Sugar Types, Health and Weight Loss

Sugar Types, Health & Weight Loss

The good news is that sugar itself doesn’t directly make us fat. However, it is responsible for all those cravings, which encourage us to eat foods that are full of fat, so we need to cut out or cut down on sugars as much as possible. Sugar contains ’empty calories’ which means it has no nutritional value to the body.

Sugar is also responsible for tooth decay and linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and skin problems such as acne.

Sucrose

The familiar stuff that comes in the packets and is found in cakes and biscuits.

Glucose

Glucose provides us with natural, energy, and is found in some carbohydrate foods. It is also known as ‘dextrose’. It is better to get our glucose naturally from carbohydrate foods than from sweets and sports drinks.

Fructose

Fructose is what makes fruit taste sweet. It is the sweetest sugar, and is also found in honey. Try buying packets of fructose instead of the normal sucrose sugar. It’s so sweet you only need to use about a THIRD of what you normally use, meaning LESS calories for you.

Lactose

Lactose is also about one third as sweet as normal sucrose sugar.
It is found in milk and dairy products.

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Sugars

Intrinsic (good) sugars are natural sugars found in fruit and vegetables. These sugars are not harmful to our teeth or health.

Extrinsic (bad) sugars are not a natural part of food. These are found in cakes, sweets and biscuits, etc. These are harmful to teeth, and should be avoided.

But, here’s something interesting: if you take an orange which contains natural intrinsic (good) sugar and squeeze it into juice form, it frees the sugar and it then becomes extrinsic (bad) sugar – which is harmful to teeth. So, although fruit juices contain plenty vitamins – they are still bad for teeth.

How To Cut Back On Sugar

• Gradually cut down the amount of sugar in tea, coffee and cereals
• Beware of chocolate, cakes, biscuits and sweets
• Cut down on jams, honey, marmalade, syrup and treacle
• Use low sugar versions of your favourite desserts and sweets
• Buy tinned fruit in natural juice instead of syrup
• Avoid buying sugar and honey coated breakfast cereals
• Choose low-calorie drinks and foods instead of the regular variety
• Add water to fruit juice – it has loads of sugar
• Try having fruit, such as grapes, instead of sugary snacks
• Reward your children with fruit instead of chocolate and sweets, etc.

SOURCE: www.weighless.co.uk

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