Sugar Showdown! Finding Healthier Substitutes for Your Sweet Tooth

March 7, 2012 by 1 Comment

It seems like lately, every time you turn on the television or radio, or pick up a magazine there’s a story about sugar and its role in the nation’s growing epidemic of diabetes and obesity. You’ve likely been hearing a new term called Diabesity, which encompasses the intricate relationship between sugar, diabetes, and obesity.

Ever since the American Heart Association’s 2009 recommendation to limit our daily consumption of added sugar to between 100 and 150 calories (vs. the 355+ calories that is actually consumed), the link between our overly sugar-laden diets and our ever-expanding waistlines has become painfully clear.

Understanding the potential health consequences of eating too much sugar is one thing, knowing what to do about it is an entirely different story … Looking at sugar consumption as a long-term health imperative rather than a simple weight management issue might give you the motivation you need to tackle it. Start with small manageable steps and work up from there.

First, aim to significantly reduce your consumption of (and eventually eliminate) highly processed sugars like corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup –which can be addicting and wreak havoc with your blood sugar levels.

The next step (which can also be taken simultaneously) is to substitute whole grains for white flour and add more raw fruits and vegetables. After that, try to uncover all the hidden sources of added sugar that may be sabotaging your best intentions, and find healthier alternatives. I’m talking about sugar that’s added to less obvious things like peanut butter and spaghetti sauces, and frozen, canned, or other packaged foods. Avoid fruit juices with added sugar and watch out for those flavored yogurts that boast only 150 calories per serving! Some of those tiny containers have as much as 45 or 50 grams of sugar per serving!

Last, but not least, become a savvy consumer of alternative sweeteners. The marketplace for alternative and especially natural sweeteners has exploded over the past few years, but with no practical means to evaluate all the options, the average consumer still turns to artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet, Equal, or Splenda, as low-calorie solutions to manage their weight.

The problem with artificial sweeteners is they may actually contribute to obesity because they trick the body into thinking they’re sugar molecules. When the tongue and brain recognize sugar the body produces insulin. Excess insulin in the body is converted into fat, leading to weight gain. Several studies support this finding while others conclude that Aspartame, for example, may be neuro-toxic under certain conditions and should be avoided altogether.

So how can you work your way through the maze of alternative sweeteners (natural and synthetic) to find the right substitute? Here are some quick tips to help you get started:

  1. Compare Glycemic Index Scores. Look first and foremost for the impact of a sweetener on your blood sugar levels. The easiest way is to find its Glycemic Index (GI) score and compare it to that of white sugar (68). The Glycemic Index basically measures how fast carbohydrates convert to glucose in the blood. The higher the number the faster the conversion. Lower numbers are better. Honey is in the 70s, maple syrup is around 55 and high fructose corn syrup is just above 90, while palm sugar is around 35 and agave nectar is in the low teens.

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  2. A Sugar By Any Other Name. Make sure that your sweetener of choice isn’t simply another version of white sugar. Most of the sugar in the food and beverages that people purchase at the supermarket is refined cane sugar. Evaporated sugar cane juice is simply the solid that remains when sugar cane juice evaporates. It’s considered less refined than white sugar but has the same GI score so avoid products made with this sweetener.

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  3. Weigh Pros & Cons. Not all natural sweeteners are created equal. Some have better GI scores than sugar but no nutritive benefits. Others like Molasses, are high in minerals and antioxidants but not suitable for broad use as a sweetener. Stevia has added health benefits, almost no calories, and a GI score of zero, but sometimes leaves a bitter after taste. Sugar alcohols like Xylitol and Erythritol are very low in calories and have dental health benefits but are not natural and if eaten in excess, can have a laxative effect.

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  4. Context, Texture and Taste. Find out which natural sweeteners work best for sweetening beverages and which work best for cooking and baking. Many times, these may not be one and the same. Erythritol and Stevia are often recommended for sweetening beverages, while Brown Rice Syrup (made from sprouted brown rice) and Agave tend to work better for baked goods. Keep in mind, the latter are liquids so they can’t be used spoon for spoon as a substitute for table sugar in recipes.

Above all, stay open minded and willing to experiment with different types and brands of sweeteners, until you find the right combination for your particular needs. Remember to balance your taste buds’ needs with your body’s overall health needs and don’t rely strictly on substitutes as a way of managing your weight or your blood sugar levels. Try to get most of your sugar from natural sources and limit the amount of sugar per serving to 12 grams or less.

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Is Your Love Affair with Sweets Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Efforts and Putting You at Risk?

