We use the word “treat” to make us feel good about eating cookies, cake, ice cream, basically anything with refined sugar in it. But when we have refined sugar in cookies or ice cream every day, it is no longer a treat. It should be looked at as a staple in our diet. It is one of the reasons we struggle so much with our weight and health. The key to weight loss and to maintaining a healthy normal weight is to stop playing tricks with ourselves and take control of what we eat. Stop using refined sugar as a daily staple.

Are cookies and pie and other goodies healthy to eat. No! Sorry, it’s that simple. These types of treats spike our insulin level, force our bodies to not be efficient in burning foods, and lead to weight gain which leads to more serious health issues. Having a piece of pie, or a cookie or dish of ice cream as a treat can be fine if you’re in your normal weight range and if you can truly have it as a treat, meaning not every day, and not every other day..., that is where weighing yourself every day comes in handy because for most people, it is a good monitor of our eating and digesting habits.

This next paragraph is the key

Why is it so hard to stop eating sugar? In simple terms our bodies can’t tell when it has stored enough energy when we eat sugar. Our bodies don’t know how to store sugar as it is not readily stored in our bodies. That is why we can eat so many sugar treats without feeling full.

Our bodies regulate how hungry we are by using a protein hormone called Leptin. Leptin regulates our energy intake (how hungry we are) and energy expenditure (does our body have enough energy for what it is trying to do). Leptin response is what tells our brain whether we are full or if we still need energy. Unfortunately, Leptin levels are not affected by sugar intake so the Leptin proteins can’t tell our brain to turn off our hunger pangs. This is one of the causes for us to overeat when eating refined sugar, the brain still thinks we are in need of energy because it doesn’t recognize the sugar.

The physiological makeup of our bodies of which Leptin is a big part, knows it doesn’t need refined sugar for our bodies to exist. So take control of your sugar intake because chances are it has control of you.