Sugar 101
- Sugar is form of carbohydrates that the body converts to glucose.
- Fructose, sucrose and lactose are all known as sugar.
- Fructose is naturally found in many fruits and vegetables.
- Sucrose is known as our common table sugar and derived from sugar cane and sugar beets. Also known as common table refined white sugar.
- Refined sugar: undergone an extraction and purification process.
- Refined sugar: turning the finished sugars into crystals, easily added to foods.
- Natural sugars are processed to the point where the nutrients naturally available in the raw foods, cane and beets, are lost.
- Refined sugar is used as an added sugar in prepared and processed foods, as well as for eating and cooking.
- Natural sugars are those found naturally in foods.
- Lactose is a natural milk sugar and fructose is a natural sugar found in fruits.
- Foods: such as honey, stevia, agave nectar and maple syrup are also known as natural sugars.
- Does Sugar Cause Weight Gain?
- Sugar contains calories, thus, as with any food, if we eat too much of it we will gain weight.
- To maintain weight we need to burn off the same amount of calories as we are consuming from food, so if we eat more than we burn, weight gain will follow.
- Refined sugar consumption is also thought to contribute to the development of diseases such as Type 2 diabetes as it increases the levels of insulin in the blood.
- Eliminating added sugars and processed foods and drinks that are very sweet may be a good way to lose weight, control cravings and reduce risk of lifestyle diseases, however diets that eliminate any sugar containing food such as fruit is probably too extreme and is likely to put you at risk of deficiencies in other nutrients.