Why Sugar is the key reason why you are feeling tired and lethargic

Wishing all of you a Happy Dussera, may our history of Lord Rama and his victory over the forces of evil led by King Ravan, inspire you to win your own personal battles.

This reminds me of the story of Akhila. Now Akhila was a technology developer working in Pune. For years she had been a fitness enthusiast, winning marathons and running competitions. But mid-way through her 30’s, she saw a change in her metabolism. She was getting lethargic and tired easily. To crown it all she was always hungry. Her blood tests as prescribed by her physicians showed nothing alarming though her HbAiC levels were close o 6.3 and her Triglyceride levels were in the 300’s. Her doctor recommended some rest and destressing activities. Despite her best intentions, she was not able to overcome the hunger pangs, and that instead of increased her stress levels.

She was fighting an old and deadly enemy and unknown to her the enemy was striking daily…

Before you start wondering about this first, this I against an enemy that you see every day but ignore as a threat due to the harmless nature of its appearance. We are so oblivious to the heat that before you know not only are you hooked on to it, but it goes on to create some very irreversible systemic changes that led to lower productivity, functionality, and even death.

The enemy I am warning you about is Sugar. yes, Sugar…I dedicated a chapter of my debut book Own Your Health to this topic. If you do have a copy handy please look at the chapter title” The Usual Suspect Par 1″ it’s on page 63 of the book. We need to be very careful without sugar consumption as not only is it harmful to the body but also it is a part of almost every processed food in India. Sugar not only enhancess the taste but also is a good preservative.

Below are the top 4 reasons why one needs to be careful with sugar

1. Sugar has no nutritional value. Any sugar that you need can be made by the body from fruits and dairy products. These are naturally occurring sugars and give you fibre, vitamins, and proteins in addition to the sugar.
2. Weight gain is an apparent downside to sugar. Sugar disruption the Leptin cycle in the body. Leptin is a hormone that regulates the hunger cycles in the body, any disruption in the Leptin cycle can cause weight gain and hunger pangs.
3. Insulin resistance is another reaction to high sugar diets. There is a myth in India that sugar causes diabetes. While sugar does not cause diabetes, but high levels of sugar in the bloodstream leads insulin coming out to regulate sugar, and this causes insulin to be less effective over a period of time leading to prediabetes conditions.
4. Last but not the least sugars are also linked to higher triglycerides level in the body leading to heart attacks.

Well, you might wonder about the timing of this post, and why do I have t bring this up just before the season. Number 1 is awareness means control. Now that you have read it, I am sure your awareness levels are better, and you may be able to exercise more control. Secondly, festival or no festival, the impact that sugar has on the body is long-standing. There is never the perfect time to make the right decisions. Also some time ago I had put forward similar facts in an article that covered a report by Credit Suisse, please read that article here.

hen I say to avoid sugar, I mean everything, Jaggery, Honey, Palm Sugar, Stevia, etc…

This is because the glycemic index of sugar is almost similar to these alternatives. Also, I strictly believe in a binary world…ANy quarter to sugar would see it come back with a bang. Also, some tips before I go

1. Exercise daily, if you can’t take out 30-40 minutes for exercise you are doomed and will be experiencing high medical costs after 45
2. Eat only homemade food.
3. Check the added sugar quantity before buying anything from the market, most rocessed foods are laden with sugar
4. Load your diet with fruits and vegetables.

Akhila managed to regain control of her health, leveraging the power of technology, good advice from dieticians,s and formulating good habits around her diet. You can do the same. Fire the first bullet in your war on sugar bypassing it and having your tea, coffee, and other beverages without sugar…..Own Your Health…