Sugar is considered to be the most controversial food nowadays. Sugary products are known to cause several problems or issues if eaten in excess.
It is vital to understand and know the effects sugar has on your brain as well as the body. The amount of sugar you consume can significantly impact your mental health and state. Discovering how sugar has been linked to depression and many other mental health problems and how you can monitor and control your sugar intake will directly determine your mental health.
While completely letting go of all the sweet stuff can result in a physical as well as a mentally healthier version of you, succumbing to cravings should be taken care of.
Sugar and Depression
It is common knowledge that eating a tonne of sugar is not good for your health. It will cause or worsen several conditions, including diabetes and heart disease. It is crucial to know that consuming these huge amounts of sugar can also put you at a higher risk of being prone to mental disorders like depression.
Sugar can be consumed from foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains. It is also largely present in processed foods, including cakes and candy. The average diet is dominantly made up of digestible carbohydrates, and most of these are refined and contain large amounts of sugar.
Consuming these large amounts of processed sugar can lead to chronic conditions like diabetes and several other mood disorders. On the other hand, a diet comprised of fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods can substantially reduce the risk of depression.
Why sugar has to be eliminated from your diet?
There are several ways how sugar can affect your mental and physical well-being. Some of these include:
- Sugar affects the mood: A “sugar rush” can help in giving the body a little bit of a push or a blast of energy to get through the day. However, sugar cannot be such a positive and healthy pick-me-up after all. Recent research study shows that sugary treats have no positive effect on mood. Sugar can have the opposite effect over time.
Although many other studies are necessary to solidify the connection between mood and sugar consumption, it’s crucial to consider how diet and lifestyle choices affect psychological well-being.
- Weaken the ability to deal with stress: If your coping mechanism involves eating an ice cream cone after a stressful day, you’re not alone. Several thousands of people turn to sugary treats when they feel anxious. This is because sugary treats can weaken the body’s ability to respond to anxiety and stress. Sugar can help you feel less abraded by suppressing the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis in your brain that controls the stress response.
- Zapping of brainpower due to sugar: The human stomach can be telling you to dive in and drink your way out of a bunch of sweet treats, but the brain has a different idea.
Emerging research studies have found that diets packed with sugar can impair cognitive functioning, despite the lack of extreme weight gain and excessive energy intake.
However, a more recent study shows that healthy volunteers in their 20s showed worse memory tests and had poorer appetite control even after only 7 days of eating a diet high in added sugars and saturated fats.
- Risk of developing depression: It is very hard to avoid reaching for comfort foods, especially after a tedious and mentally stressful day. But the cycle of having sugar to manage your emotions can only make your feelings of fatigue, or melancholy, even worse. Sugar consumption and depression have been linked in several studies.
Overconsumption of sweet or simply sugar triggers imbalances in some brain chemicals. This could lead to depression and can even increase the long-term risk of developing a mental health issue in many people.
Impact of sugar on mental health
Eating too much sugar might impact your mental health while causing some problems in your everyday life. Here are a few ways your mental health might be affected by too much sugar:
- Greater risk for men: Researchers show that men are more at risk of adverse mental health conditions related to sugar compared to women. More than 40 grams of sugar a day increases the risk of developing depression in men in a few years.
- Addiction to sugar: Research shows that sugar might be much more addictive than hard drugs like heroin and cocaine. Being addicted to sugar might make you develop depression and other similar mood disorders.
- Inflammation: A diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains was found to reduce inflammation in the body. As severe inflammatory disorders are proved to be connected to depression, healthy and appropriate consumption of natural sources of sugar can reduce your odds of getting depression from inflammatory conditions.
Tips for quitting eating sugar
Here are a few helpful hints to kick off sugar from your diet:
- Eliminate the obvious sources.
- Pick a healthier dessert alternative.
- Have quality carbohydrates.
- Challenge yourself to show restraint.
- Read food labels.
It is vital to note that eating too much-refined sugar from various sources may raise the risk of being depressed. Sugars coming from simple carbohydrates are connected to several health problems, including depression. The adverse effects are on the mood and may also lead to some chronic health diseases.
Work with your doctor or a registered dietician, or simply even a physician to slowly cut back or decrease your sugar intake. The crucial parameter with sugar is not to eliminate it out completely. However, you must aim to improve your ratio of added sugar to natural sugars. Consuming, complex carbs including those found in fruits and vegetables, can actually lower the risk of these conditions, physically and mentally.