Metabolic and Mental Health
Sugar Paradox: Key to Solve Metabolic and Mental Health Disorders
Without cracking the sugar code by taking measures, the incidence of diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and cancers might rise.
Sugar is a friend if used properly.
My recent article titled Why 442 Million People Live Diabetic and What We Can Do About it created interest in subscribers of my content about sugar metabolism and insulin.
I penned this imperative piece with inspiration from discerning readers. They requested clarification on sugar’s beneficial and harmful effects on metabolic and mental health diseases. It was music to my ears as metabolic and mental health is my passion.
As sugar metabolism and insulin resistance are critical risk factors for metabolic disorders, I aim to give an informed perspective to understanding the sugar paradox with examples.
The Beneficial Aspects of Sugar for Metabolism
Realistically, there is nothing wrong with sugar as a valuable nutrient. It is a neutral molecule. Sugar is as innocent as water, salt, fat, or amino acids. It can be a friend if we use it correctly.
Glucose is essential for the human body. Our cells need it for energy. In addition, the brain loves sugar as glucose, its prime energy source. As a result, sugar helped humanity to survive and thrive.
Evolution even created a unique survival mechanism for the human body called gluconeogenesis to generate glucose from amino acids and fat molecules. This process helped our ancestors to survive famines.
Our body uses the gluconeogenesis process to create glucose even if we don’t eat sugar-containing food. Therefore, we don’t die when we don’t eat for several days. This is because the bloodstream always gets adequate amounts of essential glucose.
Discerning readers might ask: if sugar is so wonderful, what is the problem with it then?
This is an excellent question. I attempt to answer to the best knowledge.
This article aims to highlight the problem of sugar misuse, specifically overconsumption. I believe the introduction convinces you that sugar is not an enemy of our health and well-being as long as it is used properly.
In short, as a valuable molecule, overconsumption of sugar might cause severe health conditions for humans, like metabolic and hormonal imbalances.
The situation might destroy metabolism leading to disorders like type II diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease, strokes, some cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases.
First, I explain the sugar paradox in simple terms so my points make sense.
Unfolding the Paradox of Sugar
Like the cholesterol paradox, sugar also creates a paradoxical situation for human metabolism. Thus, understanding the sugar paradox is essential to notice its benefits and drawbacks.
Paradox: The body loves and hates sugar at the same time.
The paradox of sugar comes from its necessity for the body and brain. Every cell needs glucose as an energy source, so we cannot survive without adequate glucose.
However, in the second part of the paradox, even though sugar is essential, the body sees it as toxic if given more than the required amount.
Therefore, the human body has a mechanism called gluconeogenesis to produce glucose even if we don’t feed the body with sugar-containing food.
I am a prime example. Over the last two decades, I did not ingest sugar-containing food in my body.
Instead, I replace sugar with healthy fats to meet energy requirements. I consume 200g of healthy fat daily in my one meal-a-day plan, following a keto-carnivore lifestyle.
This unique eating regimen helped me survive and thrive by reducing sugar in my diet. However, my regimen might only work for some as we are all different. Therefore, customizing our diet based on our needs and goals is critical.
My point is not about cutting sugar but highlighting that healthy humans can survive without eating sugar, except for those with different metabolisms determined by genetic variance.
The second critical point is the amount of sugar consumption matters for the health of metabolism. In an adequate amount, sugar makes the body happy.
Excessive amounts of sugar make the body miserable by giving undesirable health conditions like metabolic disorders and insulin resistance leading to type II diabetes, fatty liver disease, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and some cancers.
By the way, like normal cells, cancer cells also love sugar but hate fat.
Another paradox of sugar is causing addictive behavior.
The necessity of sugar is coded in our genes due to its importance for survival. Sugar affects the dopamine system in the brain. Some people even characterize sugar as a legal drug that people get addicted to unknowingly.
So the paradox of sugar comes from its criticality for survival, the danger of its toxicity, and its addiction-creating facet.
Unless humans learn to balance these three aspects, sugar will remain a health problem even though it is a neutral molecule for the body and brain to function.
The way we misuse and abuse sugar is the problem.
Even though sugar is a physical substance, it has an emotional aspect for humans. The biggest problem with sugar relates to our hedonistic tendencies.
Nature created sugar in perfect balance with the needs of living beings. It exists in both animal products and plants, especially fruits.
