Getting the Sweet Out

Getting the Sweet Out

News Flash: Sugar is bad for you. Caught you with that one, didn’t I? Of course not. For many years, beginning with our parents warning us to cut out the candy to scientists telling us that sugar “feeds” cancer, we’ve been told to avoid sugar. But, oh that sweet tooth!

Human beings have a natural craving for “sweet.” In ancient times, people tested foods for safety with their taste buds. If it tasted bitter or foul, put it down. I bet that apple in the Garden of Eden was very sweet. Hmm, seems to be a clue in there somewhere.

Apples are good for you -- as are other fruits which contain the natural sugar fructose. But the processed foods we eat today include too much sugar. Sugar is composed of two types: fructose and glucose. Glucose is metabolized by every cell in your body, but fructose can only be metabolized in the liver. If you are an Olympic athlete, your liver has no problem with fructose. But if you are a couch potato or weekend warrior, fructose in your liver goes straight to fat. This fat affects your liver almost like alcohol. Your liver gets drunk on sugar.

Too much sugar has some other alarming effects. It raises your risk for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Sugar is addictive. Test rats will starve themselves drinking sugared water rather than eating readily available food pellets. Sugar contains no vitamins, minerals or other nutrients. To top it all off, sugar makes you hungry. It turns off the “enough” button in our brains and makes us overeat. 

We are “drunk” drivers in the supermarket lanes; chocolate cupcakes, the glazed donuts, sugary cereals, and super-sized candy bars beckon us to refill our sugar tanks. In the regular American’s diet, sugar is ubiquitous. How can we get the sweet out of our diets? We need to think AA – Aware and Avoid.

Be aware: Read EVERY label. If it says “added sugars,” such as high fructose corn syrup, put it down. Many packaged foods contain added sugars. Even those listed as natural or organic should be avoided. Most juices and bottled drinks contain loads of sugar. When buying foods or eating out, stick to foods that are as close to nature as possible. Eat the apple instead of the applesauce. 

Creamers have sugar. Sauces have sugar. Crackers have sugar. Condiments have sugar. Canned veggies and fruits have sugar. Foods labeled “healthy” have sugar. If you haven’t made it from scratch in your own kitchen, suspect that sugar has been added.

What about that sweet tooth? Save it for the occasional dessert, candy on holidays, and celebrations. Give your liver a break. It is hard to replace — in fact, impossible. Keep it lean and in top form. Be aware. Avoid sugar. Get the sweet out and the healthy life in.