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Sugar - Friend or Foe?
Many
of us have a sweet tooth and love sugary foods. How bad
is sugar for our health?
Sugar is an intrinsic part of
a western diet. It is found not only in obviously sweet foods
like cakes, but also in less obvious places like baked beans
and salad dressings. It provides the preservative for jellies
(jams) and makes some foods more palatable.
As well as sugar found in
various foods, we add sugar to drinks like tea and coffee
and sprinkle it on our breakfast cereal.
Sugar is found in foods under
several names including:
- sucrose
- fructose
- glucose
- lactose
- dextrose
'No added sugar' on a label
doesn't necessarily mean that the food is low in sugar.
It might be very high but naturally so! Incidentally, many
people think that honey is a healthy alternative to processed
sugar. This may or may not be true but what must not be
overlooked is that it adds extra calories to food in the
same way as ordinary sugar does.
There are many myths associated
with sugar. They include:
- it makes you fat
- it gives you type 2 diabetes
Is there any truth
in these two myths?
Sugar is not the real culprit
in the battle of the bulge. Yes, like alcohol, it does add
'empty' calories to the diet but the real cause of obesity
is eating more calories than the body requires. It doesn't
make any difference whether these excess calories come from
sugar, fat, protein or carbohydrates. Too many calories
equal added body weight, it's as simple as that for most
people.
Diabetes
is not directly linked to the consumption of sugar. The
disease is linked to excess weight, however that weight
was caused. Obviously, if someone eats large quantities
of high sugar food and piles on the pounds, eventually leading
to diabetes, one could argue that it was sugar that caused
it. However, the same result could occur from excess weight
gained through eating enormous quantities of high fat food.
So what alternatives
are there to sugar?
The obvious one is to educate
one's palate to appreciate food that is not so sweet. Easier
said than done, I hear you shriek. In that case, you could
use one of the many brands of artificial sweetener like
saccharin or aspartame.
Some Tips for Using
Sugar
- Cut back on the total
amount of sweet foods eaten.
- Read labels on pre-prepared
foods and look out for the hidden sugars in them. Remember
that the higher up a list an ingredient appears, the higher
proportion the food contains in relation to other ingredients.
- Look for low calorie versions
of your favourite foods - but still read the labels.
- Don't forget that regular
soft drinks are usually high in sugar. Frequent consumption
of these can lead to weight gain and rotten teeth. If
you want canned drinks, look for the 'diet' versions.
Sugar is not the real enemy
when it comes to excess weight and diseases like diabetes.
Over consumption of all kinds of food is the enemy. The
answer, boring as it sounds, is to eat sensibly.
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Copyright © 2003
Carol Fisher. All Rights Reserved.
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