Sugar, Substitutes and HFCS: What’s Healthier?
- Average person consume 130 lb sugar yearly = 10 lb per month
- Daily = 30 tsp vs 8 tsp recommended
Typical sugar amounts:
Beverages:
- Movie theatre cola = 35 tsp sugar
- DQ vanilla shake –= 31 tsp
- Tim Hortons extra large double double = 9 tsp
Breakfast:
- Yogurt = 7 ½ tsp
- Nutella = 3 tbsp – 7 ½ tsp
- Fruit Loops / frosted flakes = 1 ½ cups or 6 tsp
- Craisins = ½ cup or 9 tsp
- Cinnabon = 19 tsp
- Skittles = 1/3 cup or 11 tsp
Substitutes(natural or processed)
Avoid healthy sounding sugars (halo) as a substitute – all boost sugar levels and give the same signals to the body / none have major nutrients in small amounts.
- Turns off your body’s appetite-control system/ doesn’t suppress hunger and doesn’t let you know when you’re full
- White sugar – stripped of brown sugar
- Brown sugar (molasses) – scarcely more nutrients
- Evaporated cane syrup (sugar with water removed) – processed slightly less
- Agave – controversy / doesn’t cause blood sugar rises (low Glycemic index) but higher in fructose more than HFCS and can cause liver damage and insulin resistance = diabetes.
Safest Sugar Substitutes
- Black strap molasses – iron, potassium, calcium
- Honey – fructose but antioxidants, darker = more nutrients
- Stevia (truvia) – 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar/ leaves of the stevia plant / no longer bitter / uses sweetest part of plant /doesn’t cause sugar spike / best in beverages
- Maple syrup – more nutrients than honey
Warning: High Fructose Corn Syrup
- HFCS – fructose spikes blood sugar quicker / converted to fat by liver / tells body to cling to fat
- Processed / commercial foods / cheaper / shelf life / better taste /
- Used as a sweetener and preservative
- Corn refiners association wants to change name to “corn sugar”
Other sweeteners:
- Approved to reduce calories / weight loss
- Problem = tricks body to think more calories coming = more food
- Sweet and Low – saccharin
- Splenda (sucralose) – soft drinks / candy / frozen desserts / home cooking
- Sugar twin – cyclamate
