Sugar is a sugar is a sugar!

Its 9:46 pm and I am done with my dinner, the house is all cleaned up, son is almost asleep but there is one thing that is bugging me: craving for something sweet.  Unless I eat something eat I simply cannot call it a night. I am born with the sweetest tooth. Its not that I would indulge into tens and twenties of chocolate at one sitting ,but I need to have something sweet with every meal. During my childhood ketchup was a necessary condiment for any and every meal. It wouldn’t be wrong if I say “ I put ketchup on my ketchup.” It’s not only me who has such strong attachment to sweet things but most of us are guilty of the fact.

What actually is sugar craving? It’s simply the body asking for energy. We all know that the body transforms sugar into glucose to provide fuel to the cells. All carbohydrates that we eat contain sugar, which is converted by the body into glucose. Processed food contain refined sugars that is simple carbohydrates, which enters the bloodstream as soon as they are consumed, causing sugar rush. This rush is followed by a sudden crash. “ The body sees the high level of sugar as an emergency state and works hard to burn it up as quickly as possible.”  Fruits on the other hand also have simple sugars and high fiber, which promotes slow digestion and limiting the amount of sugar, that flows into the cells.

Moreover, there is another type of carbohydrate called complex carbohydrates occurring in vegetables and whole grains. Complex carbohydrates are carbohydrates that contain at least three single sugar molecules. The body takes longer to break these sugar molecules hence the process is slow and sugars are absorbed into the blood stream at a stable rate for many hours, providing long lasting satiating energy.

Now the question arises why is Sugar bad? Added sugars have no nutritional value and are considered empty calories and they can crowd healthier foods from a person’s diet, which can lead to weight gain. “ Stripped of fiber and antioxidants, table sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup cause big jumps in blood glucose and insulin that raise levels of triglycerides, various inflammatory markers, and free oxygen radicals. In addition, the fructose found in most types of sugar may damage the liver and cause insulin resistance.

.”(Harvard Health Blog)

Sugar is the most popular ingredient added to foods in the US. Soft drinks and sugary are blamable for most of the added sugar in the average American diet. A person drinking a soda is actually consuming 11 teaspoons of sugar .We all are addicted to sweet things or rather hooked to sugar. Sugar is acting like heroine or any other drug. According to www.dhhs.nh.gov, “Today, the average American consumes almost 152 pounds of sugar in one year. This is equal to 3 pounds (or 6 cups) of sugar consumed in one week! Nutritionists suggest that Americans should get only 10% of their calories from sugar. This equals 13.3 teaspoons of sugar per day (based on 2,000 calories per day). The current average is 42.5 teaspoons of sugar per day! “ This is certainly crazy and have gone out of limit. No matter how much we try to avoid sugar, we cannot. It is over flowing everywhere in processed foods, ready made and packaged foods so and so forth. The food companies cheat us by using a variety of fancy names for sugar. It’s difficult for a common person to decipher all these names. Some of the names are Dextrose, Maltose, Glucose, Fructose, Corn sweetener, Corn syrup, Sucrose, Sorghum syrup, Sorbitol, Brown sugar, Molasses, Fruit juice concentrate, beet sugar and list goes on and on.

We can try to satisfy our desire by swapping the refined sugary desserts with a milder, less sweetened food. You can gradually train your body to be satisfied with fruit consumption. I know its easier said then done .I have realized that unless I don’t have any thing sweet on my plate I don’t enjoy it. I am trying to substitute my ketchup cravings with a fruit. A two ounce chocolate bar has 30 grams of sugar and the same calories as three medium bananas! The bananas are low in fat, high in vitamins and minerals and are fiber-rich. Bananas contain no sugar and will make you feel full longer than a candy bar. Shifting to better, natural and healthier alternative can lead to a healthier, active and disease free body.