Like millions of Americans, my relationship with sugar is love/hate at best. In the middle of my freshman year of college, I got mononucleosis and shortly afterward and for the next nine months, I struggled with extreme discomfort and nausea whenever I ate foods and drinks with sugar in them. I went to countless doctors and had numerous tests done to determine what was happening, but they all resulted in frustration and a lack of answers. It was when I finally began a food journal, mapping everything I ate and how I felt before and afterwards, that I discovered the culprit: sugar. My once-friend who kept me company through many evenings of Netflix and video games, not to mention late-night study sessions, was now sabotaging the body that loved it so dearly. After this revelation, I endeavored to eliminate all sugars, including artificial sweeteners, from my diet. This was quite the undertaking; many people don’t realize how much sugar is in the foods they eat every day, nor do they grasp just how many foods have refined sugars in them--there are many you wouldn’t expect. Sugar can hide on many food labels under different names as well, so a keen eye is necessary when identifying products with minimal sugar content per serving. I ate around ten grams of sugar a day, and for a time, I felt so much better. I was relieved, but then I allowed myself some dessert on very special occasions. The change I saw was incredibly rapid and alarming. After those first few desserts I began craving sugar and eating it more frequently, despite the incredibly off-putting side effects.

Our bodies are designed to crave the nutrients that are essential to life, sugar included. Glucose needs to consistently be in our bloodstream to supply the neurons that cannot store glucose themselves. That is why when you consume sugar, you get that little jolt of wakefulness. Sugar also triggers the release of serotonin in the brain, one of the neurotransmitters associated with happiness, resulting in your mood being boosted. That release of serotonin is instrumental in the cycle of addiction because those good feelings lead to reinforcement of the behavior--this is the same mechanism by which drugs wreak their havoc and cause addiction as well. Try to wean yourself down to the recommended daily amount of sugar: 25 grams for women and 37.5 grams for men and your body will thank you!