How to Recognize Sugar Right Away – And Avoid It!

You think you can recognize sugar? Think again!

But first things first.

Those of you who reach for that five-pound bag of grocery store sugar and shovel teaspoon after teaspoon into your mouths, pay attention! The US government has a message for you: STOP!

Guidelines

Millions of Americans have been waiting with bated breath for five years for their government to tell them what to eat. Well, in case you missed it, perhaps because you were busy with the business of life, the feds have finally delivered.

The Agriculture and Health and Human Services Departments have ended the suspense, and released their 2015-2020 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Sugar

The feds have taken aim at multiple targets, and made lots of recommendations, most of which have attracted a lot of criticism. No matter. These people live in ivory towers, and your brickbats and mine don’t reach that high. Not unless you have well-heeled and well-organized lobbies.

Anyway, these worthies advise you and me to eat less sugar.

And then they get really specific: Limit sugar to no more than 10% of daily calories.

How we eat

This is wonderful news. It fits in seamlessly with my eating habits. Each time I put an olive or piece of toast into my mouth, I whip out a smartphone app and calculator. I quickly calculate each calorie going into my mouth, the amount of sugar in each bite, and what percentage of total calories that adds up to. As soon as I reach my targets, I stop, mid-morsel if need be. Isn’t that how you eat? Mom, Dad, and two kids eating at the dinner table, smartphones out? Well, the part about phones might actually be true!

So what advice do we need?

Let us get real.

Let us acknowledge how people eat. As the guidelines themselves state, people do not eat nutrients. They eat food.

Let us talk about food

When my wife gives me a grocery list, she does not say, “Get five pounds of fat, ten pounds of carbs, and fifteen pounds of protein. And throw in about 10% of the calories you buy as sugar. Plus some sodium, but not too much!”

This is not how we shop, and this is not how we eat!

So what is sugar?

Glad you asked.

Sugar is a carbohydrate (popularly known as carbs), a member of a much-maligned and frequently misunderstood group.

Not all carbs are bad.

Essentially, you need to know about simple carbohydrates (bad), and complex carbohydrates (good).

Simple carbs (bad)

These are nutrients which are digested and absorbed quickly once you eat them, and rapidly enter the bloodstream, where they raise your blood sugar levels fairly quickly. This is not good, for a variety of reasons.

Sugar (or, more accurately, what we commonly call sugar) is a simple carb.

Complex carbs (good)

These nutrients are more difficult for the body to digest and absorb. Thus they enter the bloodstream very slowly, and they have a slow and mild effect on blood sugar levels. These carbs are rich in fiber.

Classic examples are lentils, beans, chick peas, whole grains, and many fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, spinach, broccoli, apples, pears, etc.

Eating these will make you feel full faster, and this feeling will last longer.

So what was sugar, again?

“Sugar” can be traced back to the Arabic “sukkar,” which itself arose from the Sanskrit “sharkara.”

Sugars are technically called saccharides. A monosaccharide is the simplest unit, with examples being glucose, fructose, and galactose.

What we call sugar is technically sucrose. Each sucrose molecule has 12 atoms of carbon, 22 atoms of hydrogen, and 11 atoms of oxygen.

Sucrose is really the union of two even more simple sugars: fructose and glucose. As such, it is a disaccharide, which is two monosaccharides bound together. Fructose is the sugar commonly found in fruits and honey.

Lactose (in milk) is another disaccharide, a combination of glucose and galactose.

Plants make sugar through photosynthesis, using sunlight, and use it as a store of energy.

Natural versus added sugar

As the name implies, natural sugar is not introduced by man (or woman). Examples include sugar found in fruits and milk.

Added sugar is what we add to our food, or what is added during processing and preparation, in the form of syrup or sugar.

Calories

1 g sugar = 4 calories

1 teaspoon = 4 g sugar

1 teaspoon of sugar = 16 calories

How much added sugar do we need?

The daily requirement of added sugar for an average human being, male or female is … EXACTLY  ZERO!

How much do we eat?

In 1822, the average American’s intake of sugar was 45 g every 5 days. This is the amount of sugar found in one 12 oz can of soda. By the way, when did you last see anybody drink a 12 oz can of soda?

In 2012, this went up to 765 g every 5 days (equal to 17 such cans of soda).

This adds up to about 130 lbs of sugar every year.

Sources of added sugar

The average adult consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar a day. The average child? 32 teaspoons daily.

Regular soft drinks are responsible for 33% of this. Sugars and candy contribute 16.1%, cakes, cookies and pies 12.9%, fruit drinks 9.7%, dairy desserts and milk 8.6%, and other grains 5.8%. Breakfast cereal is an often overlooked source of added sugar.

Many so-called “low-fat” foods have more added sugar than their regular versions.

A 12 oz can of soda contains 8-10 teaspoons of sugar. This is more sugar than 2 frosted pop tarts and a Twinkie combined.

An average American drinks 53 gallons of soft drinks a year. You do the math.

Cost of daily soda

Drinking one can of sugary soft drink daily will lead to a 10-15 lb weight gain in a year– unless you cut back on calories elsewhere.

People who drink 1-2 cans or more of sugary drinks daily have a 26% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

A study in Circulation 2012 (125: 1735-41) revealed that men who averaged one can of sugary drink a day had a 20% higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack compared with men who rarely consumed sugary drinks. Similar findings have been noted in women, too.

Sugar is often hidden

Industry is fond of using different names for added sugar. There are all kinds of sweeteners, which effectively are added sugar. Some of these include: agave nectar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, evaporated cane juice, etc. Most of the stuff they include ending in –ose is basically added sugar.

Brown sugar? Honey?

Do not get confused. Your body does not. You cannot fool it: It metabolizes all added sugars in the same manner!

So how much added sugar do you need, again?

NONE.

The Healthy Eating Pyramid says sugary drinks and sweets should be used sparingly, if at all.

The Healthy Eating Plate, created by nutrition experts at Harvard, does not include foods with added sugars.

AHA

The American Heart Association suggests an added sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons) for most women, and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons) for most men.

Why?

There is no minimal daily requirement for added sugar. There is no nutritional benefit you get from eating added sugar.

Obesity

There is a school of thought that believes that the major reason for the obesity epidemic is too much sugar and not enough fiber in the diet.

So, what now?

• For the most part, you do not need any added sugar in your diet. Minimize it, if you cannot cut it out entirely.
• Read labels. Sugar hides in many forms.
• The best liquid to drink is water.
• If you visit an orchard, you will notice that orange juice does not grow on trees; oranges do. Consider this a message.
• Pay special attention to the kids: You are responsible for their lifelong food habits!
• Breakfast = cereal = lots of sugar, in many cases. Break this cycle!