The Sugar Low Down
Sugar seems to be a buzzword in the media at the moment. Conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and even Alzheimer’s disease, which has been coined as type 3 diabetes by many scientists, are more rampant in western countries than ever and have all been associated with diets high in refined sugar as well as poor lifestyle choices. But what is refined sugar exactly? Many don’t know what the difference is between naturally occurring sugars and refined, which means it’s harder to stay away from and make educated choices when food shopping. When we think of sugar, we think of cakes, biscuits and confectionary. But did you know that refined sugar can also be added to savoury foods such as bread, dressings and sauces? Even some foods that are advertised as healthy can have added sugar. This is because refined sugar can be labelled under a vast range of names, some which are labelled differently because of varying molecular structures. To put it simply, refined sugar is sugar that has gone through a manufacturing process to remove components and reduce it down to a simpler molecular structure, one that provides empty calories, meaning that it has no nutrient value whatsoever. In fact, as I will explore later on in this article, eating high amounts of sugar, especially refined, can actually rob your body of nutrients due to the demand it places on your body to metabolise it.
If you want to be more savvy when looking out for forms of refined sugar, be aware of names such as dextrose, barley malt, dextrin and maltose, apart from other obvious ones like high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose and rice syrup. This is why it is so important to read the ingredient list and not get enticed by attractive packaging. Not only that, but nutritional labels are required by law to list ingredients by order of amounts, starting from the highest in content. Manufacturers are able to spread out the sugar by putting a few varying types of sugar and can therefore place them further down the list, making the product look like it is lower in sugar - very sneaky!
So what’s the big deal with sugar and why should we watch our sugar intake? To put it simply, our bodies are not geared up, genetically, to be eating excessive amounts of sugar and refined sugar. When we drink, say a can of coke, our blood sugar levels peak, which causes a surge of insulin to be secreted from the pancreas to remove the sugar from the bloodstream and into our cells. The sugar is either moved to the liver or muscles to be stored as glycogen. The problem is that your liver and muscles are only able to store a certain amount of glycogen so the rest gets deposited as fat, and there is far more availability for fat storage in the body. Continued intake of refined sugar can eventually lead to harmful weight gain and insulin resistance, which means that the insulin receptors on the cells are no longer sensitive to it, so the glucose in the blood lingers, whilst the pancreas keeps secreting even more insulin. On a long-term basis, this sets your body up for entering a pre-diabetic state, which can eventually develop into type 2 diabetes. But this not the only problem that diets high in refined sugar can cause. Saturating your blood vessels on a consistent basis with sugar can cause inflammation, damaging arteries, tissues and organs. Energy levels drop, sleep gets interrupted as well as causing mood fluctuations that can negatively impact your mental health.
Watching your sugar intake does not need to be a hard feat. It is simply a matter of switching from refined to complex carbohydrates and avoiding products with added refined sugars (often these are food items that are highly processed, so you can make a simple rule of avoiding processed food all together). Choose brown rice instead of white rice, wholemeal pasta/spaghetti or even brown rice pasta instead of white pasta. Avoid white flours as a general rule of thumb and stick to wholegrains. Try to get your carbohydrates from other sources such as starchy root vegetables like sweet potatoes, pumpkins and butternut squash. Another key point to make is avoid drinking fruit juices and eat your fruit instead. Juices such as Naked and Innocent may seem healthy. However, in the process of creating the juices, all of the original fruit’s fibre and the nutrients contained in the fibre have been removed. The result is that you can end up having up to 60g of sugar in just one bottle, which is an incredible amount of sugar that your body does not need!
All of these healthier options have one common pattern, they are higher in fibre, which not only provides more nutrients, but it prevents the food from being broken down too quickly and therefore blood sugar levels do not rise so dramatically. Instead, we get a consistent, steady supply of energy from these foods that don’t lead to big sugar crashes, which leave us craving for more sugar-dense foods to top us up. For more support on reducing your overall sugar intake, this database provided by Patrick Holford is very useful and can be used as a general guide for foods that are more favourable for stabilising blood sugar levels. If you would like professional guidance on switching to a healthier diet and are interested in a consultation, please feel free to contact me to discuss options.
