All about sugar (our top tips on how to enjoy sweet treats, without the crash!)
Written by Dr Marissa Kelaher, graphics by Dr Taisia Cech
Are you confused about sugar, and not sure what to believe? You're not the only one... so let's take a look at the facts!
With so much conflicting advice going around regarding sugar, fruit, carbs, and artificial sweeteners, it's no wonder no one knows what to think.
Is sugar good or bad? What about fruit? What's the deal with fructose? Are artificial sweeteners OK? And are carbs just sugar in disguise?
Fortunately, when you look a bit deeper into the science, it's actually much clearer - and also fairly simple. Nutrition doesn't have to be complex, and we believe food is there to be enjoyed, not feared!!
So what is sugar anyway?
While sugar is the common name, in reality 'sugar' is a term for short chain carbohydrate molecules. These can be a single molecule (monosaccharide), or two joined together (disaccharide).
The smallest sugar molecules are glucose, fructose, and galactose, which are all monosaccharides. When these join together in different combinations, they become disaccharides, such as lactose (found in milk), and sucrose (table sugar). The graphic below gives a few examples, as well as the ‘sweetness’ rating of different sugars.
When sugar molecules combine in longer chains still, they become carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates can be either simple carbs (with not many chemical bonds) or complex (longer molecules, with more bonds).
The longer the ‘chain ‘ the more complex the carb, meaning our body has to work harder to break them apart into single sugar molecules to use them for energy.
When carbohydrates are refined (such as turning brown rice into white rice), this process also strips the fiber and many other nutrients.
This means the carbohydrates in these foods are more rapidly digested and absorbed (as fibre is hard for our body to digest, and therefore slows down absorption of the foods it is attached to).
The end result is that refined carbs tend to ‘spike’ blood sugar far more than whole grains (such as brown rice, whole wheat flour etc), which is why we advise limiting them in your diet, especially if you have issues with high blood sugar or prediabetes.
While in reality the science has far more complicated, its a good general concept to use.
What happens when we eat sugar or carbs?
For our body to use sugar or carbohydrates as fuel, our digestive system first has to break the molecules apart into single sugar molecules, so they can be absorbed through our intestinal wall into our blood stream.
Our body then releases a hormone called insulin, that lets our cells take these sugar molecules in, and start using them for energy.
Glucose is one of the most essential parts of our body’s energy cycle - energy is produced in each cell by little ‘energy factories’ called mitochondria - and glucose are their favorite fuel!
Any extra glucose we don't use up immediately is stored in our liver as glycogen, which is released later on - providing a steady source of energy for our cells.
This is why carbohydrates are an important part of a balanced diet, and why humans have eaten carbohydrates for our entire history.
So moving on, this obviously means the REAL issue with sugar is not actually the sugar molecules themselves then, but instead how much of them we eat, and how we eat them…..
As we mentioned earlier, as simple sugar molecules are so small and contain very few chemical bonds, they are very easy for our body to digest and absorb. This means when we eat foods with lots of added sugar, or foods that have the had the fibre removed (ie fruit juice, white rice or white flour) the sugar molecules are absorbed quickly, causing a ‘spike’ in blood sugar levels.
A blood sugar spike simply means too many sugar molecules get into our blood stream over a short space of time.
When this happens, our body can't produce enough insulin to keep up, and to take all the molecules up to use as fuel (or store as glycogen). So the concentration of sugar molecules rises and our sugar (and insulin) levels ‘spike’.
We will cover why blood sugar spikes aren't that great soon..
In contrast, foods that still have fibre in them (such as whole fruit, whole grains, and legumes) are absorbed quite slowly, as they're much harder for our body to break down and digest. This means that even though whole grains and fruit still contain sugar molecules, they provide a wonderful gradual release of energy into our blood, as our body can keep up, and our cells can use these as they are absorbed - avoiding ‘spikes’.
Sugar gets a lot of bad press, but in WHOLE foods, and as part of a balanced diet, sugars are actually fine!! The real problem arises in our Western diets - when we eat large amounts of added sugar or refined carbs all at once, and our bodies get overwhelmed.
The history of sugar…
Traditionally, human diets have generally been very high in fibre, whole plant foods, and slow to digest complex carbs - as these are how foods are packaged in nature.
These are the foods that feed our gut microbiome, fuel our cells, and provide many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants - all the good stuff.
Its only since we've figured out how to process foods in modern times, remove the fibre, and added lots of sugar to make them taste sweet , that the problems have arisen - as reflected in our rapidly increasing rates of diabetes and other chronic diseases!!
A staggering 70 percent of prepackaged foods contain added sugar, and the baby food and childrens snack section is even worse…
And unfortunately, the push to make foods ‘low fat’ for heart health has simply meant that food producers added sugar to them instead to improve the flavour… and as a result our sugar consumption has skyrocketed over recent decades.
As a society, we've gone from eating 1.8kg sugar /person /year, to 68kg/person /year - in less than 300 years 😮
Why are high sugar foods and refined carbs not so good for us?
As we covered above, the key is how quickly we digest and absorb sugar molecules. This is also called the glycemic index of foods - a higher glycemic index means our blood sugar rises more when we eat them.
In general, foods that are low in fibre, are highly processed, have more added sugar, or are ‘refined ‘carbs (have been processed to remove the fibrous parts) have a higher glycemic index than whole foods. And when we eat large amounts of food with a high glycemic index, our cells simply can't take up the sugar molecules quickly enough, and our blood sugar (and insulin levels) rise.
This rise in our blood sugar does three main things:
✔️ It makes the mitochondria in our cells produce harmful stress molecules (free radicals), which travel around our body causing inflammation, damaging cells and DNA, and creating ‘oxidative stress ‘. Free radicals are linked to heart disease, cancer, and more.
