Sweet Tooth

I have a confession to make...

I LOVE ice cream. There, I said it.

And it's not just ice cream I have trouble saying "no" to. There's cookies, doughnuts, pastries, cakes...

I don't just have a sweet tooth, I have sweet teeth!

If the fat kid living inside me were a real person, he would have his own special on Lifetime.

I have been curious what changes I would notice if I went without any added sugar for a while. This month I am finally putting it into action. Mostly, I would like to see if taking out processed sugars would help clear up my skin, but I'm also curious about other changes I may experience.

By no means is this the way I think you all should be eating. This is just my own personal experiment. I'll let you know what I discover along the way.

Since we are on the topic of sugar, lets talk some more about it. Sugar is somewhat of a controversial topic. There are a lot of opinions out there and even conflicting recommendations on how much you should eat.

But one thing I do know- sugar is everywhere. Just start skimming some nutrition labels. You'll see words like:

corn syrup, dextrose, sucrose, beet juice, honey, agave, molasses, turbinado, panocha... and the list goes on.

At the end of the day, these are all sugar, no matter what you call them.

Now I don't think sugar is inherently bad. Sugar is vital for life. Glucose, a simple sugar, is the body's main source of fuel. Your brain almost exclusively runs off sugar. Even your DNA contains sugars. So sugar is a good thing, not a criminal in the food world.

I also don't think we can justify sugar as being "healthy" or "unhealthy". Your body won't care where the sugar came from once the sugar is absorbed. The sugar could come from an apple, a carrot or a Snickers bar, and your body will treat it all the same.

So, yes, you could become just as overweight and diabetic eating fruit as you could eating candy. Obviously, you would benefit more from eating fruits because they have added nutrients and fiber, so don't stop eating those.

I mainly want to point out that sugar from a natural source is no more beneficial to your body than manufactured sugar.

The real issue with sugar is its prevalence and the ease of frequently consuming mass quantities. There are 2 ways we can combat sugar overload.

Moderation:

Be aware of what is in the food you eat. Don't be afraid to be a label reader. 25-30g of added sugar a day won't kill you.

Try to stick to complex carbs like fruits, veggies, beans and grains. These all have fiber that will slow the absorption of sugar in your body. Limit the extra stuff, but have a treat every now and then :)

Exercise:

Exercising will not get rid of the sugar you eat, but it WILL make your body use sugar more efficiently. It all has to do with increased energy needs in the muscle and insulin sensitivity, but I don't want to bore you with all that today.

The main thing you need to know is increased muscle exertion means more carbs (sugar) going to your muscle tissue and less being stored as fat in your belly. Oh yea!

I plan to do a concluding post on sugar, and my month without it, at the end of April. Let me know if you liked the post or if there was something you didn't like.

You can email me at thomaszkry@gmail.com or leave a message in the "Give A Shout" section on the home page with any feedback. Thanks!