Even my favorite animal products, like egg yolks and beef liver. have some sugar. Vegetables have a small amount of sugar which is healthy for humans.
Fruits include fructose, another form of sugar. Most fruits can have significant sugar. However, some fruits, like berries, have less sugar and more micronutrients than others, like watermelon or mangos.
However, even the high amount of sugar in fruits does not cause problems for healthy humans when consumed naturally.
For example, the fiber in fruits might decrease the side effects of sugar in the bloodstream, digesting it slower.
However, humans learned to abuse fruits by squeezing the juice and throwing out other beneficial parts. This abuse caused severe problems for humans as it was against nature’s intention.
Therefore, I explained the situation of unintentional mistreatment in a story titled Juliana’s Health Ruined When She Consumed Three Health Foods Excessively.
As I pointed out in the paradox, the body loves sugar but sees it as toxic in large amounts. Therefore, it does everything to get rid of it from the bloodstream as fast as possible using the insulin hormone.
If insulin cannot deliver the glucose to muscles due to a condition called insulin resistance, the body quickly converts the excess sugar into fat molecules and store them as an energy source. So each sugar molecule turning into fat contribute to the waistline to grow.
Another abuse is using sugar as an additive to food and drinks. As the human brain loves the taste of sugar, humans learn to extract sugar and add it to foods.
Desserts became a cultural norm. We created many recipes like birthday cakes, cheesecakes, donuts, puddings, cookies, biscuits, lamingtons, pavlova, baklava, tiramisu, torte, croissants, churros, and many more.
We created pure sugar food for our kids called lollies and candies with another addictive molecule, cocoa (chocolate). Their brains loved the taste, so they got addicted. The more they ate, the more they got addicted.
When these innocent children became adults, they made it a habit to finish every meal with a dessert.
Most people consume three meals a day. So the food from a wide variety of plants already includes sugar. And eating a dessert plate after each meal can give the body more sugar which it does not need in the first place.
We get instant gratification from desserts. However, unfortunately, we intoxicate the body in the long term, causing more insulin spikes and leading to insulin resistance and metabolic disorders.
Some people enjoy fruit juice and sugary beverages between meals as if it is not enough sugar in foods.
In addition, some people even add sugar to tea and coffee, which are popular drinks in many cultures.
Furthermore, some people also enjoy alcohol in social gatherings. So they try a few beers, wines, or spirits with friends. Of course, there would be nothing wrong with it if they consumed it in moderation and did not get too much sugar from meals, desserts, or other sugary drinks before.
The sugar of alcohol is different. Alcohol is a type of sugar with more calories. For example, one gram of alcohol contains seven calories, while other sugar types only include four calories per gram. In addition, the body burns the alcohol before other sugar forms. Thus, it quickly raises blood sugar levels.
I introduced the side effects of excessive alcohol consumption, creating havoc on the metabolism of a friend and adversely affecting his sex life in a story titled How Alberto Melted His Potbelly & Doubled Testosterone in a Year.
I hope this summary gives you an idea of how we abuse innocent sugar.
You might wonder about the impact and implications of sugar overconsumption. I provide my perspectives in the subsequent section.
Impact and Implications of Sugar Misuse on Health
Sugar digested from food goes to the bloodstream to provide energy to the body. This is a natural human need. However, since the body sees excessive sugar as toxic, it takes two critical actions.
First, the body employs the insulin hormone to distribute glucose to various cells. The priority is given to the muscles as they need glucose to function and grow.
However, like the bloodstream, muscles also don’t like excess sugar and say no to insulin. So insulin, as a messenger, obeys the rule and sends it to the fat cells.
Ironically, fat cells are more tolerant to glucose than muscles as they have a vast amount of storage capacity. So, the body converts glucose to fat molecules and stores them for future needs as energy is essential for survival.
Consequently, people consuming three meals with desserts, some snacks in between, sugary drinks, and alcohol accumulate an excessive amount of sugar that the body cannot use as energy immediately and store for future use.
But when people keep adding more sugar, converting it to fat molecules, the body never gets a chance to use the stored energy as it always gives priority to energy from food and glycogen stores.
Only after consuming the energy from food and glycogen stores the body gets a chance to tap into fat stores. Therefore, time-restricted eating, like intermittent fasting, works well to melt visceral fat.
