According to WHO recommendations, the proportion of sugar should not exceed 5-10% of all calories consumed during the day. At the same time, a large glass of caramel frappuccino contains 300 calories and 48 g of refined white sugar. And that’s not counting the whipped cream caps.
Let’s figure out why a lot of sugar is bad, how to replace harmful sweets, and stop reaching for “this last” cookie.
Table of Contents
Bad sugar vs. good sugar
Our body is a sugar machine: glucose is its primary fuel and the fastest energy source. Every time you eat foods that are naturally high in carbohydrates, they are immediately converted to glucose. It is absorbed into the bloodstream, which carries it throughout the body, providing energy for metabolism.
At the same time, about a quarter of glucose is consumed by our brain. Therefore, any interruption in the supply of glucose is immediately reflected in mental performance, and a sharp drop in blood sugar can even lead to loss of consciousness.
Keeping glucose at a stable level is critical to brain function.
What’s wrong with sugar?
The fact is that when we talk about “sugar,” we often imagine products of simple, refined sugar and products containing it – conventional candy bars. Yes, such food leads to a sharp jump in blood sugar, and a person feels a surge of energy. But simple sugar is absorbed very quickly, and a wave of energy is followed by a sharp decline; we feel lethargic, tired, and go for the next portion.
Riding sugar slides is terrible for your health. The hormone insulin regulates blood sugar levels. It is produced in the pancreas when we eat foods high in sugar. Insulin helps cells and tissues metabolize this sugar for energy while at the same time removing excess sugar from the bloodstream.
If you eat a lot of sweets (especially refined white sugar), your pancreas will be in constant tension. As a result, insulin sensitivity can be lost entirely. When the pancreas is not doing its job, blood sugar levels remain elevated despite the amount of insulin secreted. This can lead to insulin resistance – the body produces it but cannot use it effectively. If a person has insulin resistance, blood glucose rises, disrupting the overall metabolism in the body—potential consequences: increased fat accumulation, damage to brain health, risk of diabetes.
In general, being a sweet tooth is not at all great.
Helpful Sources of Glucose
Lisa Mosconi, the author of Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power, advises focusing on low-glycemic and fiber-rich foods.
Glycemic index
A good help for those looking to track their sugar intake is the glycemic index. It is a metric that helps classify foods based on their ability to raise blood sugar levels. If sugar from a product quickly enters the bloodstream, it is assigned a high index, and those products that slightly raise blood sugar are assigned a low index. In addition, it is essential to know the glycemic load. This indicator reflects how quickly sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream and how much fiber it contains (the more, the better, since it reduces the time the sugar remains at a high level).
Cellulose
Foods that quickly increase sugar levels and are poor in fiber are the worst things we can eat. These include sugary drinks, fruit juices, pastries and sweets, and white flour dishes like pasta and pizza. But complex carbohydrates and starchy foods rich in fiber are more difficult for the body to digest, so sugar enters the bloodstream more slowly. These include sweet potatoes, fiber-rich berries and fruits (cherries and grapefruit), and vegetables (pumpkin and carrots). Legumes will also provide stable sugar levels while supplying the brain with glucose. In other words, if you have a sweet tooth, fiber is your salvation.
70% cocoa
Don’t despair if you’re not ready to give up sweets entirely. Some foods that were considered harmful until recently have a low glycemic load. These are, for example, dark organic chocolate (70% cocoa and above) or popcorn.
But if it were so easy to replace unhealthy foods with useful ones, you would not start reading this article 🙂
How do we get on the sugar slides
We demonstrate one of the most ancient learning processes known to science today when we can’t refuse tea candy or ice cream with our favorite flavor. In the book The craving mind, the basic principle of this process is described as follows.
We see food that is attractive to us. The brain signals: “These are calories; your survival depends on them!” And we eat. If we like the taste (especially when it is sweet), the body signals to the brain: remember what you eat and where you found it. We fix the process in memory, remembering the experience and location (in professional language, this is called context-sensitive memory), and we learn to reproduce it repeatedly. We see food. We eat. We feel good. We repeat. Trigger – Behavior – Reward.
After a while, our smart brain says, “Hey! I can not only remember where the food is. Why don’t you eat something yummy next time to feel better? “We thank the brain for a great idea, bring it to life and quickly realize that ice cream or chocolate is eaten in a moment of anxiety or sadness improves well-being. This is the same learning process, but with a different trigger – for example, feelings of sadness, which act as an emotional signal instead of a signal of hunger.
Forming a healthy habit
Sean Young, the author of Stick with It, divides people’s behavior into three types: automatic (unconscious), burning (desires that are difficult to control), and ordinary (what we do periodically and consciously).
Constant sugar cravings refer to burning behaviors, along with other addictions such as smoking or constantly scrolling through social media feeds.
To curb burning behavior and replace a bad habit with a good one, the author of the book advises using the following principles: ease, fun, and habit.
- Ease. A simple and effective principle: keep harmful sweets out of reach and healthy ones next to you. The minimum plan is to throw a bag of sweets on the highest kitchen cabinet and put a basket of fruits and vegetables in the center of the table.
- Fascination. Checklists, trackers – any form where you can mark progress. Ideal – to keep in front of your eyes, for example, hang over your desk. And promise yourself a fabulous gift if you last a certain amount of time. Only, mind you, not a cake or a bucket of ice cream.
- Habit. We have already found out that cravings for sweets can be caused not by hunger but by emotions, such as sadness or boredom. Snacking here and there, we may not know how much sugar we eat. Keeping a food diary helps to take control of food – write down everything you eat during the day in a particular application or diary. I use LifeSum; the free version of the app is enough.
Two principles to follow:
-Be honest – every cookie and caramel (even a tiny one) should get into the diary.
-Be kind to yourself – stand in the position of an observer, and do not scold yourself if you find that you are eating much more junk food and sugar than you thought.
This habit will help you develop awareness and understand what factors push you to choose unhealthy foods.
