What happens to your body when you stop eating sugar

Cutting out sugar can have a big impact on your body over time.

While eating some sugar is inevitable unless you really go for it, sugar has become endemic through many parts of our diet.

Even seemingly savoury foods, such as some breads or table sauces, can contain more sugar than you would expect, as well as 'fat free' options which need to find a way to make up for the loss of flavour that comes from cutting the fat out of the recipe.

And that's before we get into the amount of sugar in actually sweet things like fizzy drinks or candy.

Sugar consumption is high, and repeated studies have found correlation between higher sugar consumption and obesity, as well as other health risks like diabetes.

So, while the prevalence of sugar makes it difficult to cut out entirely without going to extreme lengths, reducing is usually a good idea.

But what happens to your body when you do cut out sugar?

Fizzy drinks are particularly high in sugar (Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty)

Well, sugar is addictive, and sadly that means that one of the first things that can happen when you cut it out is that you get cravings.

This might manifest as things like fatigue, mood swings, and headaches.

Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, even compared withdrawal from sugar to that of some drugs, saying sugar 'induces rewards and cravings that are similar in magnitude to those induced by addictive drugs.'

But if you manage to power through this, you may experience some changes to your tastebuds after three or four days.

Things like fruit and vegetables themselves actually contain a lot of natural sugars, and if you are no longer having lots of highly sweetened things, then these foods may start to taste sweeter.

Registered dietician Brooke Alpert told CNN: "An apple tastes like candy. The onions are sweet! Almonds are sweet! Once you take sugar away from your diet cold turkey, your palate recalibrates, and you start tasting natural sugars again."

Sugar is highly addictive (OsakaWayne Studios/Getty)

But what about the longer term effects?

We've already mentioned the connection between high sugar consumption and weight gain, but there are other long term effects as well.

One big thing is that you will lower your risk of developing a number of serious health conditions.

These might include heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.

As we all know, sugar is also bad for your teeth, so cutting out the sugar could also have an impact on your dental health.

You could even experience things like clearer skin, and improvement in concentration as you're not craving the next sugar hit.

Sugar is so prevalent that cutting it out completely is quite a challenge, but avoiding foods that are extremely high in sugar, such as store-bought cakes and sugary drinks, could reduce consumption dramatically - and is a relatively simple step to take.

If you are considering reducing anything from your diet, you're always best seeking medical advice first.