This DiabetesIQ content is fact-checked and expert-reviewed to ensure strict editorial guidelines. Our content is evidence-based and provides objective analysis while maintaining the highest editorial standards in accordance with our integrity policy.
Published: February 05, 2021
This DiabetesIQ content is fact-checked and expert-reviewed to ensure strict editorial guidelines. Our content is evidence-based and provides objective analysis while maintaining the highest editorial standards in accordance with our integrity policy.
Does eating too much sugar determine whether a person will get diabetes? The short answer is ‘yes’. Consuming too much sugar can definitely be related to becoming diabetic.
Sugar makes your pancreas work overtime, causing it eventually to stop working properly and produce enough insulin to deliver sugar into the blood cells. When that happens to people, they find themselves in the express lane to diabetes.
When looking at the direct association between sugar and diabetes, it becomes obvious that shifting away from sugar is one of the best preventative measures you can take to avoid getting diabetes. Even people who already suffer from the disease know how having high blood sugar feels like and how important it is for them to regulate their sugar consumption smartly.
Sugar has been linked to the fact that type 2 diabetes has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Studies have shown that every 150 calories of sugar consumed increases the risk of diabetes by 1.1%.
One of the main culprits that increase the population of people with diabetes is The Standard American Diet (SAD). It is composed of unhealthy carbohydrates, fat, salt, and sugar, while low in water, fiber, fruits, vegetables, and healthy protein. All of the components of the Standard American Diet work together to form a perfect scenario for type 2 diabetes.
The rich variety of sodas and fruit juices is another cause of diabetes for many people. Those drinks are often sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which has been identified as one of the ingredients that open the door to diabetes.
How to Reduce Sugar Intake
There are simple ways to reduce sugar intake that involve elimination or replacement of certain products from your pantry.
● Toss out sugar and sweeteners like molasses, agave, and honey; ● Replace sugary drinks with sparkling water or low-calorie drinks; ● Swap out sugar-laden desserts with dried fruit; ● Cut your sugar servings in half and then continue limiting the consumption of sugar; ● Introduce spices and extracts to flavor your foods and drinks.
Making such adjustments to the food you that eat will give the pancreas a much-needed break, which may help you avoid getting diabetes.
One thing to look out for when attempting to reduce sugar intake is “hidden” or “added” sugars. These sugars lurk in the nutrition facts labels of many popular pantry and canned food items. Items such as pasta sauces, breakfast bars, dressings, and soups contain additives that are designed to make food addictive and to pack on the pounds.
Avoid hidden sugars by checking labels for ingredients such as sucrose, corn syrup, agave nectar, cane sugar, disaccharides, and monosaccharides. If you don’t want to get involved into reading labels very much, stick to shopping around the edges of the supermarket and skip the highly processed foods that are usually placed in the middle of it.
Recent studies suggest that incorporating plant-based foods into your diet can very effectively help you avoid diabetes. While sugars are still present in fruits and some vegetables, natural sugars usually have a lesser effect on the pancreas, causing less of a build-up and more opportunity for energy to be distributed.
Although a plant-based diet may feel daunting to some, but setting a simple goal of having a plant-based meal before 6 PM or incorporating more plant-based foods into each meal are easy ways to ensure that your body is getting less of the Standard American Diet and more of the fuel it needs to maintain your health.
Keep in mind that fruits and starchy vegetables should be avoided to achieve best results. To make sure that you are eating the right fruits and vegetables, take into consideration the glycemic index. It is better to avoid fruits that are high on the glycemic index, such as bananas (62), grapes (59), and watermelon (72). The closer to 100 the fruit ranks, the more sugar it contains and the quicker it releases into the bloodstream.
Fruits that have an acceptable glycemic index are strawberries (41), apples (39), and dried apricots (32). The lower the score, the slower the sugar is released into your blood, allowing more time for the body to process it.
Smart sugar consumption is beneficial for everyone, but if you are pre-diabetic or have a genetic predisposition to the disease, it is absolutely a must. The better you learn how to manage your sugar intake, the easier your road to healthy life will be. However, to succeed, you need to know what food to eat and what food to stay away from because the less sugar you consume the further away from diabetes you will be.
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