If you’ve ever tried to cut back on sugar, you may have realized how incredibly difficult it is. In some cases it may seem downright impossible. It seems clear that when it comes to foods like sugar and other junk foods, that something in the brain does not function like it’s supposed to. So first what is sugar? Sugars are carbohydrates. Like all carbohydrates, they provide a source of energy in our diet. Sugar is a term that includes all sweet carbohydrates, although the term most often is used to describe sucrose or table sugar, a ‘double sugar’. The body breaks down carbohydrates into simple sugars such as glucose, that can be readily used in the body. There are several different sugars. Sugars occur naturally in some foods, such as fruit and dairy products, and are also added to a wide variety of foods. Sugar can take many different forms, including white, raw or brown sugar, honey or corn syrup. Your body breaks down carbohydrates and converts them into a simple sugar called glucose. This ready form of energy is carried through the blood and delivered to every cell. The supply of glucose needs to be constant and dependable, so your body has developed a number of systems to ensure this supply. For instance, the pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. Why is it bad for you? Too much sugar in the diet can contribute to health problems like obesity and tooth decay. There has been a lot of debate about the link between high sugar intake and being overweight or obese. But there is general agreement that energy (kilojoules) above the body’s needs will be stored as fat. Sugar is a form of carbohydrate and it provides the same amount of energy or kilojoules (kJ) per gram as other forms of carbohydrates found in breads, rice, pasta and fruits. One gram of carbohydrate provides 16 kJ of energy. One gram of fat provides 37 kJ. Therefore, fats in food contribute double the energy than the equivalent amounts provided by sugar. Although sugar provides less energy than fat, it can contribute to the ‘energy density’ (number of kilojoules) of foods and drinks. It’s easy to overindulge in foods, especially drinks, with high sugar content. Having too much sugar is not the only reason for obesity or being overweight, but it does add to the amount of kilojoules in food. Eating too much of any food, without doing enough exercise, will cause you to become overweight. So why is it so hard to cut down the intake of sugar? This is where we need to look at what sugar does to the brain. Watch the attached video to get an understanding of how sugar works. (https://youtube/watch?v=lEXBxijQREo) Are you saying to cut out all sugars? Absolutely not. Our body needs carbohydrates for an energy source. What we are looking at is bad sugars and levels that are acceptable for what we do in day to day life. Marathon runners need a high level of carbohydrates to complete their task, where as a general person working 9-5 with a moderate lifestyle needs less. This is dependent on activity. We are looking at moderation and how to achieve a happier healthier you. Through knowledge is power, and with the understanding of how sugar affects us we can together motivate and learn how the body works in order to be who we want to be inside and out.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 03:20:56 +0000
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