Bittersweet symphony

If you google “how bad is sugar for you ?” one of the first results that you find comes from Harvard Health Publishing and the answer is like “higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease” (Source: “https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-sweet-danger-of-sugar”). But here I won’t go this way, the scary way. Yes, sugar is dangerous for health and it is present every day in the lives of most people. From childhood cookies and rewards, the big celebrations of the year, holidays treats to daily coffee, SUGAR is present in our diet. (And I did not mention yet the hidden sugars)

What is sugar ?

To answer this question we have to take a short look to the story of one of the three macronutrients : carbohydrates also called carbs.

Carbohydrates play the main role in providing the energy for our body. Our body can use proteins and fats for energy but the “cleanest” fuel are the carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can be simple and complex. The simple ones are quickly digested and the complex ones are digested slower. There is also a less digestible category of carbs called fibres which help our digestive system to run. Simple carbs are also called fast carbs.

So we have simple carbs, complex carbs and fibres.

Simple carbs or sugars can be monosaccharides, disaccharides and sugar alcohols.

Monosaccharides as the name suggests contain one sugar molecule.

Examples: glucose-found in fruits, honey, fructose- found in fruits, honey, galactose-found in milk, yogurt

Disaccharides contain two sugar molecules.

Examples: sucrose, maltose, lactose

Complex carbs can be oligosaccharides and polysaccharides.

Oligosaccharides have 3 to 10 sugar molecules.

Examples: fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides

Polysaccharides have over 10 sugar molecules.

Examples: starches, dextrins, maltodextrin

Back to our question. What is sugar ?

Sugar is a term referring to a broad category of monosaccharides and disaccharides. By dictionary definition “a sweet substance especially from plants sugar cane and sugar beet, used to make food and drinks sweet”, (Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sugar). When we add it ourselves to tea, coffee cake recipes we see it, a white or brown powder finer or coarser, but when we consume cakes or juices we can not see it, it is already inside. Why am I writing this obvious thing ? Because I want to point out the situations when you can control the quantity of sugar you eat and situations when is harder to do it.

What should we consider when we eat carbs and sugars ?

When eating complex carbs from grains, lentils and vegetables the energy is released gradually and the digestion process goes naturally. The same with simple carbs which come from fruits. These foods are packed also with other nutrients needed for digestion including a non or less digestible carbohydrates called fibres. Fibres have a good mechanical role in digestion.

Extracting the sweetness of the fruits and vegetables and leave the rest is bad news for nutrition. All forms of sugars are rapidly absorbed by the body and the blood sugar levels have a rapid increase. Here are included white and brown sugar, glucose, malt, honey and the list can continue with all kind of syrups. White sugar has around 90% of the vitamins and minerals removed. The result is low and fluctuating energy levels and poor weight control.

(Source: Patrick Holford - Optimum Nutrition Bible.)

So what do we do now ?

The answer is not so simple but… First try to analyse your habits. Try to stay a few days without refined sugar and refined sweets and according to how you feel you can see how addicted you are. If you feel tired,  hungry or craving for a sweet bite... then you may have some addiction. But only you can solve this. The problem is that the more you eat sugar and sweets the more your brain and body wants it. Some healthy habits to try…

Try to avoid drinking sweet juices, even fruit juices (especially as water replacers). Keep them for occasions. Also fresh made juice is better to be replaced with the fruits it is made from (when you have this opportunity, especially if you are at home). Why ? It is less likely to eat four oranges at a time but more likely to drink a four oranges fresh juice near a sandwich or a snack (So you will have in your blood the sugar from four oranges with a “fast delivery label” on it). And keep in mind that the whole fruit is packed with vitamins and fibres which slow down the absorbsion in the blood.

Organic honey, maple syrup, cane sugar are better options to refined sugar but check the quantities. They are fast releasing sugars. (For example a person with blood sugar problems won’t have any advantages from honey consumption).

Attention to white bread and refined flour products. Despite having roughly almost the same amount of calories as white breads the wholemeal breads contain fibres and important nutrients which slow down the sugar absorption and help your metabolism.

Make a habit by reading the product labels. You will be amazed how many processed foods contain sugar. Especially pay attention to processed sauces.

If you are cooking pastry carefully choose your ingredients. Search for healthier recipes whenever you have the opportunity.

Don’t drink sweetened drinks or don’t eat sweets at certain times in a day as a habit. And try not to eat them when you work at your PC or watch movies - it is very difficult to control the quantity. Let them wait :) for celebrations, parties or moments when you are out in town for a special occasion. If you have a medium high activity level, try to supplement with complex carbs and fibre rich snacks.

It is ok to eat your favourite cake, pie or icecream as a reward in a 10k run day, (or any demanding phisycal activity day) or after a few days of sweets fasting. Remember that it is very important to control sugar intake. Despite the fact that the sweets aren’t the healthiest option for you to eat, they are part of our lives and many of us can not imagine the “happy anniversary without the cake“.

So in my opinion the key here is balance…

If you don’t control the sugar it is likely that sugar controls you…