Sugar - Friend or Foe?

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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?

Sugar in Disguise 

tooth, teeth, decay, caries, sugar, dental
Tooth Decay

Without any doubt at all, sugar causes tooth decay and it is a source of 'empty' calories, ie calories with no nutritional benefits. It makes sense, therefore, to cut it out when we can. Because it is included in so many savoury as well as sweet foods, we need to read the nutritional labels on packs of food before buying them.

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
A Healthy Habit: Read Food Labels Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

You see 'No added sugar' on a label and you think "Great, I can eat (or drink) this with impunity."

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
Fat Cats II Art Print
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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: $6.00 (as of 11/11/2009)Buy Now

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.

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: $18.45 (as of 11/11/2009) Buy Now

Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir

Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 11/11/2009) Buy Now

The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick

Amazon Price: $11.37 (as of 11/11/2009) Buy Now

Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin

Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 11/11/2009) Buy Now

"If you are bitter at heart, sugar in the mouth will not help you."

Is Sugar Addictive? 

Sugar
Sugar Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Perhaps the greatest problem with sugary food is that we are programmed to like it. There is even evidence to suggest that we can become addicted to it in the same way as cocaine, heroin or other drug.

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 11/11/2009) Buy Now

The New Sugar Busters! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 11/11/2009) Buy Now

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 

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News about Sugar from Google 

A Kiss to the United States of Burgers, Fries and Sugar
... who cooked at the old Oceana and received accolades for his command of Gilt, has updated with a napping of sugar snap peas, passion fruit and chives.
El Salvador says Ida caused sugar, coffee losses
SAN SALVADOR, Nov 10 (Reuters) - El Salvador's agriculture chamber said on Tuesday up to 28000 short tonnes of sugar and 76666 60-kg bags of coffee were ...
Got chocolate milk?
Organizations like the National Dairy Council say the small amount of added sugar in flavored milk is a fair trade for the nutrients provided. ...
In denial? You might have diabetes and not realize it
I have to exercise more often, and I have to monitor my blood-sugar level." However, diabetes is a manageable disease, as Murphy will attest. ...

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 

DENVERSTROPE: Sugar Axe
When he joined the U.K. government, and entered the House of Lords thanks to Gordon Brown's patronage, Lord Sugar seemed completely baffled as to why anyone might think this move had political connotations. ...
Pawar says sugar mills may start crushing this week
New Delhi, Nov. 10 (ANI): Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh are expected to resolve their pri.
Sugar
As a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, I took a particular interest in watching ?Sugar? because of the Jays' history of Dominican players and GM Alex Anthopoulos's desire to focus on latin american scouting for the franchise. ...

 

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What's your opinion? 

kimmanleyort wrote...

I definitely have a sweet tooth. But I also know that the more we reduce sugar, the less we want it.

ReplyPosted September 07, 2009

CleanerLife wrote...

I think sugar is better than artificial sweeteners, but I try to limit how much I'm using.

ReplyPosted May 28, 2009

flighty02 wrote...

Good information here. My partner is diabetic so we try to cut down on sugar wherever we can.
Welcome to The Cooks Cafe group

ReplyPosted January 13, 2009

Margo_Arrowsmith wrote...

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

ReplyPosted October 23, 2008

poutine wrote...

Unfortunately I love sugar, but I'm trying to cut down as much as possible. Not easy, it is an addiction.

Poutine

ReplyPosted October 06, 2008

view all 10 comments

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