Invariably, doctors and nutrition experts advise people to avoid refined white sugar and sugary products for various reasons of health. They claim that it is a toxic food and can cause a lot of harm to the body and weight.
Refined white sugar and sugary products
Refined white sugar and sugary foods and drinks are extremely tasty. People eat it at end of major meals or on special occasions. These treats are extremely delicious but are not healthy. In fact, doctors and experts on diet have put these sugary foods in the toxic food category.
White sugar is toxic (Source: TOI)Sugary foods have a lot of calories. All this goes into the body and gets converted into excess fat and leads to weight gain. These cause high blood sugar levels, insulin resistance and leptin resistance. Insulin resistance leads to further sugar rise in the blood. And leptin normally causes suppression of appetite. But when resistance develops to it, satiety is less and appetite is more. More food consumption results and hence more weight gain.
Those who have less sugar lose 1 kilo of weight over 10 weeks. On the other hand, people consuming more sugar have a weight gain of 1 kilo over same period of time.
Expert opinions
Dr Robert Lustig, author and a paediatric endocrinologist at the University of California-San Francisco says:
“We need to wean ourselves off. We need to de-sweeten our lives. We need to make sugar a treat, not a diet staple.”
“The food industry has made it into a diet staple because they know when they do you buy more.”
“This is their hook. If some unscrupulous cereal manufacturer went out and laced your breakfast cereal with morphine to get you to buy more, what would you think of that? They do it with sugar instead,”
Sugary treats (Source: The Conversation)NHS data states that in a week one person consumes an average of 700 g of sugar. This is equal to 140 tsp of sugar! And sugary drinks contribute around one quarter of this intake. Eliminate these first in order to avoid weight gains. Additionally, look for foods with green and amber labels. Avoid red labeled products.
Natural sugars are healthy
Not all sugars are bad. Only white refined sugar is a toxin. But natural sugars such as in fruits is good for the body. The reason is that fruits have a lot of fiber, antioxidants and other essential nutrients in it. Also, their sugar content is modest. These good natural sugars are also in whole unprocessed foods, lactose in milk and fructose in fruits.
Read more: Freeze dried mango has a potential to control blood sugar levels!
Natural sugars in fruits (Source: Pinterest)Clinical dietician Vanessa Voltolina opines:
“Foods with natural sugars tend to be low in calories and sodium, and high in water content and many important vitamins and minerals.”
“The fibre in fruits slows down how quickly your body digests it, so you don’t get the same sugar spike you get after eating a doughnut.”
“And the lactose in milk comes with a healthy serving of protein that provides sustained energy, so you feel full longer than after a sugar-packed soda.”