Refined sugar is known to cause many health problems. The effects of eating sugar can sometimes be felt right away, while others negatively impact your body in the long-term. Here are a few of the ways refined sugar can negatively affect your health and well-being: 

- Processed Sugar Contributes to Low Energy Levels
Refined sugar gives you a quick energy boost, but it makes you tired in the long-run. 

For example, can you think of a time when you've indulged in a pastry, frozen yogurt or piece of chocolate cake? How did you feel afterward? You may have had a quick burst of energy for an hour or so, but soon after, you probably experienced the inevitable "sugar crash" that left you feeling irritable, tired and ready for a nap. 

You see, refined sugar is highly concentrated and void of fiber, protein or healthy fats, which are nutrients that take time to digest. This is why refined sugar can cause rapid blood sugar spikes and crashes, because it is not paired with nutrients that can slow down the release of the sugar to offer the body a slow releasing form of energy.

 - Processed Sugar Causes Cravings for More Sugar 
The energy spike and crash mentioned above is one of the reasons why sugar may be addictive. Since processed sugar rapidly spikes and crashes your blood sugar levels (which directly influences your energy levels), it can feel impossible not to reach for another sugary snack in an attempt to get your energy levels back up. This is when the vicious "sugar spike and crash" cycle begins, and processed sugar becomes a regular part of your diet often as a false sense of energy. 

- Processed Sugar is Acidifying to Your Body
 In addition to the physical effects from eating refined sugar, it also has an acidifying effect on the body. 

When your blood is acidic, you're more likely to experience symptoms such as fatigue, unexplained aches and pains, frequent colds and flus, headaches and digestive issues. Acidic blood can be dangerous because it leads to a health condition called acidosis, an internal environment illness which disease thrives in. 

- Eating Processed Sugar May Cause Weight Gain
At some point, you may have heard the myth, "Fat makes you fat." But the controversial information in the study that sparked this debate has been dispelled, and now the saying has been corrected to, "Fat doesn't make you fat. Sugar does". 

This is true because when you eat sugar, the sugar that your body doesn't use for energy right away gets stored in your muscle or liver cells, to be converted back to energy later on.

But what happens when your muscle and liver cells are full of sugar? The sugar still needs to go somewhere! This is when sugar begins to get stored in your fat cells and contributes to weight gain. 

As you can see, it's important to avoid refined sugar from your diet whenever possible because of its adverse effects. 

Refined sugar also includes anything made with white flour (such as bread, pasta and pastries) and goes by many aliases including high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane syrup, fructose, dextrose, maltose, barley malt and rice syrup. In fact, there's an estimated 60 different names for processed sugar, which is why it can be easy to overlook the amount of sugar in a processed or packaged food.

Whether you're making or buying your Halloween treats this year, you'll want to choose healthier alternatives to sugar whenever possible. Many health food stores have treats that have been sweetened with plant-based alternatives, such as fruit juice or green leaf stevia. 

Other natural alternatives to processed sugar include:
- Dates or Date sugar
- Coconut sugar 
- Xylitol 
- Dehydrated fruit, such as pineapple, mango or apples 

These natural sweeteners will have less of a negative impact on your blood sugar levels, and contain vitamins and minerals. You can find these sweeteners at your local health food store and online.