There are so many different kinds of sugars and sweeteners that it is hard to know what is good for us and what is just marketing. The first thing you need to know and understand is that certain types of sugars like glucose & fructose are good for our body - especially our brain and nervous system. Sugar is used as energy for our bodies to function. Too much sugar in the blood stream is just as bad as too little; we need sugar. The problem is that we are eating lots and lots of sucrose which is the bad sugar. The average American consumes 90 pounds of refined (sucrose) sugar each year. Our refined diet is causing diet based diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many more. My goal is to explain the difference between the good sugars (glucose & fructose) that you should eat, and the bad sugars (sucrose) that you should not eat.
Fruit is what my wife tells our kids is “Gods Candy”. This is the best example of whole food sugar that we should be eating. Eat fruit in the morning for energy and we can also eat it in the afternoon to combat the afternoon sluggishness that we experience. Fruit is made up of fructose, vitamins, minerals, water, and fiber that help slowly break down the sugars found in fruit making fruit good for you-but we all knew that!
Honey is gold! The best honey is raw honey that has not been processed -making it a whole food. All whole foods come with their own chemically perfected blend that slowly absorbs and breaks down the glucose and fructose in the honey, thereby preventing the sugar spikes and crashes. Honey has many great benefits and provides you with the right kind of sugar you need. Try to substitute refined sugar with raw honey in your herbal teas, morning oatmeal, salad dressings, homemade granolas, or any other recipe. You will have more energy, less cravings and lose weight without missing out on the delicious sweetness. This makes for happy mind and body!
Pure Maple Syrup is another great sweetener, once again as long as it is the whole food from the tree. This is the expensive stuff and easy to find in any supermarket. It is not “Mrs. Butterworth’s” that we dump on our pancakes. It will say 100% pure. We enjoy using this in our homemade ice-cream and homemade BBQ sauce and because it doesn’t take much to make it sweet the bottle can last for a while.
Agave in its true form as honey water from the blue agave plant is good, however that is not the way we buy it. If it is in a syrup form then this means it has been processed and is now more similar to high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately this is not a good alternative.
Whole Sugar Cane is not a good source of nutrients. It is for the most part empty calories. Some products like
evaporated cane juice are less processed and because of that are slightly better but it is still sucrose. Beware of the trick words like raw sugar, organic, natural or sugar cane. It is all still sucrose but just more expensive.
Granulated White Sugar is 100% sucrose. Whole sugar cane when it is refined and processed becomes granulated white table sugar. That is bad. Through the refinement process the fiber, vitamins and minerals that make it a whole food are taken out, leaving just the sucrose, the type of sugar found mainly in sugar beets, sugar cane and corn. Sucrose is the sugar that is stored as fat. The new product that I have seen is “raw sugar”. This is granulated sugar that has not had as much of the refinement process thus leaving some of the molasses. However delicious it may be, it is still not a good sugar for your body.
Molasses is a by-product of the sugar cane refining process. The sugar cane is crushed to remove the juice which is then boiled vigorously. The remaining syrup becomes molasses. This is not a whole food. This is a highly concentrated sucrose, white refined sugar.
Brown Sugar is white table sugar that has molasses added to coat the outside– not a good sugar!
Maltose and Lactose – Maltose is the sugar found in barley. Lactose is found in milk. When consumed as a whole food it is great. However the maltose is pulled away from all of the nutrients processing it and used as a sweetener in many foods.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is found in corn just like the sugar that is found in sugar cane and sugar beets. The corn is processed until we are left with just the sucrose. HFCS and Refined Table Sugar are the same, not good!
Artificial and no calorie sweeteners are everywhere and have all sorts of names and claims. I am not a big fan of artificial sweeteners. For one, they are artificial and two, we don’t know the draw backs and risks. I have read studies that artificial
sweeteners make you crave more sweets. However, it is still in our chewing gum and research shows it is better for our teeth. Give me a few more years and I’ll be writing about the risk of artificial sweeteners.
Now that I have given you the facts about each type of sweetener, hopefully you will use this information to make smarter choices. I would love to say that I have gotten this down to perfection and that I don’t eat sweets but it would be a lie. I love to eat cookies and drink a Coke but I try to limit my intake. I try to eat healthy foods most of the time so I’m able to indulge every once in a while. As always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. I am available to you and your family for all of your health care needs.
Dr. Collard cell- 801-712-9105
email– drcollard@collardchiropractic.com