✔️ It creates advanced glycosylated end products (AGEs), which accelerate ageing and cause cell damage. AGEs cause premature aging, skin wrinkles, damage to organs, and are one of the main markers of biological aging!
✔️ It triggers insulin spikes and fat storage in our liver, causing type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and fatty liver.
What about type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease?
Carbs are often blamed for diabetes and fatty liver disease, and as a result many people are told to treat these they must go low carb.
But is this true?
While low carb diets can certainly help with short term weight loss, and can improve blood sugar by default (as they contain very little carbs), it's actually not necessary to cut out carbs to treat them.
As it's not the carbs themselves that are at fault, it's the type of carbs, and how they're balanced with the rest of our diet that's key!
This is reflected by the fact that many higher carb whole food diets (such as vegan or vegetarian diets) are associated with some of the LOWEST rates of type 2 diabetes and fatty liver, and are also a recognised way to reverse these, as recommended by the Australian Diabetes Society.
As we've covered, when we eat carbs, our body releases insulin to let our cells take up and use the glucose that's released.
If we eat too many refined carbs/foods with added sugar, or huge meals that spike our blood sugar all at one time, our insulin also spikes. Over time, if we repeatedly eat foods that cause big insulin spikes, our body produces more and more insulin to try to cope.
Eventually, our cells become ‘resistant’ to this insulin, leading to prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. And as our liver is also where excess glucose and fructose is stored, if we constantly eat foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates, our liver starts to store this excess energy in fat cells… leading to fatty liver disease, and high triglyceride levels.
So rather than cutting out all carbs, the key is looking at the TYPE of carbs you're eating; trying to replace refined carbs with whole grains; reducing foods with added sugar, and ensuring you balance this with lots of high fibre foods (such as above ground veges) and enough protein
The picture below gives you an idea of how to balance a healthy diet that still contains carbs
The lowdown on fructose
Fructose is worth a special mention, as its a common topic for confusion.
Fructose is one of the three simple sugar molecules we mentioned at the start, and is what makes fruit taste sweet. Our body actually can't use fructose directly for energy, but has to convert it into glucose in our liver cells.
Does this mean fruit is bad then?
NO!!!
Again, like glucose, the key is in how it's ‘packaged’ and how we digest it. As whole fruit also contains fibre, we digest and absorb the fructose from fruit slowly, meaning our body can keep up, and convert it to glucose as its absorbed. Fruit has many health benefits - it's full of vitamins, minerals, and anti oxidants, and is linked with lower rates of most chronic diseases.
Fructose in processed foods is an entirely different matter though…
Refined fructose is one of THE most common sweeteners used in ultra-processed foods, as its cheap, stable and easy to produce. This means many processed foods contain added fructose - soft drinks in particular are some of the worst. When we eat foods high in added fructose, our body can't cope with the huge amounts of fructose released into our blood stream over a short time - meaning it ends up getting stored again as fat in our liver 😳
High fructose sweeteners have been linked to higher rates of obesity, inflammation, diabetes, high triglycerides, and fatty liver disease. So if you can, stick to whole fruit, and skip the foods with fructose based sweeteners 😉
Our top tips to enjoy sugar in a healthy way
Eat whole foods, such as fruit or whole grains - these contain fibre, which creates a 'mesh' in our gut, slowing sugar absorption, and avoiding blood sugar spikes. Fruit is also great to sweeten baking! If in doubt, go for whole foods as sweeteners - there is actually very little difference between different types of added sweeteners (despite the marketing) - they are all still refined sugar! Check out our blueberry bran muffins for some inspiration 😉
Limit sweet drinks, fruit juice, refined carbs (white flour, rice) and foods with added sugar - they have very little fibre, and cause huge spikes in blood sugar. Avoid, or have in small amounts as treats. Choose whole grains over refined (ie brown rice, wholemeal pasta or bread) and limit to 1/4 of your meal (see pic below)
If you can, try use unrefined flours (such as wholemeal flours), ground nuts or seeds (ie almond/coconut flour, LSA meal) or legumes (check out our black bean brownies here), in baking, as these are also packed full of other nutrients, and don't generally spike blood sugar. We have lots of whole food baking recipes in our Reboot and nutrition courses - that taste incredible, while being very low in added sugar!
Order your foods. Veges and legumes contain fibre; while protein and fat slow stomach emptying and how quickly we digest and absorb meals. Eating high fibre foods at the start of a meal, then protein/fat, and carbs last of all, can reduce blood sugar spikes (as it slows down how quickly we absorb sugar molecules into our blood.)
Try 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water before meals - this can reduce blood sugar significantly
Avoid high GI breakfasts - many cereals are made of refined carbs and are high in added sugar - check the nutrition label, anything with more than 10g of sugar /100g is high in sugar. 5g of sugar is equivalent to 1 tsp of sugar, many cereals have the equivalent of several tablespoons per serving!! Instead try aim for whole grains, protein (via nuts, seeds, or yoghurt), veges or legumes to start your day. We have some great breakfast recipes in our Reboot and nutrition courses.
Exercise after meals - muscles mop up glucose, and need little (or no) insulin. Even 10 minutes helps! And you don't have to hit the gym for it to count - going for a walk, doing a short home workout, dancing around the house, or even playing with your kids all counts!
Like everything we teach in nutrition, its all about balance, looking at the overall picture, and aiming to fill your diet with whole, mostly plant foods. This doesn’t mean being scared of foods, or restricting them - but it’s important to keep treats as treats, rather than everyday food!
What we feed our body determines so much of our health and well-being, and if we nourish our body and mind, it really does pay off. If you'd like to know more, please check out our Reboot and nutrition modules - we’d love to see you there ❤️