February 3, 2012 by 1 Comment

It’s a new year and every new year brings with it “New Year’s resolutions” designed to help us improve our lives in some way –either by ditching a bad habit or acquiring some new good habits. By far, the most common New Year’s resolutions have something to do with losing weight or getting into shape. And somehow, no matter how well intentioned these resolutions are, for many of us, our weight loss efforts never seem to really get off the ground.

If losing weight and getting into shape were that simple we all would have accomplished it by now! The truth is, there are many factors that contribute to weight gain, and consequently our ability to successfully manage our weight. While most of us are focused on how to lose weight we may be ignoring an even more insidious health threat that coincidentally, also hinders our ability to diet successfully.

Whether you follow the weight loss advice of health gurus like Dr. Oz or Dr. Mercola, or if you keep up with the latest findings on weight loss, one thing is becoming very clear: managing your body’s insulin response is the key to not just weight loss but to ultimate health. That’s because too much sugar creates a cascade of health problems that not only hinder our attempts to lose weight and keep it off, they put us at risk for chronic inflammation which is now considered to be the main contributing factor in the development of most diseases –including heart disease and even cancer.

The statistics on sugar consumption are staggering. By one estimate, the average American consumes over 150 pounds of sugar and sweeteners (like corn syrup) every year! Phew! That’s a LOT of sugar. According to research and analysis firm Datamonitor, U.S. consumers’ reliance on sugar and sweeteners for total energy consumption is more than twice the global average.

Other studies indicate that 75% of the American diet is made up of refined carbohydrates like sugar, white flour, white pasta and potatoes. It turns out that sugar is actually more fattening than fat. What that means for anyone who is serious about losing weight and getting healthy is cutting way back on sugar and simple carbohydrates, which your body quickly converts into sugar!

Sugars and starches are carbohydrates and carbohydrates are one of our body’s main sources of energy (the other being fat). When your body needs energy it will first look for carbohydrates to burn as fuel. If there are fewer sources of carbohydrates available, then your body will break down your fat reserves for energy. That’s the key to successful weight loss and maintenance. By limiting your intake of sugars and starches, you force your body to use up your fat reserves instead.

What happens if you don’t? The opposite. When you consume more sugar than your body needs for energy, your blood sugar becomes elevated so your pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin. Insulin is designed to balance blood sugar by carrying glucose to your cells where it is normally burned off for energy. Storing sugar in these cells is your body’s way of balancing its blood sugar levels. This is a normal insulin response. But if we consume more sugar than our body needs for energy then the excess insulin in our blood is stored as fat to be burned for energy at some point in the future.

Like it or not, most of us have become addicted to sugar in one if not all of its various forms. Our love affair with sweets leads to consistently elevated blood sugar levels. When that happens, our energy-burning cells begin to become resistant to the action of insulin (hence the term “insulin resistance”).

If insulin can’t be balanced due to insulin resistance, our entire hormonal system can be thrown out of whack, leading to unintended weight gain and ultimately to diabetes and obesity. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that as we age our metabolic processes slow down and we simply don’t need as many carbohydrates as we did when we were younger, so our continuing overconsumption of sugars and simple carbs makes it all the more difficult to lose those extra pounds!

While weight gain is the most visible result of this hormonal imbalance, a much deeper more insidious process is taking place within our bodies that is far more dangerous to our long-term health. Sugar is acidic, so when large quantities of sugar remain in the body, it creates an acidic and hostile environment that leads to cellular damage and inflammation. This causes us to age prematurely on the inside as well as on the outside.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, sugar and other refined carbohydrates appear to trigger a chemical reaction that creates pro-inflammatory compounds in the body. A conclusion that is further supported by the findings of a 2010 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that women who consume excess sugar are prone to chronic inflammation.

If you’ve resolved to lose weight and get healthy this year, first consider some of the ways you can cut back on your consumption of sugar (especially processed sugars) and simple carbohydrates. Part of the trick is to free yourself from the addictive taste of sweets and the best way to do it is to go cold turkey for a couple of weeks. This may seem difficult at first, but you may also be surprised to learn that after doing without for a while, you no longer crave sweets as much as you once did. If you’re really lucky you might actually find the overly sugary taste of certain foods a turn off to your taste buds!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Donya Fahmy, is a green business owner and the creator of Dropwise Essentials’ spa-quality aromatherapy body products that help you safely relieve stress, increase vitality, improve confidence, or simply manage your emotional state any time or place without popping a pill. For more free tips and valuable information visit http://www.dropwise.com and subscribe to the Dropwise Health & Beauty News Ezine or blog feed.

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