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Sugar, Sugar Everywhere...
Sugar is an intrinsic part of a western diet. It is found in obviously sweet foods like cakes and in less obvious places like baked beans and salad dressings. It provides the preservative for jellies (jams) and makes some foods more palatable. As well as sugar found in various foods, we add sugar to drinks like tea and coffee and sprinkle it on our breakfast cereal.
So it's a real enemy, isn't it? We know we should cut down on the amount of sugar we eat. We know that it makes us fat and gives us diabetes...or does it?
So it's a real enemy, isn't it? We know we should cut down on the amount of sugar we eat. We know that it makes us fat and gives us diabetes...or does it?
Contents
- Sugar in Disguise
- No Added Sugar
- Sugar and Obesity
- Dr. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar Diet
- All American Sugar Free Apple Pie
- Sweet Tip
- Is Sugar Addictive?
- Sugar and Diabetes
- Sugar on Zazzle
- Sugar Facts
- News about Sugar from Google
- Sugarcane workers in the Dominican Republic - 16 Oct 07
- Blogs about Sugar from Google
- Like This Lens?
- What's your opinion?
- Stazjia's Social Networks
- About Me
Sugar in Disguise
Tooth Decay
Sugar can fly false colours, though, and may be disguised under other names. It can be called:
*sucrose - the type of sugar found in domestic use for coffee and general sweetening. It usually comes from sugar cane or sugar beet.
*fructose is associated with the sugars found in fruit and vegetables
*glucose - the human body converts sugars into glucose
*lactose - found in milk
If you see these names on food labels, remember they all mean the product contains sugar and bear this in mind when deciding whether to eat it or how much you choose to eat.
Picture above: Copyright © Dozenist - GNFD license
No Added Sugar
A Healthy Habit: Read Food Labels Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
Unfortunately this label doesn't necessarily mean that the food is low in sugar. It might be naturally high in sugar. Incidentally, many people think that honey is a healthy alternative to processed sugar. This may or may not be true but what must not be overlooked is that it adds extra calories to food in the same way as ordinary sugar does.
Another great trick that manufacturers try on food labels is "50% less sugar" (or whatever percentage they choose). Again it doesn't always mean the product is low in sugar. If a portion of food, according to the label, still contains 30 grams (g) that would be a third of your 'Guidelines Daily Amount' (GDA).
Sugar and Obesity
Fat Cats II Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
Sugar is not the real culprit in the battle of the bulge. Yes, like alcohol, it does add 'empty' calories to the diet but the real cause of obesity is eating more calories than the body requires.
Calories are the fuel that keeps are bodies running. If we don't eat enough calories to sustain our activities and bodily functions, we will lose weight. This is what happens in a famine or when somebody suffers from anorexia.
If we eat more calories than we require, we will store those extra calories as fat - nature's way of practising 'waste not, want not'. We have a store of calories in case we encounter a famine situation and can use it to avoid starving to death.
It doesn't make any difference whether these excess calories come from sugar, fat, protein or carbohydrates. Too many calories equal added body weight, it's as simple as that for most people. Consuming sugary food is a particularly easy way to overeat.
Dr. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar Diet
Dr. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar(TM) Diet
Amazon Price: $5.69 (as of 11/28/2009)
During his 40 years of medical practice and in his nationally syndicated newspaper column, Dr. Gott's patients and readers have continually asked him for a way to lose weight that is both simple and foolproof. In response, he developed the No Flour, No Sugar diet which has prompted countless weight loss success stories from his patients, thousands of letters from readers of his column raving about their successes, and a New York Times bestselling book.
All American Sugar Free Apple Pie
This raw food recipe is not only sugar free but also free of gluten, wheat and dairy.
powered by Youtube
Sweet Tip
To sweeten your breakfast cereal, sprinkle on powdered cinnamon in place of sugar and it will give the cereal a sweeter taste.
Books about Weight
Good Calories, Bad Calories
Amazon Price: (as of 11/28/2009)
Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 11/28/2009)
The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick
Amazon Price: $10.81 (as of 11/28/2009)
Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin
Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 11/28/2009)
"If you are bitter at heart, sugar in the mouth will not help you."
Is Sugar Addictive?
Sugar Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
Three researchers from Department of Psychology, Princeton University (Avena, Rada and Hoebel) published research in 2007 describing their work on the addictive qualities of sugar.
They said:
"Recent behavioral tests in rats further back the idea of an overlap between sweets and drugs. Drug addiction often includes three steps. A person will increase his intake of the drug, experience withdrawal symptoms when access to the drug is cut off and then face an urge to relapse back into drug use. Rats on sugar have similar experiences. Researchers withheld food for 12 hours and then gave rats food plus sugar water. This created a cycle of binging where the animals increased their daily sugar intake until it doubled."
