Sugar, Sugar Everywhere...
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
- Sweet Tip
- Is Sugar Addictive?
- Sugar and Diabetes
- Sugar on Zazzle
- Sugar Facts
- Photos of Sugar
- News about Sugar from Google
- Sugarcane workers in the Dominican Republic - 16 Oct 07
- Blogs about Sugar from Google
- What's your opinion?
- Stazjia's Social Networks
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.
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 07/05/2009) 
Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 07/05/2009)
The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick
Amazon Price: $14.52 (as of 07/05/2009)
Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin
Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 07/05/2009)
"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. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar(TM) Diet
Amazon Price: $9.74 (as of 07/05/2009)
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars
Amazon Price: $18.89 (as of 07/05/2009)
The New Sugar Busters! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/05/2009)
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.
Photos of Sugar
Mini colored sugar for cakes decorations! I love them all!!!
light: sunlight comes from a window through two empty colored cd-boxes
Some people "read" tea leaves...
Rock sugar crystallized in the form of cubes.
Flashes fired with ebay remotes. 580EX II at 1/8 power from picture left and a c...
sugar: a challenging subject to photograph. for
Sugar Bowls on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
News about Sugar from Google
- Northrop Grumman's Ronald Sugar: Quietly in command
- Ronald Sugar, shown with a model of the James Webb Space Telescope, oversees defense giant Northrop Grumman from a Century City high-rise. ...
- Was it the last firework's show at Sugar House Park
- SALT LAKE CITY, Utah ( ABC 4 News)- It might have been the last fireworks show at Sugar House Park. In these tough economic times, many cities are scaling ...
- Kenyan Stocks Little Changed: Mumias Sugar, Total Kenya
- Mumias Sugar Co. (MSUG KN), the biggest miller of the sweetener in Kenya, climbed for the sixth consecutive day, rising 3.8 percent to 6.85 shillings after ...
- Sweet healing from Honey and Brown Sugar
- Honey isn't just for tea and biscuits anymore, and Brown Sugar isn't just for baking. Health experts from acne.com are now referencing Honey as a healing ...
Sugarcane workers in the Dominican Republic - 16 Oct 07
Blogs about Sugar from Google
- Diversity is key to South Africa's sugar industry | SUGAR INDUSTRY ...
- We are the reliable sources in the internet world to provide the World sugar price, ethanol, crude oil, gold and latest news on global sugar industry, ethanol industry, cane news on daily basis also of both White sugar and Raw sugar ...
- Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats: Bananas Foster over Brown Sugar Vanilla ...
- This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays (SMS) recipe was chosen by Karen of Karen's Cookies Cakes & More: Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce or Butterscotch Sauce. I've always heard about how homemade vanilla ice cream is so ...
- Brown Sugar Plum Cakes - Baking and Books
- So after breakfast I whipped up a simple brown sugar cake batter, then split each plum in half, removed the pits and pressed plums halves into the cake batter, cut side up. After sprinkling the plums with extra brown sugar the cakes ...
Sugar on CafePress
What's your opinion?
CleanerLife wrote...
I think sugar is better than artificial sweeteners, but I try to limit how much I'm using.
Posted 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
Posted 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
Posted 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
Posted October 06, 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
Posted October 06, 2008
by Stazjia
I am English and I've spent the last 11 years writing freelance for UK magazines, a couple of books and online. More on my Lensography.
(more) 
