A "Little Sugar" Can Be Deadly

A little sugar can mean high blood sugar, which increases your risk of diabetes and obesity, and worsens heart disease.
Some people refer to diabetes as "a little sugar" in the blood. But excess sugar floating around in your arteries can be harmful to your health and wellbeing!

Here's why: All food is broken down into glucose and taken into our cells for use as energy. Unused sugar can be converted to free fatty acids and stored as fat. And excess sugar in the blood can make your artery walls sticky, causing dietary fat and cholesterol to stick to them. This can lead to hardening and narrowing of the arteries.

Narrow arteries can't deliver blood to the various tissues that need it. The heart, brain and retina can be starved of blood. The end result can be heart attacks, strokes and blindness.

That said: You have the power to prevent these complications. Here's how:

Avoid simple (refined) sugars. Be aware of sugar hidden in sodas, yogurt and frozen slushy drinks. These beverages often have up to 14 teaspoons of sugar in them! If you're not burning that sugar as fuel, then it's being stored as fat, or it's sticking to your arteries!

Graze. We were meant to graze throughout the day like deer. We're really at our best when we use food as an energy source.You can keep your blood sugar steady when you consume a small meal or snack every three to four hours, which is about how long it takes to digest food. Eating in this way keeps your metabolism high and prevents you from storing fat! What's more, you'll enjoy steady energy, rather than the peaking and crashing that can come from consuming too many simple sugars.

Exercise. Sad, but true, we take in far more calories than we burn. With increased exercise, you use the sugar you take in and boost your metabolism at the same time. Regular exercise also helps you avoid becoming overweight, which also increases your chances of developing diabetes.