Books about Sugar
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars
Amazon Price: $18.89 (as of 11/28/2009)
The New Sugar Busters! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 11/28/2009)
Today, diabetes is now epidemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control,
the National Institutes of Health, the American Diabetes Association and other national healthcare leaders."
Tim Holden
Sugar and Diabetes
Magnified Grains of Sugar
Diabetes is not directly linked to the consumption of sugar. The disease is linked to excess weight, however that weight was caused.
Obviously, if someone eats large quantities of high sugar food and piles on the pounds, eventually leading to diabetes, one could argue that it was sugar that caused it. However, the same result could occur from excess weight gained through eating enormous quantities of high fat food, for example.
People with type 2 diabetes obviously cut out or down on sugar whenever possible but that's not enough to maintain their blood glucose (or sugar) at the optimum level.
The usual medical advice is that diabetics should eat a good, healthy diet. That is one low in fat, high in fruit and vegetables and high fibre foods like whole grains with small portions of protein and refined carbohydrates.
Cutting out sugar isn't a magic pill for maintaining a healthy blood glucose level. The whole diet needs to be healthy. All sugary treats are not necessarily always on the banned list either. A very experienced diabetic nurse told me that she had a patient who loved Mars Bars (very sweet chocolate bar in the UK). Of course, she could no longer eat them regularly but the nurse told her to cut up a Mars Bar into small pieces and to keep them as her emergency glucose if she was hypoglycemic (her blood sugar fell dangerously low, usually as a result of too much insulin medication and not enough food to use it all).
Sugar Facts
Icing sugar (UK) = confectioner's sugar (USA)
Castor sugar (UK) = fine-grained sugar (USA)
One tablespoon of sugar has 18 calories less than the same amount of honey.
Sugar Bowls on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
News about Sugar from Google
- Pakistan's sugar crisis turns political
- Critics charge that the owners of Pakistan's sugar mills have conspired to fix prices and hoard sugar stocks, creating a shortage this fall that has led to ...
- Sugar beet crop pays off for Wellington area farmers
- The combination of nature and science resulted in the largest crop of sugar beets in memory, said Richard Seaworth, who farms north of Wellington. ...
- Sugar Mountain And Cataloochee Are First Mid Atlantic Resorts To Open
- Sugar Mountain and Cataloochee Ski Area in North Carolina are open after a bit of natural snow and optimal early season snowmaking weather combined to ...
- Utah player takes in younger brother
- Anthony is a sophomore at Highland High School in Salt Lake City's Sugar House neighborhood in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountain peaks east of the city. ...
Sugarcane workers in the Dominican Republic - 16 Oct 07
The cost of sugar isn't just to our health when we eat too much. There is another human cost and that is to the sugar cane cutters in the Dominican Republic as you can see from this video.
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Blogs about Sugar from Google
- Sugar Mountain And Cataloochee Are First Mid Atlantic Resorts To ...
- Manmade and natural snow combine to produce enough cover.
- Politics and Economics of Sugar - Mainstream Weekly
- The government had an awkward time facing an angry Parliament on the sugar price scandal. Although the adjournment motion could be defeated by (...)
- Is Sugar Vegan? The Vegan Sugar Debate | Suite101.com
- Because some types of sugar are refined using animal products, some vegans consider sugar not to be vegan. Some types and brands of sugar are considered vegan, though.
Sugar on CafePress
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- kimmanleyort kimmanleyort Sep 7, 2009 @ 8:53 am
- I definitely have a sweet tooth. But I also know that the more we reduce sugar, the less we want it.
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- CleanerLife CleanerLife May 28, 2009 @ 5:03 pm
- I think sugar is better than artificial sweeteners, but I try to limit how much I'm using.
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- flighty02 flighty02 Jan 13, 2009 @ 9:17 am
- Good information here. My partner is diabetic so we try to cut down on sugar wherever we can.
Welcome to The Cooks Cafe group
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- Margo_Arrowsmith Margo_Arrowsmith Oct 23, 2008 @ 4:49 pm
- What a great lens. I am not diabetic but am currently on some strong medicine to get rid of the candida that sugar (and things that turn into sugar in your stomach) has given me. The doctor had me on two different ones. I won't be eating much sugar when I finally get rid of this.
This is an important lens, and I thank you for doing it.
margo
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- poutine poutine Oct 6, 2008 @ 5:38 pm
- Unfortunately I love sugar, but I'm trying to cut down as much as possible. Not easy, it is an addiction.
Poutine
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About Me
Lensmaster Stazjia has been a member since September 26 2006, has rated 1,341 lenses, favorited 791, and has created 130 lenses from scratch. Carol Fisher donates their royalties to Dolphin Communication Project. This member's top-ranked page is "Classic Funny Poems for Kids". See all my lenses
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