Sugar

What is sugar? Sugar comes from the breakdown of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are our body's primary fuel source! This means when the brain is hungry, it primarily craves glucose. Carbohydrates allow the body to maintain homeostasis, proteins continue to be used for protein synthesis and fats continue to be stored for emergency backup energy source and protection for organs.

All carbohydrates are converted to glucose during digestion. Glucose is a monosaccharide, a specific type of sugar. This means whether you eat a piece of candy or an apple, after chewing your food and enzymes start breaking down your food, the individual food particles get separated and your body reads the carbohydrate molecules as glucose (sugar) for both the candy and the apple.

While there is no such thing as a good food or bad food, there are more nutrient dense foods. An apple contains other nutritional components including fiber, and antioxidants making it a more nutrient dense food. Fiber helps slow down digestion rate, which in turn slows down the release of sugar into the body, preventing blood sugar spikes. Antioxidants have many benefits including prevention of cancers. Processed foods like candy tend to have little to no nutritional value, and can cause irregular blood sugar spikes if not paired with other nutrients. Irregular blood sugar spikes can have long term adverse health effects. Processed foods can also have added chemicals due to the processing methods.

“First and foremost — there is no such thing as good carbs vs. bad carbs! Food intake is not a moral matter, and we therefore cannot assign morality to food. Food is meant to nourish our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. In reality, food is just-food. It really is as simple is that.” - McKel Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

If you don’t eat enough carbohydrate our body can enter into a state of ketosis. In ketosis, the body converts from carbohydrate as primary fuel source, to fat as the primary source. The body has many backup systems to maintain homeostasis (stay alive). The human body is very good and doing whatever it can to stay alive. ( I will be doing a separate post on the ketogenic diet soon.)

Different types of carbohydrates (sugars) and sources -

Monosaccharides also known as simple sugars -

Glucose - fruit, honey, vegetables

Fructose - fruit, honey

Galactose - milk sugar

Disaccharides -

Sucrose - Table sugar

Maltose - Least common sugar in nature, comes from breakdown of starch

lactose - milk sugar

Polysaccharides also known as complex sugars -

starches, cellulose ( fiber) , pectin, glycogen, dextrin

How can you enjoy sugar in your daily life? It is important to remember that food is more than just nourishment for the internal body, and that it also has an effect on your mental and emotional wellbeing. When it comes to finding balance with food the key is to not deprive yourself. Long term restrictions of any type of food can lead to out of control cyclic eating patterns. Instead, if you want some sugar, ask yourself why you want it. Are you bored? Do you need to eat more? Are you thirsty? Or do you feel like you deserve that extra piece of cake or just want to enjoy a piece of candy with your family? Start asking yourself these types of questions and when you eat it, Enjoy it! Taste it! Savor it! And if you're really good, pair it with some fiber rich foods like fruits or vegetables and healthy fats like avocado, coconut or seeds to prevent any blood sugar crashes and slow the release of sugar in the body. The key to getting away from diets is balance. Balanced eating begins by having carbohydrates, healthy fats, and proteins at every meal. Each macro-nutrient plays a role in maintaining our bodies normal functions.

Disclaimer- If you are diabetic or have any metabolic, kidney, liver, or cardiac health concerns always talk to your Dr. before making any drastic changes to your diet.

Email me if you have any questions! nutritionbalancedbybre@gmail.com