The solution: Keep track of your sugar intake and mood in a journal or app
If you’re worried about sugar affecting your mood, you can start monitoring how much sugar you consume. Experts recommend that added sugar should make up less than 6 percent of total calories. Many people are surprised at how much sugar they consume without even realizing it. To keep track of your sugar intake, read the sugar content label carefully and record what you eat in a journal.
If you don’t want to calculate or interpret the content of unlabeled foods, food tracking apps often record the sugar content. This allows you to determine how much sugar is in your diet, where it comes from, and whether there is a correlation between your mood and your sugar intake. A short-term sugar journal may just be the push you need to cut back on sugar for your mental health benefits.
Question: Your blood pressure is slowly rising
What foods should you avoid to prevent high blood pressure? If you’re thinking of fried and salty foods, you’re only half right. It turns out that sugar intake may be just as important as salt intake in maintaining healthy blood pressure. Insulin and glucose levels affect the ability of blood vessels to open. Refined sugar is thought to be a major cause of high blood pressure. One study linked sugary drinks to high blood pressure. Another study found that cutting back on sugar had a greater impact on blood pressure than cutting back on salt. The simple sugar fructose works by blocking the production of a molecule that is necessary to dilate blood vessels and lower blood pressure.
Solution: Reduce high-fructose corn syrup in your diet
Because blood sugar levels can affect blood pressure, there are many dietary choices that can boost both. Fructose, a type of sugar linked to high blood pressure, is found in many processed foods in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. Although high-fructose corn syrup is no less healthy than other types of sugar, its hidden presence in food can lead to an increase in overall sugar intake. Cookies, spam, peanut butter, prepared pasta sauce, canned soups, yogurt, and white bread are just some of the foods that contain sweeteners. Here are some ways to reduce the amount of high fructose corn syrup in your diet:
Read the labels for high-fructose corn syrup or other names: glucose-fructose, isosaccharide, and glucose-fructose syrup.
Limit your intake of processed foods.
Choose fresh, whole foods whenever possible.
Choose whole wheat bread over white bread.
Avoid sugary drinks such as soda, juice and flavored milk
Try cooking and baking so you know exactly what’s in your food.
