He was demonized and called the cause of the obesity epidemic. But Is sugar unhealthy? Is all sugar are the same? That’s what science says.
If sugar is bad and “toxic”, then what should you think about fruit?
This is a hypothetical question rarely answered – or even take into account – those who think about the diet “sugar free”.
Before succumbing to the simple idea that sugar is the root all angry, think about a similar scenario. Just yesterday, fats were harmful and it was necessary to exclude them from the diet. Today they are on paths to justification – some of them are not as harmful as was believed while others are good for health.
But in the minds of many people, an “obvious” enemy appeared: carbohydrates, or more precisely, sugar.
Nevertheless, the question remains open, “does it harm you sugar consumption “regardless of dosage, or – as in cases with everything else – the point is how much you consume and where did it come from? If you dig deeper into science, then it turns out that if you want to lose weight, live longer and feel fine every day, not necessarily completely refuse sugar.
- Not all sugars are the same
- List of sweets that are not harmful to eat
- The answer to the question: is sugar harmful?
- So how much sugar can you eat per day?
- What happens if you don’t eat sugar
Not all sugars are the same
Sugar is much more than just a white substance that you put in your coffee. (This is sucrose.)
In biochemistry, sugar is either a monosaccharide or a disaccharide. (“saccharides” is another name for “carbohydrates”).
- Monosaccharide – Simple Sugar
- Disaccharide – sugar consisting of two monosaccharides
- The oligosaccharide contains from 2 to 10 simple sugars
- A polysaccharide consists of two or more simple sugars (from 300 up to 1000 glucose molecules in starch)
In short, all carbohydrates contain single sugars. If we back to the example of sucrose, or table sugar, which is actually In fact, a simple sugar disaccharide glucose and fructose.
Meanwhile, starch, dietary fiber, cellulose belong to polysaccharides. And if on, then it goes: fiber – which known to most people as a good ingredient – is also form of sugar.
Of the above three things, we can only digest starch, which consists of glucose. You probably heard the name “complex carbohydrates” or “slow carbohydrates”, just starch refers to such. They are called slow because the body it takes time to break them down into individual sugars (in particularly glucose, our “blood sugar”).
Therefore, the idea of a diet completely “sugar free” means rejection of many completely healthy foods. Of course you can live without sugar or even carbohydrates … but only because that your body is able to synthesize the glucose it needs from fatty acids and amino acids.
This is because your body needs sugar. Glucose is essential as fuel for important functions such as activity of the nervous system or brain. (Yes, your brain is functioning not only due to glucose, but he needs it; she also helps cell interaction.)
And more importantly: there are many completely healthy foods, containing sugar (see below). Any sugar-free diet that’s demands to abandon all these products, cannot be considered reliable, right? And this is the point: any going to extremes is often mistaken, in including the generalized statement “do not eat any sugar.”
List of sweets that are not harmful to eat
Don’t let sugar slander intimidate you. All products from This list applies to healthy – unless of course you will swallow them with buckets, or pour them in syrup. And yes, in each of them contains sugar. Even in kale.
Fruits:
- The apples
- Avocado
- Bananas
- Blackberry
- Cantaloupe
- Cherry
- Cranberry
- Dates
- Figs
- Grapefruit
- Grape
- Cantaloupe
- Lemon
- Lime
- Mango
- Oranges
- Pears
Vegetables:
- Artichokes
- Asparagus
- Beet
- Bell pepper
- Cabbage
- Carrot
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Brussels sprouts
- Kale
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Lettuce
- Curly cabbage
- Mushrooms
- Greenery
- Bow
- Spinach
Starches:
- Beans
- Whole grain bread (made without added sugar)
- Couscous
- Lentils
- Oatmeal
- Parsnip
- Peas
- Quinoa
- Sweet potato
- Potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Squash
- Pea pods
- Turnip
Snacks:
- Whole Grain Crackers
- Dried beef (search without added sugar)
- Popcorn
- Protein bars (check that sugar is not worth the most first in line-up)
- Rice cakes
The drinks:
- Coffee
- Diet Coke
- Vegetable drinks (from powder)
- Milk
- Tea
- Water
Other:
- Walnut oil (no added sugar)
- Nuts
- Yogurt without additives
The answer to the question: is sugar harmful?
As with most things in life, harm depends on the norm.
As already mentioned, your body really needs sugars so much that he himself will produce some of them, even if you exclude all carbohydrates from your diet.
