Here are several indications suggesting that your fondness for sugary treats and persistent cravings might signify a dependency on sugar.
Indulging in sweets during the festive season is common, but persistent cravings throughout the day might signal an underlying issue. Sugar, in any form, isn’t just detrimental to your physique but can also jeopardize your overall well-being. Consuming excessive empty calories can lead to numerous complications including heightened risks of heart disease, weight gain, diabetes, cancer, acne flare-ups, depression, and accelerated aging. Considering the dire consequences of overconsumption, imagine the potential harm of sugar addiction to your health. Here are five signs indicating that your affinity for sweets might indeed be a sugar addiction.
Explore the five signs of sugar addiction with insights from Dr. Viral Kothari, MD, Physician at Jain Multispeciality Hospital.
1. Increasing Weight
In today’s health-conscious society, maintaining weight, fitness, and appearance is paramount. However, even with this awareness, gaining extra pounds can be quite conspicuous. Sugar, often termed as “empty calories,” offers no nutritional value to the body but significantly boosts calorie intake, leading to weight gain. Furthermore, sugary foods lack protein, making them less satiating and thereby promoting overeating. Additionally, refined sugar-laden foods lack antioxidants, increasing vulnerability to oxidative stress and potentially contributing to weight gain, and in some instances, obesity.
2. Constant Fatigue
It’s common to indulge in a bit of extra sleep and struggle to get out of bed on weekends, but persistent fatigue could signal a potential sugar addiction. When sugar levels plummet in the body, the immediate impulse for many sugar addicts is to reach for something sweet. Surprisingly, consuming sugar in such instances, and overindulging in general, can exacerbate feelings of tiredness.
Excessive consumption of sugary substances has been found to diminish the activity of orexin, a peptide responsible for promoting wakefulness. Foods high in sugar lack nutrients that provide sustained energy and instead cause rapid spikes in blood sugar levels. These sudden spikes result in decreased energy levels, contributing to feelings of tiredness.
3. Breathing Difficulty
Excessive sugar consumption due to addiction can trigger palpitations, resulting in an accelerated heart rate. This rapid increase in heart rate may lead to breathing difficulties. Elevated sugar levels in the body can induce fatigue, low energy levels, weight gain, and obesity. These factors often contribute to breathlessness and difficulty breathing even after light physical activities such as walking for a short distance or climbing stairs.
4. Increased Cholesterol
Have you noticed a persistent rise in your cholesterol levels lately? If so, you should be aware that elevated cholesterol can significantly increase your risk of heart diseases such as stroke and heart attack. Consuming added sugars tends to decrease the levels of good cholesterol (HDL) in the body, which plays a vital role in lowering bad LDL cholesterol levels. The more sugar you consume, the lower your HDL levels will be, resulting in higher triglyceride levels. Triglycerides are fatty lipids in the blood that are stored in the body to provide energy between meals. When combined with high cholesterol, elevated triglyceride levels pose a significant risk of heart-related issues.
5. Salt cravings
While it may seem like an unusual symptom, craving salty and savory foods alongside sugary treats is a common occurrence. These salt cravings can indicate that your body is lacking essential nutrients. Similar to sugar cravings, salt cravings also suggest a deficiency of key nutrients in the body. For individuals addicted to sugar, prioritizing nutritional intake and following a balanced diet rich in nutrients is crucial to support various bodily functions.
An addiction or compulsion to use habit-forming substances can pose serious health risks. In the case of sugar, which offers little more than empty calories and indulgent taste, it can lead to severe complications. Some of the health risks associated with sugar addiction include an increased risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, acne breakouts, fatigue, breathlessness, obesity, and more.
Insights provided by Dr. Viral Kothari, MD, Physician at Jain Multispeciality Hospital.