In addition, frequent meals with snacks including excess sugar can delay fat-burning as they cause insulin spikes unless we exercise excessively.
Excessive exercise elevating cortisol and causing insulin resistance is another problematic issue for metabolism.
The significant impact of consuming too much sugar frequently is caused by its storage as fat molecules. The more sugar we often consume, the more fat we gain. Then obesity starts.
But the story does not end there. Since the body has to produce more insulin to cope with excessive sugar, the amount of insulin becomes toxic to the body. A wonderful hormone that nature created to function in the human body turns to harm the body.
This metabolic activity can escalate the situation to the endocrine system. For example, excessive insulin spikes might imbalance other hormones and neurotransmitters.
Imbalances of hormones and neurotransmitters might cause more metabolic and mental health issues. Besides, insulin resistance also adversely affects sex hormones and growth hormones.
Let’s keep in mind that hormones play a critical role in fat gain and loss. They are as important as calories and even determine the outcome.
In addition, the situation escalated to the nervous system. The brain has difficulty using essential glucose. Impaired glucose systems destroy neurons. Then we start experiencing dementia types like Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, this disease is called type III diabetes.
Moreover, the situation also escalated to the immune system. Fat cells hold more toxic materials, so the immune system has extra work to deal with toxins. A weakened immune system might open doors to more complex health issues like cancer.
Excessive sugar also has cancer implications. As mentioned before, cancer cells love sugar. Therefore, when cancer cells start growing, excessive sugar might contribute to overgrowth.
So glucose, as a neutral and helpful molecule, creates havoc in the body.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Sugar is not an enemy of humans. On the contrary, it is an essential nutrient for the required energy.
The problem is the abuse and misuse of sugar that we create unintentionally or unknowingly. Therefore, I attempt to create awareness.
Too much sugar turns into fat molecules, causing the accumulation of visceral fat. As documented in the body of knowledge, accumulated visceral fat over the threshold is the leading cause of metabolic and mental health disorders.
Some people can metabolize sugar better than others. For example, my metabolism is not as efficient as my partner’s. As a result, I gained significant fat when we consumed the same amount of carbs, but she did not.
I was pleased when my carb intolerance was diagnosed. It allowed me to customize my diet by reducing carbs and increasing healthy fats for energy requirements. In addition, I reduced the frequency of meals.
I understand that some people love carbohydrates and their bodies tolerate sugar well. Therefore, consuming carbs as the body accepts can benefit many people.
So, readers might ask what we can do to benefit from sugar without totally removing it from our diets.
For readers’ consideration, I offer six practical tips for low-hanging fruit based on my observations of those who use carbohydrates without causing a problem. These points are not advice but ideas for consideration. They might work for some people and might not for others.
1 — Provide adequate sugar to the body from whole foods like vegetables, legumes, nuts, and fruits.
2 — Reduce amounts and frequencies of desserts.
3 — Refrain from extracting too much sugar from fruits.
4 — Consume less sugary beverages and refrain from excessive alcohol use.
5 — Consider adding less sugar to coffee and tea.
6 — Reduce refined carbs and replace them with complex carbs.
Reducing excessive sugar from our diets might contribute to lowering the risks of neurodegenerative diseases, mental disorders, cancers, and other major diseases.
Here’s How a Mature-Age Couple Reversed Diabetes and Trimmed Their Bodies with Lifestyle Habits.
Recently during a long-term fast, I gained a vision of humanity winning the battle against debilitating diseases in the 33rd century in a lucid dream.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
If you enjoyed this story, you might also check my experience on other topics.
I wish I had Gone Self-Employed 40 Years Ago for Three Reasons.
Ten Hobbies Enhanced the Quality of My Life over the Past Five Decades
Healthy, Wealthy, and Happy People Taught Me 10 Valuable Lessons
As a new reader, you might check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting on my reviews, observations, and decades of sensible experiments. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
I enjoy informing my readers about hormonal intelligence by writing about neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
One of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.
To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.
Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Major Diseases.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.
Disclaimer: Please note that my posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
If you enjoy writing and storytelling, you can join Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal as a creator to find your voice, reach out to a broad audience, and monetize your content.
You may also check my blog posts about my articles and articles of other writers contributing to my publications on Medium. I share them on my website digitalmehmet.com. Here is my professional bio. You can contact me via weblink.
You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 24K+ writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background.
