Sweet Poison: 5 Things you should know about sugar

You add it to your morning cup of coffee or tea. You bake it into pastries, cakes, and cookies. You even sprinkle it all over your breakfast cereal or your oatmeal for added "flavor."

But that's not all. It's also hidden in some beloved "treats" that people consume on a daily basis, such as sodas, fruit juices, candies, and ice cream. It also lurks in almost all processed foods, including breads, meats, and even your favorite condiments like Worcestershire sauce and ketchup.
It's none other than sugar. Most people view sugary foods as tasty, satisfying, and irresistible treats. But I believe that there are three words that can more accurately describe sugar: toxic, addicting, and deadly.
Sugar, in my opinion, is one of the most damaging substances that you can ingest – and what's terrifying about it is that it's just so abundant in our everyday diet.  This intense addiction to sugar is becoming rampant, not just among adults, but in children as well.

Effects of Consuming Too Much Sugar

1. Sugar causes blood glucose to spike and plummet

Unstable blood sugar often leads to mood swings, fatigue, headaches and cravings for more sugar. Cravings set the stage for a cycle of addiction in which every new hit of sugar makes you feel better temporarily but, a few hours later, results in more cravings and hunger. On the flip side, those who avoid sugar often report having little or no cravings for sugary things and feeling emotionally balanced and energized.

2.Sugar interferes with immune function
Research on human subjects is scant, but animal studies have shown that sugar suppresses immune response5. More research is needed to understand the exact mechanisms; however, we do know that bacteria and yeast feed on sugar and that, when these organisms get out of balance in the body, infections and illness are more likely.

3.Sugar increases stress

When we're under stress, our stress hormone levels rise; these chemicals are the body's fight-or-flight emergency crew, sent out to prepare the body for an attack or an escape. These chemicals are also called into action when blood sugar is low. For example, after a blood-sugar spike (say, from eating a piece of birthday cake), there's a compensatory dive, which causes the body to release stress hormones such as adrenaline, epinephrine and cortisol. One of the main things these hormones do is raise blood sugar, providing the body with a quick energy boost. The problem is, these helpful hormones can make us feel anxious, irritable and shaky.

4.It overloads and damages your liver
The effects of too much sugar or fructose can be likened to the effects of alcohol. All the fructose you eat gets shuttled to the only organ that has the transporter for it: your liver. This severely taxes and overloads the organ, leading to potential liver damage.

5.It causes metabolic dysfunction

Eating too much sugar causes a barrage of symptoms known as classic metabolic syndrome. These include weight gain, abdominal obesity, decreased HDL and increased LDL, elevated blood sugar, elevated triglycerides, and high blood pressure.