surviving with less than 10g of sugar per day....it's easier said than done! My own experience tells me that not only it is extremely difficult to avoid eating excess sugars but your body reacts badly towards it at first! Making that transition from burning sugar as fuel to burning just fat hard. Your body reacts to this by what is known as ''keto-flu''. People going on extremely strict low-carb diets, experience headaches, dizziness, weakness and low mood. But there's good news!!! This is only temporary. Once your body gets used to burning fat, then all these negative symptoms will be gone and you'll feel like a completely different person. For this to happen, especially if you are a small woman like me, you must make sure that you have enough healthy fats in your diet so that your body has enough energy!

SUGAR IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE

What was once treated as just a ''myth'', now is regarded as a scientific fact! The effect of sugar on your brain is exactly the same as the one caused by most drugs and other addictive substances. By over-stimulating your dopamine receptors it makes you crave more and more sugar in order to get an equal satisfaction from your food. If you don't get your sugar dose you experience all the symptoms of withdrawal!

CHILDREN ARE SUGAR'S BIGGEST VICTIMS

We all know that children are vulnerable but what we are now discovering is that over consumption of sugar from an early age can case destroy a child's life. Children who eat too much sugar are many times more likely to develop diabetes by the age of 30 and suffer heart attacks by the time they are 40. Children are especially vulnerable to metabolic diseases caused be the improper regulation of Insulin. As we eat too much sugar, our levels of insulin increase dramatically. They case the excess sugar to be turned to fat and they make cells uptake the sugar quickly. As a result our blood sugar level decreases rapidly, which makes us hungry, caving more sugar. Then a vicious circle begins. Children who become sugar addicts are more likely to suffer as adults from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, depression, anxiety and stroke!

Removing sugar from my diet has really changed my life. Even though I didn't have a problem with my weight, I feel like my health has improved dramatically! In the gym I feel much stronger and full of energy. I am happier, more excited and my food cravings have decreased to a minimum. My new diet has even helped my ''lady days'' become more regular and stable (sorry for the ''TMI'' guys). It's really is hard at first to live without ice-cream, cookies and candy but once your body gets used to it, you will feel like a completely different person.