Is sugar the enemy?

You’d be surprised at how much we’re asked this question at www.getfit.com – Particularly at this time of year, with Easter eggs galore and the number of Buy-one-get-one-free deals you see at the checkouts of retail stores.  

Like everything at getfit.com we suggest moderation in everything, but that’s not to say the occasional blow out will not happen in our team – in  our office Easter egg hunt! But for most of us, most of the time, the question does remain – sugar, how much is too much, what type and when, is all sugar the devil…?

This week we are tweeting some of the worst and the best things about sugar and some little known facts that we hope will give you pause for thought before you decide to never touch the sweet stuff again!

 Sugar - how much is too much?

From a scientific perspective too much sugar is more than 10% of your total intake of energy. (for an average woman that is 48 grams (or 8 teaspoons) and for an average man that is 64 grams (or 10½ teaspoons).

Good carbs, bad carbs – can you explain?

It’s easy to polarize things as either “good or bad” and this can be helpful when trying to make changes to your eating patterns. At getfit.com we prefer to use rules of thumb, which allow you to make your own decisions with some helpful guidance. With carbohydrates here are the ones we use.

If it’s bread-like brown is better

So breads, pasta, cereals, rice and the like, the best choice is always whole meal or “brown”

If it’s sweet look to Mother Nature

Never demonize a food that comes straight from Mother Nature. Fresh fruit is the best choice, as you get further away from “as nature intended” the choices get worse.

Does sugar get turned straight into fat?

Despite the picture that most magazines and holistic experts can paint, sugar does not get “sent straight to your hips”. But this is not to say that it doesn’t have an effect on your weight. Your body doesn’t like to turn sugar into fat – it’s actually quite an involved “metabolic job”. Your liver and fat cells are capable of turning sugar into fat, but only in some extreme circumstances (for example when you many more calories than needed AND eat no fat and no protein). In practice your body likes to store sugars in your liver and muscles ready for use during aerobic activity (like walking or sports).

But here is the important part – Sugar increases insulin, which gives your fat cells the message “time to soak up and store some fat”. If you eat high sugar foods that also contain fat (hello chocolate!) then your body will be ready to store the fat in that food. So the sugar doesn’t get turned into fat, but it makes the fat in your food much more likely to be stored (and in the places you don’t want them!).