1. Sugar is Addictive

One of the first, and maybe most important reasons to quit sugar ASAP, is that it’s highly addictive. Sugar has been proven to be more addictive than cocaine. The more you eat it, the more you crave it, and like a Pavlovian response your body expects it at certain times of the day, month and year. Hello, the holidays?

2. It Can Give You Mood Swings

Well, isn’t that fun? During that time of the month when we’re already moody enough, craving sugar will only cause your moods to fluctuate when eating it. Because your blood sugar spikes when you eat sugar, and then drops rapidly once you’ve burned it, it’s the ultimate roller-coaster ride for your mood and your metabolism. Maybe save your boyfriend and yourself, and resist that extra piece of chocolate.

3. It Can Hamper Your Immune System

I don’t know about you, but it was (and still seems to be) a pretty bad cold season, and eating sugar is only helping to make it worse. Sugar hampers your immune system dramatically, making your body even more susceptible to colds and flus. Studies have shown that a body with a low pH (high acidity) is the best environment in which cancer cells thrive. Whether you’re trying to beat an ongoing cold or have a history of cancer in your family, steering clear of sugar can protect your body.

4. Oh, and It Makes You Look Older

Well, that’s awesome. Who wants to age faster? I sure don’t. Sugar disrupts your hormones and encourages free radicals, which are responsible for disease and destruction of the DNA and aging. Skip that extra piece of cake at your next birthday and gain a more beautiful you the next year.

5. It Makes You Fat

This is a given, I know. But sugar is in foods you normally thought to be healthy. Love yourself some Chobani Greek yogurt? Taste this. The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than six teaspoons of added sugar every day. One teaspoon of granulated sugar equals 4 grams of sugar. That Chobani yogurt has 15 grams of sugar making it 3.75 teaspoons of sugar. Subtract that from your healthy six teaspoons of sugar you’re allowed and you’ve spent over half of your allowance on a yogurt. Yikes!

6. Sugar Makes Your Head Foggy

Everyone is running around with a million and one things to do and not enough time every day. The last thing we need is to feel foggy. Sugar can cause your brain to fog after coming down from a sugar high, leaving you reaching for yet another hit.

7. It Makes You Hungrier

Eating too much added sugar allows the fructose found in sugar and high-fructose corn syrup to send your hunger hormones into a tailspin. That leaves you with a blood sugar drop and craving the first thing you can grab to curb your appitite. You’re more likely to settle on foods that are packed with calories in a pinch rather than eating healthy foods that take more time to prepare.

Sugar really isn’t something to mess with. Even though we’ve all grown up loving it, there’s always a time to start to love something else, like natural sugar. Once you eliminate processed sugar from your life everything will taste just a little sweeter, in more ways than one. Have you recently cut out sugar from you diet? Tell me how you’re feeling!