Sugar and Hormones

Scarsdale Health & Wellness Blog Sugar and Hormones

We are all familiar that sugar has a relationship with hormones, but we may not know that yet. Insulin is a hormone and controls a lot of important functions in the body. 10 major functions of insulin in the body are:

 
1 - stimulate glucose going into the cells of the body where they are converted to glycogen or fat
 
2 - Influences the production of proteins in the body
 
3 - increases potassium uptake
 
4 - induces glycogen creation
 
5 - decreases the liver creating sugars from fat (burning fat)
 
6 - increases triglycerides by pushing more sugars into fat cells
 
7 - decreases the breakdown of proteins
 
8 - influences sex hormones (this is commonly seen in many cases of diagnosed PCOS and endometriosis where controlling blood sugar through diet provides fast effective and safe management of symptoms)
 
Insulin resistance is a condition where the body has high insulin levels over a period of time, frequently due to eating a high carbohydrate diet and other lifestyle issues. Over time when the insulin levels are high due to chronically high sugar levels, the cells require more insulin to get the sugar into them. This can affect other hormones and bodily functions, these include, but arent limited to:
 
1 - lowering testosterone in men
 
2- Lowering leptin resistance - the body's ability regulate your appetite (and not in a good way)
 
3 - Lowering growth hormone production - again, regulating fat burning as well as libido and body repair
 
4- Fatigue - with chronic blood sugar and insulin resistance fatigue after eating is a very common symptom
 
5 - Increased stress and anxiety - Sugar highs lead to sugar crashes and the brain is one of the biggest users of sugars in the body, when it is starving for sugar short temperedness, fatigue, and impaired cognitive ability are common. Additionally it can increase stress hormones like cortisol.
 
Sugar also can age skin prematurely due to its destructive effects on collagen 
 
Bone damage and increased inflammation can also be traced to a high sugar diet
 
Last - but not least - high sugar consumption can negatively affect your immune system
 
http://drhyman.com/blog/2014/08/29/killing-sex-drive-one-bite-time-5-surprising-ways-sugar-lowers-libido/

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