It has often been the topic of debate as to what causes real fat gain and make you overweight or obese? If fatty food consumption was the cause of obesity, then cutting down on fat would be the sure-shot formula for weight loss. So, the question is whether fatty food is the only or the biggest culprit behind your obesity or is it something else? Yes, you guessed it right. Sugar or sugary food is one of the most important factors behind weight gain or obesity.
How Sugar Makes You Fat
Before getting into how sugar makes your fat, lets try to understand what happens when we eat sugar more than our body’s requirement. While it is true that sugar or glucose is necessary for energy that our body needs, over- consumption of sugar on a daily basis has many adverse effects on health. Read more.
Insulin Resistance
I assume that you must be aware that insulin is a hormone produced by pancreas. It plays an important role in moving sugar to different cells where energy in required. Insulin also helps in storing energy as fat or glycogen. The problem starts when your body receives more sugar than it can handle or process. It leads to insulin resistance, i.e. your cells stop responding to insulin and your sugar level goes up. High blood sugar level impairs many cell functions that cause inflammation and further aggravates insulin resistance and gives rise to many complication such as fatty liver and general fat gain. You start developing diabetes type 2 and the series of health issues start. Read about reversing diabetes naturally.
Leptin Resistance
I have covered Leptin resistance in one of my previous posts and also reviewed Leptitox, which promises to manage leptin resistance effectively. Quickly recapping, I’d say that Leptin is a hormone that manages calorie intake and fat burning or energy regulation as a whole. High sugar diets trigger trigger Leptin resistance, which essentially means you don’t realise how much you must eat and when to stop. As a result, you always feel hungry and tend to overeat. The end result, fat gain or obesity. So, reducing sugar intake will help you prevent this condition as well.
High-Sugar Food-Usually Low on Protein
For energy, your body should use more protein than sugar. However, this does not happen when you eat high-sugar food, which often lacks in protein. You feel less satisfied even after eating large quantities of sugary food, which is often the case, as you tend to eat more and more. Its opposite happens when you eat high-protein diet. You eat less and feel fuller than when you eat same quantity sugary food.
Sugary Food-Low in Fiber
Usually sugar-loaded food items are low in fiber, which is required for proper digestion and overall health. As you continue eating more sugar and less fiber, the end result is overall bad health, poor digestion, sluggish metabolism and obesity, which itself is the root cause of many health issues such as heart health.
Is Low Fat Diet Effective in Weight Loss?
By now, I think I have made it clear that sugar is a major contributing factor in making you fat. However, it doesn’t mean that you can go on eating fatty food. Though I must agree that low-fat foods are considered and marketed as weight loss products, they are often loaded with sugar, which simply prove to be counter-productive. The key is to maintain a balance by choosing your food wisely. It often involves changing eating habits. Why not take the help of Noom App that will give you hundreds of healthy food options?
5 Tips to cut down on sugar
Start Reading Food Labels: Beware of hidden sugar aliases such as corn syrup, malt syrup, fructose, lactose, sucrose and more. If these ingredients are there, that means you are buying sugary food. Avoid them.
Start drinking more water: Replace sugary beverages and carbonated beverages with plain water or lemon water. This is practical, easy and achievable.
Go for full-fat instead of low-fat food: As explained above low-fat is often high-sugar and full fat has low sugar. However, maintain a balance.
High-Protein better than High-Sugar: This is one of the reasons that make eggs a super food. Loaded with high-protein, eggs give you energy and keep you full for long duration without adding sugar to your diet.
Sound sleep-8 hours a day: Studies have confirmed that those who don’t sleep properly often tend to eat more junk food and sugar than those who sleep 8 hours a day.
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