Sugar, Sugar Everywhere...
Sugar is an intrinsic part of a western diet. It is found not only in obviously sweet foods like cakes, but also 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? It makes us fat and gives us diabetes...or does it?
Contents
Sugar in Disguise
Tooth Decay
*See below for Copyright
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 of decayed tooth: Copyright Dozenist
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
No Added Sugar
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 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.
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 10/10/2008)
Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 10/10/2008)
The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 10/10/2008)
Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 10/10/2008)
"If you are bitter at heart, sugar in the mouth will not help you."
Is Sugar Addictive?
Sugar Art Print
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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: $10.19 (as of 10/10/2008)
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 10/10/2008)
The New Sugar Busters!
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 10/10/2008)
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
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
- US Sugar financing moves ahead despite markets
- ... Thursday that authorizes financing for capital projects, programs and works, including parts of the proposed $1.8 billion land buyout of US Sugar Corp. ...
- Sugar buys pic'n'mix firm stake
- Millionaire Amstrad founder and host of "The Apprentice", Sir Alan Sugar, has bought 3.9% of Woolworths, the retailer best known for its pic'n'mix sweets. ...
- Survivor Shuffle Floats Boats, Sinks Another Ship
- Being the odd woman out pending the next elimination, Sugar is sent to cool her heels on Exile Island. Having already found the Immunity Idol, she, ...
- Sugar, sugar
- Ripe fruit can give an impression of sweetness, while acidity can make a sweet wine appear far drier than its actual sugar levels would suggest, ...
Blogs about Sugar from Google
- Sugar
- But just because caramel is principally sugar and butter doesn't mean this is a lame repetition of the same subject. This is no dolled-up retread. I'm not feeding you Dunkin' Donuts here (meaning this article wasn't prepared by unwashed ...
- Sugar Shout Out: Touring Chanel's Jasmine Fields in France
- Bella tours Chanel's jasmine fields in Grasse, France; Moldy cheese or French chateau? Obama's the first candidate to buy ads on MTV; What's your bedtime routine? Guess the lady by her lavish shoes! How to: make thrifty home heating ...
- Sugar on Ubuntu
- The Ubuntu Sugar Team, which I (cheer)lead, has finally synced Sugar 0.82 from Debian into Intrepid. There are probably a whole bunch of bugs to be discovered in the packaging and setup, so if you're interested in Sugar, ...
Sugar on CafePress
What's your opinion?
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poutine
Unfortunately I love sugar, but I'm trying to cut down as much as possible. Not easy, it is an addiction. Posted October 06, 2008 |
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poutine
Unfortunately I love sugar, but I'm trying to cut down as much as possible. Not easy, it is an addiction. Posted October 06, 2008 |
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bbug
I spend a lot of time reading labels in the grocery. Drives my husband crazy. Posted September 08, 2008 |
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dok
Hey...this is some great info. I have been interested in the sugar debate for a long time and have been writing articles for a soon-to-be published wellness blog. The more of us getting the "word" out, the better! Posted August 14, 2008 |
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susannad
It's incredible! Sugar is everywhere Posted July 31, 2008 |
