Change Your Relationship With Sugar

By : Valerie Stancill
BS, CHHC, AADP, Owner/Founder at What Are U Eating?, LLC
Stay Focused Magazine Fall 2013 Issue

We talked about being addicted to sugar last quarter in “The Other White Powder”; Now let’s talk about how to change your relationship with sugar. Would you like to know how much sugar is in the foods you eat and especially your soft Drinks? I am so glad you asked! Even some of the so-called “health” foods have more sugar than some donuts. You must learn to read the nutritional labels.

How sweet is it? Let’s take a look at the sugar content of some common foods and drinks.

Key: (1 teaspoon of sugar = 4.2 grams of sugar)

  • Cranberry Juice (12 oz) – 50 grams of sugar
  • Cola (12 oz) – 42 grams of sugar
  • Orange Soda (12 oz) – 46 grams of sugar

Breakfast Treats:

  • Pop-Tarts (1 pastry) – 17 grams of sugar
  • Yogurt – 27 grams of sugar

Candy:

  • Snickers bar – 8 grams of sugar
  • Skittles – 47 grams of sugar

In many so-called healthy foods and drinks, the alternative to having sugar is to use artificial or sugar free sweeteners. This often takes away the guilt feelings and the unwanted calories in your diet. Today artificial sweeteners are found in many foods and beverages marked as “sugar free”, “diet” or “low calorie”.

You can find these items in your favorite products such as baked goods, chewing gum and candy, children’s snacks, soft drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices.

Artificial Sweeteners:

FDA has approved five artificial sweeteners: saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, neotame, and sucralose. In addition, stevia has been approved as a natural low-calorie sweetener. The most common artificial sweetener is aspartame, which is found in most “sugar free” items. Artificial sweeteners are also known as intense sweeteners because they are many times sweeter than sugar.

Surprisingly aspartame may cause you to gain weight and sabotage your weight control. Tow main ingredients of aspartame, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, stimulate the release of insulin and leptin hormones and instruct your body to store fat. In terms of the impact of such sweeteners to your body, according to the National Cancer Institute, there is no clear evidence that artificial sweeteners are related to cancer in humans. However, it is noteworthy there are numerous studies, which have performed on rats and these sweeteners have been linked to cancer.

Aspartame raises the red flag because it contains phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol – three know neurotoxins. Methanol can break down to formaldehyde, also a toxin, and can accumulate in your cells and cause serious health concerns.

When choosing sugar substitutes, it pays to do your research. Become the informed consumer. Sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners may help with weight management, but they are not the solution to your weight management. Just because foods are labeled “sugar free”, you can still gain weigh if they have other ingredients that contain calories. some which are harmful to your body.

Learn how to use other sweeteners that are more natural, such as agave nectar, date sugar, coconut sugar, black strap molasses, and pure maple sugar. Yes, then contain calories, but they contain no harmful additives. Try substituting some of these natural sweeteners and be carful to use moderations in doing so.