Why a nutrition plan without sugar is so good for you

Why a nutrition plan without sugar? Because sugar really is a white poison. Creeping illness by instalments. And yet the supermarket has shelves upon shelves full of foods that for the most part consist of nothing but sugar. To hide this, the industry has already given sugar plenty of other names. Dextrose, corn syrup, isoglucose, polydextrose, maltodextrin, concentrated apple juice… which names that actually hide “sugar” do you know?

A nutrition plan without sugar can have many benefits. Here we have listed the most important ones in an overview and will look at individual points more closely in the course of the article:

1. Sugar can be addictive and activates mechanisms in the brain similar to those of drug use.
2. Sugar makes losing weight harder and encourages excess weight.
3. Sugar can increase the risk of cancer.
4. Sugar is the main cause of type II diabetes.
5. Sugar, especially fruit sugar, encourages a fatty liver.
6. Sugar promotes acne and makes the skin look worse.
7. Sugar increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
8. Sugar promotes inflammatory reactions and damages the blood vessels.
9. Sugar speeds up signs of ageing .
10. Sugar affects the psyche and can intensify the symptoms of ADHD or depression.

Do you sometimes have the feeling that you are downright addicted to sugar? Do you have a feeling of withdrawal when you go without sugar?

Neuroscientists from Princeton University investigated the effects of sugar in rats. They got the rats used to sugar water. When they stopped the sugar supply, the rats showed the usual signs of withdrawal known from morphine or cocaine.

In humans, too, sugar activates the reward centre in the brain. The hormone dopamine is released and triggers a feeling of happiness. The brain wants more and more of this feeling of happiness. But the high is deceptive, because sugar is a nutrient robber. It brings no vitamins at all, only empty calories, and it increases the risk of numerous diseases.

1. Go through a withdrawal: even 30 days without sugar work wonders.
2. Reduce stress: the stress hormone cortisol causes cravings for sweet things.
3. Support your sleep: with enough deep sleep, the hunger hormone ghrelin falls.
4. Reduce screen time: blue screen light, especially in the evening, inhibits deep sleep.
5. Soak up daylight: time outdoors supports a healthy chronobiology.

In the fight against sugar addiction, everyday habits have great power. And it is not only about nutrition. A healthy day and night rhythm, in other words a healthy chronobiology, is very powerful in the fight against sugar addiction. In the morning your body releases cortisol so that you get going. In the evening cortisol falls and the sleep hormone melatonin takes over. Unfortunately our modern life means that neither of the two works flawlessly, so your body is out of rhythm.

We have too much stress. On a physical level, smartphone notifications are stress for your body too, the “ping” from Facebook, the “ding” of an email. Stress is fine, but it is important that TENsion is followed by reLAXation again.

Another important tool in the fight against sugar addiction is sleep. Because after just one night without good sleep quality, the hunger hormone ghrelin is higher and you have far more of an appetite for sugar. When did you last sleep really well through the night? It is not only the duration of sleep that matters, but above all the quality. The deep sleep phase is important and comes about through the sleep hormone melatonin. Because of too little daylight in the morning and too much artificial light in the evening, melatonin production does not work properly. A walk early in the day and a pair of blue blocker glasses in the evening work wonders.

1. Waffles made from sweet potato batter
2. Sweet berries with coconut cream
3. Savoury muffins with spinach and feta
4. Baked apple rings
5. Quark and mandarin muffins
6. Fried egg to go with cherry tomatoes
7. Cinnamon coconut yoghurt with persimmon
8. Carrot cake with a cream cheese topping
9. Sweet Potato Pancakes

You will find the tasty recipes in the Foodpunk nutrition programme in the Foodpunk app! All the snack ideas taste good to young and old alike. You will find them in the “Breakfast” category in the app. Do also drop by our recipe collection.

When you eat sugar, your blood sugar level rises. The pancreas then starts to release insulin. The insulin brings the sugar molecules into your cells.

When your insulin level rises, fat burning largely stops. Because your body is then programmed for “storing”. Only when your blood sugar level falls again does the hormone insulin fall too. When the blood sugar level is low, the hormone glucagon takes over, which gets fat burning going.

But if you now frequently have sweets and sugar between your meals, you give insulin no chance to fall and fat burning is blocked the whole time!

If you want to support your fat burning, you should pay attention to the breaks between your meals and take in less sugar overall.

A fatty liver is usually associated with excessive alcohol consumption. But these days we know that a high sugar consumption, especially in the form of fructose, also encourages the liver to become fatty. Estimates suggest that as many as one person in three has an enlarged liver, often without noticing it.

Fruit sugar in large amounts cannot be completely processed and carried away by the liver. It is converted into fatty acids and stored in the liver for times of need. If you eat one apple a day as a dessert, that is not a problem. But many industrial products contain fruit sugar in large amounts. The problem arises when you eat a lot of ready made products, sweets, juices or a great deal of fruit.

There is also a connection between diabetes and fatty liver. Diabetes is not only one of the possible causes of a fatty liver, it can also be triggered by the fatty liver. The fatty liver itself produces more sugar, which keeps the blood sugar level permanently high. The body cells are no longer able to take up the sugar and an insulin resistance develops. Your liver can recover with a nutrition plan without sugar.

Sugar can promote inflammation^1,2 and increase androgen production³. That encourages the development of blackheads, spots and inflammatory skin conditions.

Foods with a high glycaemic index such as sweets containing industrial sugar or baked goods made from white flour can make spots, blackheads and acne worse, because they drive blood sugar up rapidly. The body reacts to this with a sudden release of insulin, which in turn leads to a rise in androgen production.

