Lifestyle
Sugar, Is it an Enemy?
By
Jul 29, 2007 - 9:40:22 PM

Sugar, Is it an Enemy?

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Is sugar really bad for us? Let me say NO! In fact, some of my favorite foods are high in sugars such as beets, carrots, beans, bananas, cherries... well, I could go on and on. Sugar has been given a bad rap and the recent low carb, no carb, net carb craze is still around. While almost all sugar in food is eventually broken down into glucose (the exception is fruit sugar), sugar is not an enemy. Simple sugars are found in fruits, and while sugar is a common ingredient in high fat and sugar desserts, it can be an ingredient in healthy desserts as well. Or maybe I should say, desserts can still be considered healthy even if they contain sugar! How can I claim this? How can I claim that sugar can be healthy? Here's a tip that I've sent before, so let's take a look at sugar and when it's healthy and when it's not! (June M. Lay, Lifestyle Columnist - HealthNewsDigest.com)

Let's use yogurt as our example. Many times I am asked if yogurt is healthy since the food label lists about 30 grams of sugars. Depending upon the yogurt, most of the sugar may be from the naturally occurring milk sugars, fruit, and not from added table sugar. In this case, we would consider our food healthy.

Now, let's take a closer look at sugar:

Sugar is the body's preferred and main source of fuel. I like to call carbohydrates and sugar, our premium fuel. Our body maintains a supply of sugar in our blood at all times to fuel our immediate energy needs for our body and brain. Our body stores sugar in our muscles for additional energy needs. Our fruit sugars initially replenish an additional supply stored in our liver before being used as a source of fuel, sort of as an extra storage tank. Our liver also stores sugars from other carbohydrates to give us an added immediate energy supply to our blood when needed if our blood sugar level is running low.
Some sugars aid absorption of other nutrients. Example: The natural sugar in milk aids calcium absorption (isn't mother nature smart since infants need calcium?).

Sugar in the form of glucose is our brain's only source of fuel. When our blood sugar falls because we haven't eaten enough carbohydrates or because we have not eaten for a long period of time, we may experience fatigue, an inability to think clearly, moodiness, and other mild symptoms because there is not enough immediate sugar for our brain cells to function optimally. Protein and fat in our diet can be turned into sugar, but this is a slower process, making our brain go longer without enough fuel! In return, our brain will send out signals we receive as those "sugary cravings"!

All carbohydrates/sugars are turned into the final product glucose, a simple sugar. Carbohydrates are grains, vegetables, starchy foods, flour, and they are found in baked products, candy, table sugar etc. The difference between the sugars is how fast they are absorbed, and what other nutrients they are coupled with when we eat them in whole foods. This is the most important consideration when choosing our carbohydrates.

Eliminating all sugar would not be healthy. It would force our body to use not just fat as its fuel source but protein as well. Since protein is used for building and repairing of tissues, making enzymes, hormones, immune cells, and many other vital functions, we would be compromising our health over the long haul.

There is a difference in carbohydrate/sugar foods. This ties into the point I mentioned above, that is, the sugars found in fruits, vegetables, milk products and whole grains are coupled with vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, water and phytochemicals (let's not forget protein, and fiber too). Candy, cake and soda are coupled with more fat and chemicals (sorry!).
The Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board released a report with guidelines for healthy eating known as the " Dietary Reference Intakes" for all our nutrients and here is their recommendation for carbohydrates and added sugars:
45% to 65% of total daily calories should come from carbohydrates. In fact, they state that both children and adults should consume at least 130 grams each day which is the minimum amount needed to produce glucose for our brain to function! This is just for our brain! In the scheme of things, this isn't much, just over 500 calories, but remember we're talking minimum.
Added sugars( this refers to sucrose for example, which is part of table sugar) should not exceed 25% of total calories to ensure we get enough of the healthy sugars and carbohydrates necessary for our health. The average woman needs about 2000 calories per day, so this means no more than 500 calories (less of course if we're on a reducing program). 500 calories can be as close as a small bag of M&M's and a soda! Any other nutrients in these? The older guidelines used a 10% guideline and on my program, we stick to the old way with 10% of our daily intake for a sugar treat type food. I call it my 10% rule and this usually amounts to 200 or less calories. What's a sugar type food that belongs in the 10% category? Cookies, cake, candy.
So, is sugar an enemy? If we find desserts and snacks that have a little bit of added table sugar listed, should we be concerned? No! Even the table sugar is turned into a source of fuel. When should we be concerned about sugar? When we eat too much of it in those foods I call treats, and too often versus the foods that are coupled with other healthy nutrients. So, where does that leave us? Let's find recipes, and desserts which combine naturally occurring sugars such as those found in yogurt, milk, and fruit, even if they have a little "added sugars". And, let's not categorize all carbohydrates and sugars alike.

Here's to our health!

June
www.junefit.com
P.S. What are some added sugars which don't contribute extra nutrients that we can find under the list of ingredients? White sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses, raw sugar,maple sugar, corn sweeteners, sugar alcohols such as sorbitol.

Look for my Tex-Mex Salad posted now as part of my "Summertime Salads and the Eating is Easy" Series at http://www.junefit.com/tips_recipehp.htm

Junefit ranks in the top 10 at Google for "fitness tips" search out of over 60 million results!

Junefit is included in Google's top ranked women's health resources http://directory.google.com/Top/Health/Women's_Health/Resources/

June is Lifestyle Editor at www.healthnewsdigest.com/

Want to recommend my weekly tips to friends, relatives and anyone interested in improving their health & fitness, e mail me at june@junefit.com.

Changing your e- mail address? Please simply reply to this email with your old address and new address.

copyright 2007, junefit. All rights reserved.

www.HealthNewsDigest.com




© Copyright by HealthNewsDigest.com