How & Why to Cut Sugar Out of Your Diet

A lot of us are trying to cut down on refined sugar these days.

Unless you're willing to just cut sweet things out of your life completely, it can be hard to know how and where to make changes.

To make those choices a little easier, it might help to understand the different kinds of sugar, how they affect your body and where they're found.

To be clear, we won't be talking about artificial sweeteners in this post — that's a post for another day — but suffice it to say, we think that keeping synthetic chemicals out of your diet is usually a wise idea.

Learn how to keep a little sweetness in your life, without compromising your health — read on!

What is sugar?

Sugar comes in a few main types, all carbohydrates, falling into four categories: monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides.

• Monosaccharides are simple sugars that cannot be broken down further. Examples include fructose and glucose.
• Disaccharides are molecules made of two monosaccharides. For instance, sucrose is a combination of fructose and glucose.
• Oligosaccharides and polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates, made up of longer chains of simple sugars.

Complex carbs eventually break down into simple sugars, but the process is slower.

Glucose in your body

Glucose fuels every cell in your body. As a simple sugar, it's absorbed directly by your intestines and then transported to your bloodstream, causing your blood sugar levels to rise.

When your blood sugar increases, your pancreas releases insulin, which carries the glucose to your cells to be used as energy or stored as fat if not needed immediately.

Too much glucose can lead to high blood sugar levels, causing your pancreas to overwork, potentially leading to diabetes. It can also result in fat storage, contributing to obesity. Glucose is found in all plants, including vegetables, nuts, legumes, and grains.

Fructose in your body

Initially, your body responds to fructose in much the same way that it responds to glucose. Once it is picked up by insulin, however, it can’t be used by most of your body, it can only be metabolised by your liver.

Too much fructose has the same implications as too much glucose when it comes to fat storage, your blood sugar, your pancreas and your insulin response. In addition, it can cause serious damage to your liver.

Fruit is the primary natural source for fructose, but because fructose tastes very sweet (much sweeter than glucose), there doesn’t need to be much fructose in fruit for it to have a sweet taste.

In addition to the fact that the quantity of fructose is relatively low, there are also many things in fruit that are exceptionally good for you, so cutting fruit out just to cut out fructose is not a wise choice.

The fibre, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in fruit not only benefit your body in their own right but they also minimise the impacts of the fructose on your blood sugar and your health overall.

Fibre slows down the digestion process, reducing the rate at which the fructose hits your bloodstream, and phytonutrients also seem to inhibit the body’s ability to transport sugar into the bloodstream.

Too much fructose is associated with obesity, fat around the middle, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, lower levels of ‘good’ cholesterol (HDL) and more.

Sucrose in your body

Sucrose is a molecule composed of fructose and glucose. Table sugar is sucrose, and it naturally occurs in many fruits and some vegetables. Once ingested, sucrose breaks down into its component parts, and the body processes the fructose and glucose as described above.

Can sugar ever be healthy?

While cutting added or refined sugar from your diet (or at least reducing your intake) is a healthy choice, it’s impossible to completely cut sugar out altogether.

For one thing, your body needs glucose for energy. While you don’t necessarily require fructose from dietary sources, because it is found in many nutritious whole foods, it’s not advisable to just cut everything that contains fructose for that reason.

Interestingly, combining even unnatural or refined fructose with whole fruits can reduce the negative impacts of the added sugar.

Studies have shown that when a sugar solution is consumed in combination with whole berries, the fibre and phytonutrients in the berries seem to dampen the adverse effects of the refined sugar even though the berries also contain fructose, which means that their addition actually increases the amount of total fructose consumed.

In other words, try to stick to whole foods as much as possible and get your sweet fix from nature when you can. If you do need to indulge in something with added or refined sugar now and then, consider combining it with a high fibre food to help prevent a sudden blood sugar spike.

How to sweeten

Ok, so you’re open to cutting out processed foods and sugary bottled drinks but what to do about your morning cup of joe? A sweetened cup of coffee or tea is an essential part of the morning routine for many of us and tossing a handful of blueberries into your mug isn’t exactly going to work.

And what if you bake? It can be hard to know what to use to replace refined sugar that won’t throw off your chemical reactions.

Luckily, there are natural sweeteners out there that can be a big improvement over white sugar.

• Sucanat is a less-processed version of table sugar, retaining its natural molasses content, which includes minerals like calcium, iron, and magnesium.
• Pure Maple Syrup and Honey are excellent natural sweeteners, rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. They provide valuable health benefits when used in moderation.

Sure, you’re still going to be throwing simple sugars into your bloodstream so you need to watch your portions and enjoy them in moderation, but with every spoonful, you’re getting valuable health benefits as well as a sweet treat.

When it comes to your health, maple syrup is good but, honey? Honey is great.

Honey: Sweet Superfood

Honey is a truly unbelievable food. Depending on the variety, it can contain a dizzying array of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Plus, if it’s unpasteurized it also contains a wealth of beneficial probiotics and enzymes that are great for your gut and your immune system.

Typically, honey tastes as sweet or sweeter than sugar, depending on the variety. The ratio of glucose to fructose in a serving of honey varies depending on the type (more fructose = sweeter honey).

For instance, forest honeys, which are made from honeydew that the bees find on trees (rather than flower nectar), have more glucose and less fructose. These honeys are typically more bitter than your standard flower honey. They also often possess superior antioxidant levels.

Interestingly, even though honey may taste sweeter than sugar, it has fewer calories than table sugar and fewer carbs. The most important thing though is that those calories have value for your health.

Rather than being nutritionally void, the calories from honey come with dozens of health benefits.

You can add honey to your coffee or tea and even to baked goods (you may need to play with your recipe quantities a little, but the substitution of honey for sugar will likely increase their shelf-life too).

Related Links:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-fructose-bad-for-you-201104262425
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/if-fructose-is-bad-what-about-fruit/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477723/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/261517-how-is-glucose-absorbed/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/517367-how-is-sugar-processed-in-the-body/