Sugar

Hey y’all,

Let’s have a chat about sugar. It’s in almost all refined foods, and we’ve all heard that a lot of sugar isn’t good for our bodies, but what’s really the problem?

First, let’s narrow down what kind of sugar we’re talking about. The problematic sugar is fructose (That Sugar Film). Fructose is in everything because of corn syrup. In nature, fructose is found in small quantities in fruits and vegetables. Fructose in whole fruit/veggies is fine, because it has the fiber of the whole fruit/vegetable to naturally tell our bodies to stop eating before we get too much sugar. However, this doesn’t work if you drink fruit juice, and that’s pretty much what corn syrup is. The corn is mashed to a pulp and all the fiber is strained out, leaving only the juice behind (for table sugar, this juice is dried to crystals).

Fructose in large quantities is pretty rare in nature, and the body has trouble dealing with the fact that we get so much fructose in our modern lives. Every time we eat anything with any kind of sugar, our bodies make insulin. (Insulin basically escorts the sugar to cells for storage/use) Whenever this insulin is present, it actually turns off our ability to burn fat (That Sugar Film, The Healthy Life). Yes, sugary foods can make us gain weight, but it’s not because of the calories. Sugar doesn’t actually have that many calories. The weight gain is because of this phenomenon. Not only does too many sugary treats usually have a lot of extra calories from the other parts of the food (flour, dairy, etc.), but insulin doesn’t allow for fat to be burned (that’s why it’s better to exercise when you haven’t eaten for 3-4 hours because no insulin is present).