Sugar is Sugar…all equally bad!

Sugar is sugar.   A true statement, one that is used as a marketing tool to convince the viewer of the television advertisement that corn sugar, the new moniker for what was previously known consumer wide as high fructose corn syrup, is simply nature’s sugar in another form.  Whether it is corn sugar or cane sugar, the body doesn’t know the difference, says the actor posing as a concerned parent as he strolls through the corn fields while his school age daughter holds onto his hand and skips alongside.  Using a clever framing technique, the producers get the viewer to make the decision that if corn sugar is the same as cane sugar, then it follows that high fructose corn syrup is okay for our kids. 

Well, they are right about one thing.  Sugar is sugar.  Whether it is high fructose corn syrup, corn sugar, natural sugar in the raw, brown sugar, beet or cane sugar, or the refined white sugar in just about every cake and cookie in the world, they are all equally bad.

It is hard to believe, but there are still medical doctors practicing today who claim weight gain is the result of consuming too many calories, more calories than can be used by the body.  It is the old calories in, calories out mantra.  Therefore, according to them, to maintain or lose weight, all one has to do is consume fewer calories than the body can use.  If that were true, I should be able to eat all of my calories in sugar and as long as the total caloric intake is less than what I can use, I should lose weight.   Simple, right?  No, it isn’t.  After decades of yoyo dieting I can give you plenty of anecdotal evidence from my own experience that not only is it not that simple, but it is also not true.  Not all calories are created equal.   The body uses different foods for different purposes and with different processing methods and results. 

Take sugar, for instance.  Not all sugar calories are created equal.  More specifically let’s compare the following two sugars, an added sugar (regular white refined table sugar) one that is added to foods either by you or the processor, such as a pop tart manufacturer, and the natural sugar in a potato.  The regular white refined table sugar is sucrose consisting of half glucose and half fructose and the sugar in a carbohydrate such as potatoes is 100% glucose.  The difference between 100 calories of sucrose and 100 calories of glucose is in how the body metabolizes each.

The fructose in the 100 calories of table sugar that you consume is processed by the liver, whereas the 100 calories of sugar in the potatoes is processed by all of the cells in the body.  In the case of glucose from the potato, with the help of insulin, the body allows the glucose to enter into the cells to be used for energy.  When there is too much glucose, it is stored as fat.  That is where one problem lies.  In the case of fructose, if the amount or rate at which the fructose hits the liver is too much for it to handle, the liver converts the fructose to fat.  That is where another problem lies. 

The difference, however,  is that most people eat potatoes only a few times a week and can certainly use the energy and prevent the conversion to fat.  But, when you down a quart of cola or sweetened fruit juice several times a day, the fructose in liquid form hits the liver immediately and if the rate at which the liver has to convert the fructose is more than the body needs, which is usually the case with soda drinkers, again the liver converts the fructose to fat.  The result is weight gain, a fatty liver and insulin resistance, one form of adult onset diabetes. 

You know that hard to get rid of fat around the middle?  That happens to be where the fatty liver lives.  Eliminate sugar and watch it disappear!   Hmmm, perhaps that explains why women who love their bottle of wine have the same middle profile as the men who love their case of beer and the preteens and teenagers who love their six packs of soda. 

What else besides table sugar is made up of fructose and glucose?  High fructose corn syrup, slightly higher in fructose for extra sweetness, was intentionally developed to mimic the sweetness of table sugar.  Calories in, calories out?  No.  All calories are not the same. 

Now that you know that table sugar and high fructose corn syrup are almost identical and both are equally bad foods, what do you do about it?  You avoid it.  I know that you would not feed Fido a chocolate bar which is toxic to canines, so why would you feed your own body sugar, which is equally toxic.  You should, in fact, avoid all added sugar including that which is expressly labeled on prepared foods whether the label reads sugar, cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn sugar or anything that ends with the letters ose. 

Unless the prepared food has been specifically produced for diabetics, you can be certain that there is sugar lurking somewhere in the ingredients.  Some of the sneakiest offenders are condiments like relish, ketchup, salsa, pickled foods, salad dressings, sauces, jams and jellies, all laced with sugar.  Kool aid, sweetened iced tea, powdered fruit drinks, soda, energy drinks and punch are loaded with sugar as are most prepared baked goods, crackers and chips. 

So what can you do if you are a southern belle who loves her sweet tea or a football fan who loves his sports drinks?  That’s what my next book Good FoodBad Food, Cooking Skills for Life, Volume 2, is all about, finding a feel good food substitute to protect your body from the long term ill effects of bad food like sugar.  The book is due to be out on Amazon in August.  Watch for it!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB

  P.S.  The first in my series of Cooking Skills for Life, Volume 1, As Good As It Gets, is on sale now at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/As-Good-It-Gets-Cooking/dp/1477466886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338323791&sr=8-1   All proceeds will be used toward opening the first eat smart restaurant in upstate SC, first to serve a menu of anti-aging gastronomy.  Thank you for your interest and support.  EAT SMART, AMERICA!