How Excessive Sugar Intake Can Harm Your Health

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Is your sweet tooth getting out of control? Are you struggling to put down the ice cream after a long day at work? Overconsumption of sugar is a real thing, and it has real consequences.

Just as humans have evolved to avoid leopards and lions, they have also evolved to adapt to food choices. Our ancestors learned to associate sweet foods with safety and sour foods with danger. Let’s think of a situation that our ancestors may have experienced. We’ll say that they were out searching for food and stumbled upon a berry bush. They would’ve found that the sweet berries were safe to eat, and the sour berries were not. The sour berries were often poisonous and would result in sickness—even death. The simplest goal of our ancestors was to survive, so you best bet they were avoiding those sour berries and eating all of the sweet ones they could get their hands on! This ability to associate sweetness with safety certainly served our ancestors well; however, the impact of our sweet tooth today might not be as positive.

Unlike our ancestors, we no longer need to wander around the outdoors to search for our lunch; we can receive it with the tap of our fingers through food delivery companies, take-out services, and grocery store pick-up. Our ancestors sought out foods like deer, fish, nuts, and greens, while we have endless choices available to us, including large amounts of highly processed foods.

Our entire food system has done a complete 180 from what it once was, and our food supply has become filled with grocery store shelves full of sugar, sugar, and more sugar! This sweet taste no longer provides us with the safety it once did, and its overabundance is doing more harm than good.

It has become increasingly difficult for many of us to cut out all of those sugar-sweetened foods that line the grocery store shelves, but why is it so difficult? Because sugar has addictive elements. Yes, you read that right. Research suggests that excessive consumption of sugar might be hijacking our brain's reward system—similar to what occurs in drug and alcohol addiction (Avena N, Rada P, Hoebel B, 2007). Excessive intake of sugar can be tough to kick to the curb because we were born craving sugar. The scary thing is, that the harmful effects of sugar are often silent, and they don’t just appear overnight. Once the impacts of excessive sugar intake occur, they can take the form of heart disease, obesity, cognitive impairments, or even cancer. The overconsumption of sugar also has a role in mental health issues, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.

Now that we know how detrimental excessive sugar consumption can be to our health and longevity, what should we do about it? Fortunately, there is a way to curb your cravings and conquer your sugar intake through a simple 7-step plan that is based on science and psychology and curated to be sustainable. In my new book, Sugarless, I lay out a step-by-step plan to help you break free from your cravings and put an end to the chokehold sugar has on you. These seven steps are your key to freedom and a life without over-consuming sugar.

1. Admit it if you're hooked on sugar.
2. Take stock of your sugar intake.
3. Identify your triggers.
4. Begin with your beverages.
5. Break down your breakfast.
6. De-sugar your dinner.
7. Keep lunch and snacks super simple.

Stop suffering and break free from your sugar cravings with this step-by-step guide. It’s time to take control of your health and fuel your body the right way!