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Sugar is the first step to addiction
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Sugar as we are accustomed to seeing it is not a real natural product, but is the result of technological processing. There are many sweet products in nature, but man's excessive craving for sweets, for pleasure, prompted him to create sugar.
Translated from Sanskrit, "sugar" means "sweet". In ancient times, extracting sugar from cane was a rather labor-intensive process and required a lot of effort, so it was not used as food, but used in medicine. The situation changed with the colonization of Africa and the use of slave labor. This made it possible to provide Europe with sugar in the sixteenth century.
Since then, sugar has been in almost all the products on our table. What has this led to? It seems that we are now in a global dependence on sugar. This dependence has become so strong that it has led to physical and mental problems for humanity.
The sweetness of sugar is an easy way to feel better or to get pleasure. It is well absorbed from childhood and in the future it becomes a bad habit. Later, the use of sugar becomes a traditional way to improve mood and forms an addiction. Many problems are solved by consuming sweets.
In fact, sugar is the first step to drug addiction. Many experts are sure that children who tend to consume large amounts of sugar are more likely to become addicted to alcohol later in life. Sugar increases the level of serotonin, the hormone of pleasure, and also causes a short-term surge of energy. As they say, it gives you wings. However, its effect ends as quickly as it begins.
After the serotonin level drops, the mood worsens and the desire for sweets returns. Over time, the amount of sweets increases as the receptors become less sensitive to insulin. Alcohol has the same effect. These mood swings caused by artificial sugar intake lead to addiction.
Over time, this causes health problems. Excessive sugar in the blood causes the pancreas to secrete more insulin. With every teaspoon of sugar, the insulin level in the blood increases. This eventually leads to cells becoming resistant to insulin. The cells stop responding to insulin signals, so insulin levels start to rise.
Insulin is an anabolic hormone that is responsible for the accumulation and storage of fat, weight gain. Insulin resistance causes obesity, diabetes, heart problems, and also contributes to the activation of inflammatory reactions, the development of cancer and a reduction in life expectancy.
Today, when sugar is everywhere, we have witnessed an unprecedented increase in diseases of civilization. It seems to be some kind of payback for the craving for pleasure, for sweets. Many scientists are sure that sugar is not a suitable product for our diet. It is not normal to extract one component from a natural product and use it in unimaginable quantities.
According to Chinese medicine, cravings for sweets are a symptom of a lack of qi in the spleen. However, sugar cannot compensate for this. For this, there are sweet vegetables, fruits and berries that have the true nature of sweets and are loaded to the brim with useful nutrients.
Giving up sugar is a necessary step towards health. If you are not able to achieve this at once, reduce its amount gradually. Eat natural sweets.
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