Yes, You Can Eat Sugar! 5 Nutritionist Hacks to Make It Healthier
Yahoo Health
June 25, 2015
Yes, there are ways to eat sugar healthfully. Experts explain how.(GIF: Getty Images/Priscilla De Castro for Yahoo Health)
Sugar has a bad rep for good reason: It’s a major culprit in our country’s biggest health problems. Too much of the stuff is linked to everything from root canals and mood swings to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
In fact, in March, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendedwe reduce our intake of free sugars (meaning sugar added to food and drinks, as well as sugar naturally present in fruit juices, honey, and syrups) to less than 10 percent of our total energy intake. And reducing intake to below 5 percent — about 25 grams (or six teaspoons) a day — would be even better for our health.
What is sugar, to begin with? It’s one of three main types of carbohydrate(the other two being fiber and starches, or complex carbohydrates). Thetypes of sugar include glucose (an energy source that fuels the brain and body, and is made when the body processes most carbohydrate foods), fructose (which is naturally found in fruits and vegetables, and can also be added to foods), and sucrose (also known as table sugar, and is made from fructose and glucose).
“We don’t need sugar to function, but we need complex carbohydrates — through whole grains, some vegetables, and legumes — in order to fuel our brain,” Kristin Kirkpatrick, manager of nutrition services at Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, tells Yahoo Health. Without carbs, negative effects — such as fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and even a life-threatening condition called ketoacidosis — can occur.
But sugar, when consumed in the form of “bad for you” food, is not a necessary part of our diet at all, she says.
Sugar can be found naturally in foods — like fructose in fruit and lactose in milk — or it can be added when food is prepared or processed (hence the term “added sugar”). Food manufacturers may add natural sugars, like fructose and lactose (but these are not naturally occurring), and processed sugars, such as high-fructose corn syrup, to foods, explains nutritionist Keri Glassman, founder of Nutritious Life.
Take yogurt, for example. Depending on which kind you buy, there can be added sugar. But the form of sugar that is naturally present in yogurt is lactose. Meanwhile, “a natural sugar like honey can be turned into an added sugar if it’s added to crackers,” Kirkpatrick says.
The problem with all kinds of sugar — no matter where it comes from — is that after years of eating too much of it, insulin (a hormone that allows your body to use sugar as energy) becomes tired, Glassman explains. This can ultimately lead to insulin impairment or resistance, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, she says.
And that’s why you shouldn’t necessarily believe a food is healthy just because its label says it contains a “natural” sugar: “Sugar is sugar regardless, of how sexy it’s packaged,” Kirkpatrick says. “When consumed in excess, it can cause plenty of problems in our body.”
But is it possible to eat the sweet stuff in a healthy way? Beyond steering clear of the obvious culprits — syrups, cookies, and sweet pastries like doughnuts (double trouble for your heart because they’re usually fried in trans fats, says Kirkpatrick) — there are some basic rules to follow if you want to eat sugar smartly:
Pair sugars with fiber. Never, ever eat sugar alone — always have it paired, says Kirkpatrick. For example, have an orange and a few almonds, and not just an orange, because nuts have more fiber than the orange alone. “This will help slow absorption of sugar into the bloodstream,” Kirkpatrick says.
Why that matters: When something high in sugar is consumed, it increases levels of blood sugar and insulin, with higher sugar contents leading to higher spikes in insulin. Extreme ups and downs in insulin and blood sugar increase inflammatory factors in the body, which can lead to disease. But when sugar is more slowly absorbed into the bloodstream, it leads to more of a “hump” than a spike — which is a good thing.
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