Sugar can either be found naturally in plants or added to processed foods. The difference is the way sugar is metabolized by your body
Types Of Sugar
Sucrose- Made up of glucose and fructose, and most commonly known of as table sugar
Glucose- Mostly found in honey, fruits, and vegetables. Can also be termed dextrose which is added to processed food.
Fructose- Mostly found in honey, and fruits. It can also be added to processed food and marketed as “natural cane sugar-free replacement”.
Gallactose- Found in milk, dairy, and legumes. Half lactose
Lactose- Found in milk and made from glucose and glactose.
Maltose- Found in barley and malt
Ways Our Body Responds To And Uses Sugar
Glucose is the body’s preferred source of energy and the simplest form of sugar. It gets broken down in the liver where your liver then decides whether to convert glucose into triglycerides for energy or store it as fat.
Any glucose we eat, along with most carbohydrates that get broken down into glucose, are either stored or used immediately. Almost every cell in your body is able to use and metabolize glucose.
Insulin helps glucose get into your cells to then be used. When you eat too much sugar it can cause high blood levels of glucose, which over time damages your insulin metabolism and can lead to a lot of problems.
Fructose on the other hand is only metabolized in your liver. It is involved in lipogenesis which is how fat is created, and it’s also involved in the growth of fat-filled plaques that accumulate in your arteries causing cardiovascular disease and strokes.
Many people could benefit from avoiding overeating fructose. Yes, it’s found in fruit but it is very hard to eat excess amounts of fructose if you were to just get it from the fruit you ate. Fructose however doesn’t create an insulin response like glucose does.
Glucose is always the first sugar your body uses for energy, and any excess fructose it doesn’t need for energy is then stored as fat.
Best Types Of Sugar
Sugar is essentially empty calories containing no additional carbs, vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber. Excess amounts won’t be used as energy but will be stored as fat.
Ratios of fructose and glucose are basically the same in fruit and table sugar with only slight variances between fruits; some contain slightly higher or lower amounts of fructose.
However, when sugar comes in its natural form like fruit or the sugar cane plant (where table sugar comes from), it has other nutrients like fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. These all change the way your body breaks down and absorbs the sugar. Where regular sugars break down fast and raises insulin levels.
Here is an example of the difference between fruit and regular sugar:
½ cup strawberries- 3.5 grams of sugar
½ cup strawberry ice cream- 15 grams of sugar
Sugar naturally present in whole foods is good sugar. Sugar added to foods is not, so it’s important to read labels.
Sugar Found In Common Foods
The recommended amount of sugar is 10 tsp per day. Most Americans consume 34 tsp per day.
Only about 25% of the sugar you eat is what you are consciously adding to food or drinks. The remaining 75% is found in your packaged foods.
Here is a list of sugars found in some common everyday foods.
Low Fat Yogurt (not all kinds)- 1 cup = 12 tsp sugar
BBQ Sauce- 2 TBS = 3 tsp sugar
Ketchup- 1 TBS = 1 tsp sugar
Orange Juice- 1 cup = 5 tsp sugar
Sports Drinks- 20 oz bottle = 8 tsp sugar
Granola- ½ cup = 6 tsp sugar
Large Flavored Coffee (differs across chains)- 25 tsp sugar!
Protein Bar- almost 8 tsp sugar
Breakfast Cereal- ¼ cup = 3 tsp sugar
How To Use Less Sugar
Watch what you drink, and drink more water
Save sweet junk food for special occasions
Snack on fruit, nuts, yogurt or cheese
Sweeten cereal with bananas or fresh fruit
Read labels and be aware of names of hidden sugars. Click here to see some of those names.
Buy low sugar foods, usually food with 5g or less of added sugars
Buy whole foods
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