While Some People Love Sugar and Others Hate It, I Have a Funny Relationship With It!
Sugar is my frenemy.
As kids, when mum made breakfast for us, she was very stingy with sugar. You had no choice unless you wanted to starve. We thought she hated us.
My siblings and I went to boarding schools. While mum shopped for our supplies, it was the same thing. The packs of sugar we went to school with were few. Anytime students got to the hostel and unpacked boxes, I would be envious of my dorm mates.
Their boxes had so many packs of sugar and so many fizzy drinks (yeah, Mum didn’t favor that either). Anyway, life continued until I left high school and went to university. By then, I had more control over my grocery supplies, but I think my body had also gotten accustomed to existing without sugar.
I had an awakening with the evolution happening in the baking world. There was vanilla sponge cake, red velvet, and tiramisu cake. Oh boy, this was heaven until…
I developed migraines. It was the year 2014, and I was doing my masters in global public health and policy. The deadlines were endless. I was 33 and my body had evolved. I just couldn’t eat or drink anything. Sugar made the list.
If I ate a cookie, a piece of cake, had some chocolate, or had a fizzy drink, I would get a headache or get bloated. This was a curse and a blessing.
Whenever I was out at a function, if my host asked what drink I would like, I always insisted on having water. Water never embarrassed me. Juices, mocktails, and wines gave me a headache or left me bloated unless I over-diluted them with water.
I have an older brother who has a sweet tooth. It does not matter what he puts in his mouth. He has no headaches acting as a watchdog in his life. I do. His body only keeps score by his protruding stomach.
The only sugars my body doesn’t fight against are natural. So this is sugar found in fruits. My regulars are apples. Whether I eat them whole or blended, my body is happy. This is a blessing.
During the pandemic, I picked up baking as a hobby. It was going well until my body reacted to sugar and flour with headaches, bloatedness, and acne. That adventure ended as quickly as it started.
What do the experts say about sugar?
According to the International Journal of Neurorehabilitation, when your blood sugar levels are high, hormones in your body can cause blood vessels to widen, causing migraine headaches.
As for whether this is a curse or blessing, other experts remind us that the liver metabolizes sugar by converting dietary carbohydrates to fat. With time, this can lead to fat accumulating, which turns into fatty liver disease. Fatty liver disease is a contributor to diabetes, which raises the risk of heart disease.
In addition, consuming too much-added sugar can raise blood pressure and increase chronic inflammation, both of which are pathological pathways to heart disease.
In Conclusion
Now I am even more incentivized to live sugar-free. I do not have a choice when my physician tells me I am pre-diabetic. Cheers then to a sugar-free 2024!!!
Thanks to Chelsea Marie.