How I make a conscious decision when eating sugar?

There are good and bad sugar foods. We do know that sugar is bad for our health. However, refraining from eating sugar delicacies is really difficult and when the time comes we tend to give up on our delights.

That’s where the question comes — How I make a conscious decision when eating sugar?

Photo by Jeremy Liew on Unsplash

What happens if you eat too much sugar?

It is one of the worst thing to eat too much sugar. There are several negative effects like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, tooth decay, and cancer are contributions of excessive sugar in your body.

Moreover, sugar is an “addiction”. The more you eat, the more you crave it. Sugar is known for mood swings and cravings.

Why it is important to examine the food?

When you investigate the food you're eating, you actually understand tons of things about it. It is crucial to know what are you eating and what it is doing inside your body or to you. How your body is acting on this food? Don’t be fooled by simple cravings and keep eating. There is a lot more to know about what you are eating.

There are two types of carbs —

Refined or Simple Carbs:

• It implies refined sugar in the food you eat.
• Provide very few minerals and vitamins.
• The body processes these carbs quickly and creates a short burst of energy.
• When this short burst is over, the person has a craving to eat more.
• It might spike up the person’s blood sugar level.
• Example: White bread, pasta, ice cream. Any white flour products, white rice, sweetened yogurt, cakes, pastries, donuts, sodas, juices, cereals…..
• The more you eat refined carbs, the more you want.

Complex or Complete Carbs:

• These carbs are made of long chains of molecules.
• It forces the body to work harder to access the nutrients in the food.
• Fruits, vegetables, and dairy products are examples of complex carbs.
• These products do contain some natural sugar. However, they also contain fiber and protein that slows down the process of producing insulin.

How does your body digest carbs?

When you eat carbs, the pancreas, a gland juxtaposed to your stomach, produces insulin. This insulin contains glucose which is to be consumed by cells for energy purposes. However, if the blood sugar level gets too higher, the excess insulin is transported to reserves. The accumulation of these excess carbs already converted to glucose is stored as fat. The body likes to keep this store for emergency purposes.

Therefore, if you are eating sugar-rich foods, then it is getting converted into fat in your body. Nevertheless, there is a little more caveat to it. Not all sugars are bad.

Sugar is everywhere. It is part of pre-packaged food, canned vegetables, fruits, etc.

How to avoid bad sugar?

It is important to eliminate most of the refined carbs from your diet. I find it easier with several do’s and don’t that worked for me. Below checks help me make concious choice on what to eat, and what not to eat.

1. Stop buying processed foods from the supermarket.
2. Avoid buying canned products with sugar more than 5% of the composition.
3. Do not stock your fridge with refined carbs.
4. Avoid sweetened products. Even avoid sweetened yogurt.
5. Avoid sugar-filled drinks. This includes energy drinks, sodas, and sports drinks.
6. Say no to cakes, donuts, pies, ice-creams.
7. Avoid healthy snacks with too much unhealthy sugar content in it.
8. Avoid shopping for food when hungry. It will help you make better and concious choices.
9. Avoid anything that has sugar aliases in its ingredients list — high-fuctorse corn syrup, maltose, fructose, dextrose, sucrose, maple syrup, rice syrup, and cane sugar. These are some of the most common forms of sugars used in the processed foods.

What to eat or drink?

Build your diet around whole, natural, nutritious food. You’d feel satiated quicker and for longer.

1. Eat whole foods.
2. Eat Full-fat foods.
3. Get whole wheat bread instead of white bread. Make sure there is no added sugar.
4. Prefer dark chocolates for sugar cravings. The higher the cocoa content, the lower the sugar is.
5. Eat dates. They are nutritious and naturally sweet.
6. Water, sparkling water, hearbal teas, coffee are some good alternatives to aerated drinks.
7. Prefer Greek yogurts over sweetened or flavored yogurts.
8. Add protein and fat to your diet. Subtract sugar. This is helpful in reducing appetite and sugar cravings.

Final thoughts:

It is important to make concious choices when it comes to what to eat, and what to avoid.

Excessive sugar in diet could be harmful and has been known for many chornic diseases. Hence, for a healthy living, it is important to avoid obvious sources of sugar by carefully srcutinizing your food while shopping and eating.

It is ok to eat ice cream or a cake on your cheat day. And I’d recommend not to eat more than 2–3 spoons if you decide to eat occassionally. Let that occassion not be everyday. Or I’d say — earn your sugar. If you avoid sugar for 5 days, you can have one or two items on the 6th day. It’s all about making concious choice. You need to decide.

Remember we eat food to live, not live to eat food. Stay healthy by making wise and concious eating choices.

Your opinion, thoughts, questions are always welcomed.

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