More and more people are being diagnosed with depression. Several studies detect that different types of diets with high levels of sugar can produce depression and anxiety. A diet sugar low is important to prevent and treat mental health common problems.
Sugar can increase the risk of depression by contributing to insulin and leptin resistance. Affecting dopamine, damaging mitochondria and promoting chronic inflammation, is a poison that does not necessarily bring sweetness to our lives when we see the results of a diet rich in sugars.
Without a doubt, we are what we eat and the foods that we eat have a huge impact on our brain. Fresh, whole and colorful foods bring to our lives a better state of health and wellness.
Based on the evidence, avoiding sugar (in all its forms and with all its names) is an important strategy to prevent and treat anxiety and depression, which have had a higher prevalence.
As lead author Anika Knüppel, a Ph.D. at the Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health of the University of the College of London:
“It has been found that sweet foods induce positive feelings in the short term. People who experience a low mood can find sweetened foods in the hope of alleviating negative feelings. Our study implies that it is more likely that consuming a high amount of sweetened foods have the opposite effect on long-term mental health.”
Health effects of consuming too much sugar
In addition, countless different studies have identified why consuming too much sugar could wreak havoc on mental health. For example, eat excessive amounts of sugar:
- It contributes to the resistance of insulin and leptin.
- It suppresses the activity of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a key growth hormone that promotes healthy neurons in the brain.
- It affects dopamine, a neurotransmitter that feeds your brain reward system (hence the addictive potential of sugar) and is known to play a role in mood disorders.
- It damages mitochondria, which could have effects on the whole body. Mitochondria generate the vast majority of energy. If the mitochondria are damaged, the body’s energy exchange mechanism deteriorates and your brain has trouble functioning properly.
- It promotes chronic inflammation that, in the long term, disrupts the normal functioning of your immune system, which increases the risk of depression.
In simple words, consuming excessive amounts of sugar could trigger negative health events – both physical and mental.
On the other hand, it is very common to find the mistaken belief that replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners improves certain conditions and not. Also, they have a negative impact on our system and produce negative symptoms. As mood disorders, such as anxiety, agitation, irritability and depression.
How to fight all this chaos?
- A simple way to drastically reduce sugar consumption is to replace processed foods with whole and real foods. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants help fight inflammation of the body.
- Exercise
- Take fresh air
- Spending time in nature reduces stress levels, improves mood and significantly decreases depression symptoms.
- Sleep longer
- Nourish the intestinal microbiome, with fresh vegetables and traditionally fermented foods.
- Increase vitamin D levels by sun rays.
Being aware of the sources that produce this 21st-century disease, can help you to fight it in a natural and healthy way.
So, now you know that sugar is not the candy of life.