This article talks about sugar and the myths related to it. There is a lot of misinformation about sugar which needs to be addressed like:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Is all sugar bad?<\/b>\u00a0Added sugar which is the \u201cadditional\u201d sugar in food products are all bad sugars and should be avoided. Natural sugars of fruit or milk are packed with minerals, nutrients and vitamins. Fruits have fibre which slows down the absorption of sugar. So sources of \u201cadded\u201d sugar should be avoided like packaged sweet food items, sugary drinks, desserts but foods like dairy (unsweetened yoghurt\/milk) and fruits can be consumed without any worry.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Is natural sugar better?<\/b>\u00a0Maple syrup and honey contain more nutrients and are minimally processed in comparison to white sugar. But all sources of sugar are the same to your body as the digestive tract breaks down all sugars into monosaccharides (simple sugars). Also, the calories from all these sugars are the same, so all sugars are natural or processed and will have the same impact on your weight.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cutting out sugar completely:<\/b>\u00a0There is no need to cut out sugar completely. But our body does not need sugar, so having less is better as it’s all about moderation.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sugar makes you sick:<\/b>\u00a0If you eat sugar in moderation and not overdo it, then its consumption is not linked to increased risk of heart disease, cancer or obesity. Excess sugar consumption contributes to weight gain, obesity and other chronic diseases. So eat in moderation and stick to your daily calorie limit.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sugar is an addiction:\u00a0<\/b>Eating sugars causes a spike in your blood sugar levels that drops quickly, it leaves you with a headache and feeling tired. So people consume more sugar to make them feel better and stabilise their blood sugar levels. It leads to sugar cravings and not addiction as addiction is a serious medical condition where people find it difficult to stop the use of a particular drug.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Are sugar-free replacements good?<\/b>\u00a0Consumption of sweeteners like sucralose, saccharin, aspartame are linked to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke and weight gain. They have a negative impact on your blood sugar, gut bacteria and your appetite.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Is no sugar diet good for weight loss?\u00a0<\/b>A no sugar diet or a low sugar diet does not mean guaranteed weight loss if you are not mindful of your overall calorie intake. Example: If you consume a 500 calorie sandwich (which is low in sugar) vs a 300 calorie bowl of sugary cereal it does not mean you will lose weight just because your sandwich was low in sugar content.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, sugar is not that evil and can be consumed in moderation. So you can enjoy your occasional sugary treat without any guilt but always remember moderation is the key, and it’s okay to include a little bit of sugar to your diet.<\/p>\n
References:<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Avena, N. M., Rada, P., & Hoebel, B. G. (2008). Evidence for sugar addiction: behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake.\u00a0Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews<\/i>,\u00a032<\/i>(1), 20\u201339. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2007.04.019<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Tasevska, N., Park, Y., Jiao, Li., Hollenbeck, A., et. al. (2014).Sugars and risk of mortality in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study,\u00a0The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition<\/i>, 99(5), 1077\u20131088,\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3945\/ajcn.113.069369<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This article talks about sugar and the myths related to it. There is a lot of misinformation about sugar which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionistnanny.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}