That leads to more sebum, stronger keratinisation of the skin and an increased tendency to form spots and blackheads. Beyond that, there is also a suspicion that insulin itself could promote inflammatory processes or inflammatory skin diseases such as acne.

To maintain the health of your skin you should therefore avoid larger amounts of sweets, soft drinks and cake as far as possible, or enjoy them in moderation. In a nutrition plan without sugar, nutrient rich foods with a high proportion of fibre make sure that the blood sugar level stays constant or rises only slowly. This keeps not only cravings in check, but spots and acne too.

As a guide value, the WHO says that we should take in about 25 grams of sugar a day, which corresponds to six teaspoons. In western industrial societies, though, it is often four times that.

Here are 5 treacherous sugar traps:

1. Apple juice
2. Instant cappuccino
3. Ketchup
4. Smoothies
5. Muesli bars

In the body, sugar „sticks“ various molecules together. Among other things, it can dock onto the proteins elastin and collagen in your skin. As a result they harden, the skin becomes duller, and fine lines and age spots appear. The higher the blood sugar level, the faster the process.

When you eat sugar, the blood sugar level rises quickly. Part of the sugar can be used directly to generate energy or be stored in the cells. Surplus sugar, however, stays in the bloodstream and docks onto other molecules. The sugar can bind to proteins in your blood or also to lipid molecules such as HDL and LDL cholesterol.

This process is called glycation and the compounds that arise from it are called „advanced glycation end products“ (AGEs). In the skin it is above all collagen and elastin that are affected by this glycation. These two proteins keep the skin elastic and firm. But when they „stick together“ with sugar, that leads to hardening. The consequence: the skin loses its firmness and wrinkles appear. An accumulation of AGEs through high sugar consumption does not only make the skin age faster, it also makes it look duller and encourages age spots.

In the blood, glycation leads to a deterioration of the cholesterol balance and can thus increase the risk of age related diseases. Sugar also docks onto the haemoglobin of the blood cells, which people with diabetes know under the term “HbA1c”. This long term blood sugar value provides information about how strongly the haemoglobin is glycated with sugar. That shows how high the blood sugar level was over the last 8 to 12 weeks.

If you want to slow down ageing processes, a stable and rather low blood sugar level is an important basis. And let us be honest, would we not all like to live to 150?

According to scientists at University College London, men who take in a lot of sugar have a 23 per cent higher risk of developing depression in the next five years than men with a low consumption. A high consumption is defined as an amount of more than 67 grams a day. In Germany every person eats 89 grams a day on average, which is considerably more.

Too much sugar promotes creeping inflammatory processes in our body. These inflammatory processes can slow down the production of important messenger substances in the brain, such as serotonin, and thus contribute to depressive feelings.

Sugar also has an influence on the formation and maintenance of nerve cells. This can lead to a reduction of the tissue in the hippocampus, the memory centre in the brain. That impairs processes of thinking and remembering and can also encourage the development of depression. In older age it can even promote the development of dementia. In addition, a permanently high sugar consumption can bring about too much sugar in the blood. The consequences of this are often tiredness, problems with concentration and a lack of drive. The risk of type 2 diabetes rises as well. Interesting: people who suffer from diabetes are affected by depression twice as often as people without this condition.

Have you ever noticed a connection between sugar consumption and ADHD in yourself or in the people around you?

According to a study by the University of Colorado, too much sugar over too long a period can increase the risk of ADHD. Some studies even assume a four times higher probability.

The reason for this: sugar makes you happy for a short while and gives you a lift. After you have enjoyed it, the body releases the happiness hormone dopamine. But the effect wears off quickly. And when the dip sets in, you feel washed out, and attention suffers. In order to be able to concentrate again, your body demands more. This cycle can turn into a genuine sugar addiction. A study has also found that the brain of people with ADHD processes glucose, in other words sugar, less well than that of people without ADHD. The regions of the brain that govern focus and impulsiveness are affected above all.

But there is good news as well. Because a balanced nutrition plan without sugar, or at least with considerably less of it, can also protect against ADHD.

1. Crêpes with blackberries
2. Coconut yoghurt with fresh berries
3. Ham and cheese muffins
4. Carrot cake porridge
5. Coconut chia pudding with almonds and blueberries
6. Lemon waffles
7. Almond panna cotta with raspberries
8. Chocolate mug cake with raspberries and coconut cream
9. Avocado mousse au chocolat (veggie)

And there are many more in our recipes or in your personal nutrition plan without sugar.

1. Eat enough. It is important that you cover your need for nutrients in 2 to 3 main meals a day, so that you do not get hungry in between. We often unconsciously eat too little at the main meals and therefore have an appetite in between.
2. Enough sleep. If you do not sleep enough, the hunger hormone ghrelin rises and the satiety hormone leptin falls. Aim for 7 to 8 hours of high quality sleep per night.
3. Eat green leafy vegetables, because they reduce cravings for sweet things. The more bitter, the better.
4. Build anti-stress techniques into your everyday life. Under stress the hormone cortisol rises and starts up the blood sugar rollercoaster.
5. Rely on spices. Many spices reduce the craving for sweet things, among them cinnamon, vanilla, raw cacao, liquorice root, chilli, nutmeg and cardamom.
6. Movement reduces the desire for sugar. Because during exercise happiness hormones are released, just as if we were eating sugar.
7. Be patient with yourself. Do not beat yourself up if it does not work out once. Because that triggers stress again. Be patient and accompany yourself on the way out of sugar addiction like a dear friend.