Your Dangerous Sugar Addiction

Sugar is the devil. Seriously, it’s evil shit. All you have to do is look at the astounding increase in health related issues over the past 40 years. Excess sugar consumption is a major reason why we have seen a drastic increase in the rates of cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other diseases. No, it’s not fat consumption like some news outlets and companies would like you to believe. It’s sugar. Healthy fat consumption is actually incredibly beneficial for your health, but that’s for another post. This post is all about sugar and why you need to break your sugar addiction.

Sugar addiction is real. There have been many studies that show that sugar can be just as addictive as narcotics. Yes, that’s true. If you’re someone who has a sugar addiction and has tried to stop, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You will go through withdrawal symptoms just as a drug addict will. Some people get very sick, some get major headaches, and so on and so forth. Sugar withdrawal symptoms can be awful. The cravings are terrible. I know this first hand when I drastically reduced the amount of sugar I was consuming. I was craving it terribly for about 2 weeks. Then suddenly the cravings just went away. Out of all the sugar addictions, soda addiction seems to be the most prominent. As an online fitness Coach, I can’t tell you how many times clients of mine have brought up that they have a soda addiction. It’s extremely common! And breaking that addiction is a real bitch. With some people they are so used to having 10 cans a day that I have to literally ease them off of it. I will tell them to try 5 cans a day, then 3, then 1, then eliminate it all together. The process needs to be quick, though, especially if they are trying to lose body fat and get into shape. Ideally, they need to completely eliminate soda within a week.

Let me take you back to 2015 when I battled the debilitating Lyme disease. To make a very long story short, I developed Lyme, got extremely sick for about a year, and then decided to research the hell out of healing naturally with food and herbs. In my research I kept coming across how sugar beats down the immune system, feeds bacteria, and leads to obesity and cancer. After learning that, I realized the disease thrived because my body was not in a strong enough state to fight it on its own. That’s from the years of excess sugar consumption and lack of detoxing. The immune system stems from the gut. We all have healthy bacteria in our gut. That bacteria is destroyed from excess sugar, toxin, and chemical consumption. One of the very first steps I took to heal was drastically reduce the amount of sugar I was consuming and increase the amount of probiotic foods and drinks. And by the way, when I say “sugar” I’m talking about both “good” and “bad” sugar. Most people think that sugar comes from just candy and sweets, but it’s in whole wheat products, whole grain products, pasta, fruits, and vegetables as well. Just because it’s natural sugar doesn’t make it good to consume in large quantities. Sugar is sugar. However, fruits and vegetables are much better for you than sweets because of the added vitamins, fiber, and nutrients. But I went from consuming about 6-8 servings of sugar per day (mostly healthy foods) down to around 1-2. Those 1-2 servings were just fruits and vegetables. I completely eliminated breads, pastas, sweets, and alcohol (which is loaded with carbs) from my nutrition plan. I believe it’s a major reason why I was able to heal. If I didn’t reduce the amount of sugar I was consuming and increase the healthy fat, I would probably still be extremely sick to this day.

Not only does sugar beat down the immune system, it leads to fat gain. The reason so many people gain so much fat so quickly is because they can’t control the amount of sugar they consume. I’ve seen people just cut out the majority of sugar from their nutrition and lose a lot of weight without even exercising. But how does sugar lead to fat gain? Let me explain. First, when you consume sugar it’s converted into glucose and sent to the blood stream. When there is excess glucose, it’s stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. When the glycogen stores are full, it’s then converted into triglycerides and stored as fat. Then the more sugar you consume the fatter you get. In order to lose the fat, you have to limit sugar consumption, get yourself on a complete healthy eating plan, and exercise daily. Once the body depletes it’s glycogen stores, it will then target body fat for energy. That’s what you want if you’re trying to lose weight.

So if you want to keep gaining weight and drastically increase your odds of developing cancer, disease, and heart disease, keep stuffing your face full of sugar. But if you want to lose the body fat and get healthy, you have to do everything possible to stop your sugar addiction. Will it be tough? Absolutely. But 2 weeks of having minor withdrawal symptoms is much better than the alternative. To this day, I still only consume around 2-3 servings of carbohydrates per day. Most of my calories come from lean protein and healthy fat sources. You need to start being conscious about how much sugar is in what you’re eating as well. You’d be surprised with just how many food and drinks out there are loaded with sugar! Some Starbucks drinks, for example, can contain in excess of 100g of sugar. To put that into perspective, that’s about 8 tablespoons of sugar. Start flipping over the product and checking out the nutritional info. Reduce your sugar consumption and watch your health begin to change.

I cover all this and more in my new book “JUST [WO]MAN UP” that’s coming out later this year. It’s a guide for both men and women on how to achieve mindset, health, business, and relationship success. If you’d like to get on my email list for updates and pre-order for the book, fill out the form below. If you have any other questions or would like me to recommend an entire workout, nutrition, and supplement plan for you, message me on my Facebook page. And seriously, go follow me on Instagram as well.