Sugar - The Devil In Disguise
By: Dr Tracey Evans
Tags: Sugar, Diabetes, Addiction, Diet, Weight Loss

@unsplash credit Heather Ford

How it starts!

You spot that lovely pink doughnut in the supermarket, YES strategically placed with just look at all those toppings!

The colours activate your visual senses.

You smell fresh baking, your smell senses are activated.

You start to taste the sugar on your tongue.

The Brain

Your brain starts receiving messages that stop you from walking away.

That voice ‘I really shouldn’t’, creeps up — quickly dismissed.

Your feet don’t move away.

Before you realise that pink doughnut is in your basket.

You shake off nagging doubts, with ‘I will be good tomorrow’.

But does tomorrow ever really come along?

See what just happened was a concerted effort between your senses, your brain and potentially your drive for a sugar hit.

What happens next?

You take a mouthful of the doughnut.

It feels good.

It tastes good.

Your brain is saying ‘See, I told you! It’s delicious isn’t it?’

What DOES NOT happen next?

You eat each mouthful like it is precious.

You taste all the different flavours and as you chew the doughnut.

You feel the different textures on your tongue.

You slow down to enjoy the moment.

What also happens next

I will BET that in the majority of cases you just ate it as fast as you could. Looking for that sugar hit, eating it almost greedily and even thinking about where your next source of sugar is coming from — that is before you even finished that mouthful!

It is no wonder so many people are ‘addicted’ to sugar! Let’s talk about what happens when that sugar is being digested in your tummy!

There are different types of sugar I will focus on glucose and fructose (both of which combined to make sucrose also)

Glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream.

Fructose heads to the liver where a lot of it is converted into glucose also.

The blood is suddenly saturated with sugar — this is an ‘emergency!’

Insulin is released by the pancreas.

Insulin helps traffic sugar into the cells.

The excess sugar is stored as fat.

Fat cells get fatter and divide to produce more fat cells.

You now have more cells ready to store fat, just waiting for the next doughnut

Here is ANOTHER kicker!

Your blood sugar drops because insulin has done its job (for now!!!)

Your brain notices that blood sugars are low — this is another ‘emergency!’

Your brain thinks it needs food.

You get sugar cravings to encourage you to eat.

You wonder why because its not that long ago, you had your sugar high.

But you listen to your body, and surely another will not hurt anyway!

You reach for the biscuits, chocolate or whatever your ‘fix’ is.

And the cycle starts again!!!!

Here is ANOTHER kicker!!

That one doughnut is no longer enough.

Your brain needs more sugar to get that sugar high.

This time you eat two doughnuts because one more will not hurt…

This is exactly how type 2 diabetes can start. These behaviours cause inflammation in the body and this inflammation can lead to cancer, dementia — yes Alzheimer’s disease!

So what can you do about it? Do you want to re-gain control? I have a FREE guide to Success Not Sabotage, you can get it here

I also have a Private Facebook Group called Brain Health & Weight Loss, you can join it here. I upload lots of free trainings, do LIVES answer questions and so much more — all to promote brain health and weight loss.

If you are serious about taking back control from sugar, please feel free to reach out to me and find out more about my 16 week FREEdom™ Programme. Within this programme I walk you (pretty much daily) to success focusing on emotional resilience, brain and gut nutrition, hunger hormone re-balancing and lifestyle habits. I use a holistic approach and each experience is personalised — because let’s face it, we are all physiologically different. My email is: drevans@connectionshealthcoaching.com if you want to find out more.