04-11-2015, 11:00 AM
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Is Sugar the bad boy it's made out to be?
Sugar has being getting some bad press recently (I mean the white Granulated stuff) and I must confess to applying one small teaspoonfull in my tea, and a liberal spreading over my porridge in the mornings.I had been reading about how sugar ends up being a negative addition to the energy levels of the body; i.e. It takes more energy for the body to process it, than the energy received from it.
If this is true, how on earth will you get fat from eating it?
Bearing in mind that unused calories from food will go into storage; or in other words, will be deposited about your person and make you fat!
It certainly makes my porridge tasty!
04-11-2015, 11:04 AM
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Re: Is Sugar the bad boy it's made out to be?
It's the hidden sugar IMO, the stuff they add to low fat foods to make it palatable, the corn starch they add to more and more foods.Where you can see what you add you are unlikely to add 6 - 12 spoons to your drink but when it's hidden by the manufacturer you may well drink that much in one can or glass.
04-11-2015, 11:50 AM
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Re: Is Sugar the bad boy it's made out to be?
Bob
I think white sugar is bad because it is has practically no nutritional value at all, it is just 'empty calories'. Some unrefined brown sugar has a little nutritional value. If you want something sweet on porridge a small amount of maple syrup is better , it is rich in minerals and tastes lovely
I prefer nothing but a little milk on my porridge but then the oats I use are full of flavour and don't need it..
https://www.ocado.com/webshop/produc...w&gclsrc=aw.ds
I confess to having sugar in coffee.
If I must eat something sweet I have dried or fresh fruit
they contain lots of nutrients .
04-11-2015, 12:24 PM
6
Re: Is Sugar the bad boy it's made out to be?
I've often watched people put sugar on to cereals such as cornflakes and put more than one spoonful in a cup of tea or coffee. You can wean yourself off sugar. Small amounts of naturally occurring sugars shouldn't hurt like those in fresh and dried fruit. However, fructose is still sugar. Moderation is the key here. But hey, life without a little sweetness would be a miserable affair.
04-11-2015, 01:01 PM
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Re: Is Sugar the bad boy it's made out to be?
Since being put on a low carb diet I've been trying to wean myself off sugar but without success. I don't have it on cereals but do like a generous spoonful of golden syrup on porridge. I also don't enjoy my tea or coffee without sugar despite trying to cut down for 9 months now. Someone suggested on another thread that I try sweeteners but I bought some and tried them and they're just not the same.Sugar is just a waste of carbs and when you have to keep under 140g a day it could be the difference between having a slice of cake or not !!
04-11-2015, 05:10 PM
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Re: Is Sugar the bad boy it's made out to be?
Originally Posted by OldGreyFox
->
I had been reading about how sugar ends up being a negative addition to the energy levels of the body; i.e. It takes more energy for the body to process it, than the energy received from it.If this is true, how on earth will you get fat from eating it?
Your observations are good and so are the questions.
To wonder is to begin to understand
The answers concern how sugar is metabolised and how long the process takes.
When you eat sugar more or less on its own or without any kind of fibre, it is absorbed extremely quickly and sets up the chain of processes where it is converted into glucose, then insulin is released.
When insulin is raised, even slightly, it activates the enzyme LSL, which in turn tells glucose and fatty acids to enter the fat cell where they are joined together to form a triglyceride (fat). This newly formed fat molecule is too big to escape through the fat cells outer membrane. This is why our bodies go into fat storage mode when we eat carbohydrates, it is our bodies way of lowering blood sugar levels so we don't become hyperglycemic
When you eat an apple you are eating the equivalent of 5 teaspoons of sugar, which sounds horrendous, but turns out not to be because the fact that you are eating the whole apple, means you are eating fibre to and that slows down the digestion process giving the body more time to deal with the sugar properly.
When carbohydrates are eaten with a protein, or a fat (also fiber), it slows down how quickly the glucose is converted to blood sugars, this lessens the amount of insulin needed to combat the increase in blood sugar
The quotes above are from the following useful article:
http://www.mynormalweight.com/blog/2...r-metabolized/
The upshot of this for me has been to recognise and understand that I CAN eat sugars that are fond naturally in food provided I eat the whole item as nature created it.
Therefore eating an apple is ok.
Conversely drinking apple juice imo is not ok because the manufacturer has taken away all the fibre and other stuff and left you with just the juice and sugars. Same for orange juice.
Sugar in its raw form (i.e. white refined table sugar) I never touch at all and deem it to effectively be poisonous to my body.
It follows that eating cakes and biscuits is equally bad because again you are not taking in proteins or fibre along with the sugars, tho I confess I still eat some !
This was a complete mind set change for me.
I used to by cartons and tins of simple chopped tomatoes to use in things like pastas and chilli. Then I looked on the packet and saw how many teaspoons of sugars were in there.
The product is processed in some way imo so now I have stopped buying them. Instead I now make my own tomato base sauces very simply by chopping up ENTIRE tomatoes, heating them in a saucepan with a bit of garlic and a few basil leaves thrown in, nothing else. The whole thing quickly breaks down into a nice mush which I then throw into a blender.
The result is a lovely natural healthy tomato base which can then be frozen in portions.
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