The health complications of excessive sugar consumption can never be overemphasized, it is known be one of the major cause of chronic diseases ranging from diabetes, obesity, Liver disease and high blood pressure e.t.c Unlike every other disease caused by consumption of substances, none seems to be as paramount as sugar intake. In the aspect of abstaining from the source of the problem, How does someone abstain from excessive sugar consumption in the era where most meals available for humans consumption contains an element of sugar.
We humans are naturally drawn to sugary substances, I mean no one would willing want to consume meals/drinks or any substances that taste like bitter leaf without a probable cause. For those who have witnessed how much suffering disease caused by excessive sugar consumption, you wouldn't want to go near it but then no matter how much we try, we still consume an amount of it daily. I wouldn't say I'm a saint in terms of sugar consumption. It is not something I'm proud of but in those days my immediate need were more important than the complications that could occur after.
My days as a mass communication student was productive, fun and extremely demanding. A day can't pass by without the need to embark on some practical, either coverage of event, film production or in search of some News stories. As a result of this I get exhausted a lot after a long day walk under the unyielding sun. One of the ways I could refill my energy was consuming beverage drinks and my favourite was lacasera. The flavour is so appealing to my lungs, handling 2 bottles of 50cl lacasera at a go was never a problem as long as I feel refreshed.
At first it felt like a very good way to cope with exhaustion but as time goes on the rate at which I get exhausted without performing any physical demanding activities became concurrent. It felt like my solution has finally became a problem because I have grown fond of consuming it. Lucky for me, as the issue persisted I didn't even need to get diagnosed before I knew the source of my arising health complications. The funny thing about people is that most times we are aware of the dangers of consuming a particular substance but due to one reason or the other we just keep going till it goes out of control. Thankfully I was able to correct my errors as early as possible before it resulted to something beyond my control.
Ever since then I have always tried to control my sugar intake especially consumption of carbonated drinks and also excessive consumption of carbohydrates which seems like another source of glucose intake. This is even more difficult than abstaining from beverage drinks because the most available meals right now that we humans consume on a daily basis all contains carbohydrate. Though not all carbohydrate are bad but then the good ones are more costly than the bad ones.
What do I take to replace sugar? At first, it is either I consume sugar or I don't but then there are some meals we can't consume without adding sugar. I mean I wouldn't dare consume raw oath, custard or coffee without adding something sugary to it. I discovered a perfect replacement for sugar from my uncle few years ago, which is honey. I have never seen my uncle consume sugar, he uses honey for anything that demands a sugary substance.
In my own case, I make use of honey but not every time because the cost of honey and the rate at which it is scarce sometimes does not make it easy to rely on. So whenever I'm in possession of honey I make use of it and when I'm not I make use of sugar but in moderation.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Sugar is bad" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - Source