But excessive sugar intake leads to type II diabetes and obesity (although overeating will make you stiff, even if you don’t consume a lot of carbohydrates). Excess sugar also leads to increasing the amount of glycation end products, and how result in skin lesions and a higher risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
It is for this reason that added sugar can be dangerous rather than because it “causes addiction like cocaine” (it can cause addictive but not as strong as cocaine or addiction food). The real danger of sugar is not that of it getting better. In 1 gram of sugar, there are also only 4 calories. And from 4 calories you do not get fat. However, you can swallow a bunch sugar and not feel full. And you eat a little … then a little more … and then another … and then you realize that the box with the cookies are empty, but the hunger has not disappeared.
With added sugars, it is too easy to overdo it. it the statement is true for each of them, no matter how healthy sounds its name. For example, cane sugar healthier than other sources of sucrose, despite the fact that it natural. In contrast, unfortunate corn syrup with high fructose content (usually 55% fructose and 45% glucose) slightly worse than sucrose (50% fructose, 50% glucose).
Especially insidious sugars in liquid form. You can drink and drink and drink them in huge quantities, comparable in calories to taking 5-course food and stay hungry. It may not be surprisingly, soft drinks are associated with the current the epidemic of obesity. To date, soda and cola make up 34.4% of the total amount of added sugar consumed adults and children in the United States, and are its main source in diet of the average American.
In this regard, fruit juices are not healthier. option. In fact, they can be even worse. Why? because that the sugar in fruit juice is fructose, which the liver can exert a load (only the liver is capable of process fructose in arbitrarily large quantities). Current data also indicate that consuming fructose leads to more weight gain than glucose.
But this statement is not true for sugars, which found in fruits and vegetables. Actually need to make clarity that today:
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT USE OF FRUITS, EVEN IN BIG QUANTITIES WILL HARM YOUR HEALTH.
Unlike fruit juices, whole fruits satisfy hunger. Apples, although hard, consist of 10% sugar … and 85% out of the water; this is why it is difficult to eat too many of them. Also from recent studies suggest that fruits can help regulate blood sugar level.
There is one “sugar” drink that does not represent similar threat: milk. While milk contains sugar (lactose, glucose and galactose disaccharide), its content much less than fruit juice, besides this in milk also contains protein and fat. At a time when fats were considered enemies, skim milk was considered healthier than whole, but Today it is not. Now that fats are (partially) justified, whole milk, backed by plenty of evidence, returned to fashion.
So how much sugar can you eat per day?
We have something to celebrate: you don’t need to feel guilty every time you eat added sugar. But it follows stay up to date with your consumption and do your best to do not exceed the following indicators:
- 100 calories per day for women (about 6 teaspoons, or 25 gram)
- 150 calories per day for men (about 9 teaspoons, or 36 gram)
What does it mean? Focus on 1 whole Snickers or roughly 7-8 pieces of Oreo cookies. But note that we are not at all say you should add snickers or oreo to your daily ration. These examples simply show the total amount per day, which you might want to limit yourself to. But remember: added sugar lurks in many unexpected places, like soup and pizza.
While US average sugar intake is possible declining (in 1999-2000, the figure was about 400 kcal / day and decreased to 300 kcal / day in 2007-2009), it’s all still too tall. And, of course, this is average, and average lie. Some people consume much less sugar, while others … much more.
But let’s say you do not like the numbers that are common to all. And you don’t I want to carry a whole set of dimensional or worry about how many grams of sugar you ate. If it is true, here’s an even simpler way to keep its intake under control. It is based on the model of the old food pyramid (Food Guide Pyramid) which was introduced in 1992 and replaced in 2005 by MyPyramid, which was eventually replaced by a circuit that the American government enjoys to this day.
The basis of a healthy sugar pyramid is made up of vegetables and fruits: they not only saturate, but also provide fiber to the body, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (biologically active compounds found in plants, some of which good for our health), in addition to sugar. Can also include whole milk here. Small amount of natural sugar found in bread is also not considered added, but here is the sugar that is often added in production in the USA is considered as such.
As for fruit juices, honey and maple syrup, they are all refer to added sugar, like high-corn corn syrup fructose content.
What happens if you don’t eat sugar
That’s all. Just imagine this diagram. If your base personal “sugar” pyramid is wide, then a little pinch added sugar on top will not make it crumble. Only in when most of the sugar in your diet comes from soft drinks, sweets, biscuits, breakfast cereals and the like of similar products, your pyramid may collapse, along with your health.