10 Signs You Are Eating Too Much Sugar
4. Mood Swings
Aside from the physical health problems that come from eating too much sugar, it can also negatively affect your mental health. You may have heard of a ‘sugar high’, but what goes up must come down, and when you ingest a lot of sugar, that high turns into a low. This crash has the potential to exacerbate mood disorders like mood swings, depression and even schizophrenia. Sugar is also believed to worsen symptoms of anxiety in sufferers, with the sugar high and subsequent crash causing shaking, tension and headaches.
When sugar is consumed it activates taste receptors in the tongue and sends signals to the brain, which lights up the reward pathways and stimulates the release of dopamine and other ‘feel-good’ hormones. It’s healthy to indulge in the sweet stuff every now and then, but over-stimulating the reward system can trigger a chain of events that can lead to an inability to control consumption, sugar cravings and increased tolerance to its effects.
According to Mark Hyman, MD, in his bestselling book The Ultramind Solution, he states, “Sugar causes inflammation. The insulin-resistant fat cells you pack on when you eat too much sugar produces nasty inflammation messages (cytokines) … spreading their damage to the brain.” In fact, a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that when a number of participants were given a diet of whole foods compared to a number of participants given a diet of processed foods, they were more likely to have a 26 percent reduction in the risk of depression, while their unhealthy counterparts experienced a 58 percent increased risk of depression.
If you notice you’re experiencing mood swings, brain fog, irritability or other issues, try cutting back on the sugar. While you might experience some withdrawal symptoms at first, like headaches, fatigue and light-headedness, these feelings will soon pass. If sugar is, in fact, the root cause of your mood issues, they should subside after you abstain. If your mood issues continue, however, it can be prudent to visit your healthcare professional for further testing.
