It’s Friday night and your girls’ night out just got cancelled – what do you do? Do you curl up under your covers to Netflix and chill with a collection of your favorite sweets? Perhaps you’ve got a box of powdered donuts in the kitchen calling your name. Sure, we all want to indulge in some ice cream every now and then, but how much does this extra sugar affect our bodies?
For starters, it’s important to understand that there are two types of sugars – naturally occurring sugars and added or “free” sugars. Some examples of naturally occurring sugars would be lactose in milk and fructose in your favorite fruits. “Free” sugars, on the other hand, are found in concentrated sources like fruit juice and table sugar (sucrose).
“It is these ‘free sugars’ which are any sugars added to food or drinks, or found naturally in honey, syrups and unsweetened fruit juices which we are being advised to cut back on,” says BBC Good Food. In fact, the American Heart Association says the maximum amount of added sugar that you can eat in a day 100 calories for women (six teaspoons) and 150 calories for men (nine teaspoons).
Additionally, food containing artificially added sugars come with zero phytochemicals or minerals. Thus, added sugars serve no purpose; they have no physiological benefits and your diet can do without them.
However, naturally occurring sugars aren’t bad. In fact, if you’re regularly active, having some sugar in your diet can help supply energy needed to fuel your muscles and keep your brain active, shares BBC Good Food. But the main problem for many men and women is that many of the processed food they eat have extra sugar that supplies energy in the form of calories. Thus, people end up consuming more than they need.
Basically, sugar isn’t always bad; it’s all about the source from which you get your daily sugars. If it’s from cherries, wonderful, you’re digesting antioxidants! But if it’s from soda, you’re not receiving any health benefits.
Food is like a relationship – it’s a symbiotic, mutual partnership in which both parties should reap the benefits. It’s okay to treat yourself, but treat yourself to the right amount. If you have restraint while eating, don’t be afraid to have some dessert. But if you can’t resist, it’s best to steadily cut addictive added sugars from your diet.
If you’re still building up your restraint, there are a number of ways to limit the amount of sugar you eat. The Health website suggests starting by reading food labels. “Even things you don’t think are sweet, like tomato sauce, crackers, condiments and salad dressings can be packed with sugar,” says Diane Sanfilippo, certified nutrition consultant.
Look at the “carbs as sugars” on the nutrition panel because this includes natural and added sugars. Less than five grams per 100 grams is a low amount while more than 22.5 grams per 100 grams is high. You can also check the ingredients list for anything that ends on “-ose,” such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose and maltose. The more frequent these substances appear on the label, the more sugar the ingredient has. Once you know how to spot these, you can start picking and choosing healthier food.
You can also limit your sugar intake by purchasing unsweetened goods. If you don’t want to do that, try consuming more protein and fat. Unhealthy carbs with lots of sugar can cause blood sugar to rise and fall rapidly, leaving you constantly hungry. If you want to minimize this rise and fall, “pair protein, healthy fats and fiber with your meal, all of which can slow down the release of blood sugar in your body and keep you full for longer,” says the Health website.
Whatever method you choose, avoid completely cutting sugar for your diet. Not only is it not realistic for most people, it is also a bad way to get in the habit of eating healthier. If you go from adding three packets of sugar in your coffee to zero packets, you may end up finding your decision more frustrating than helpful. Instead, decrease your intake little by little.
In the long run, just remember that if you love your body, treat it with respect by giving it what it needs over what it wants. Don’t put your temple on a path to Type II diabetes and heart disease.
