HEALTH
Recently I have been listening to TED Radio Hour, a podcast supported by NPR that airs weekly and features speakers who have new ideas regarding the latest technology, entertainment and design. “The Food We Eat” aired on November 18, 2016, and featured the connection between food and humans. One speaker, Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist, spoke about the rising rates of obesity. Instead of repeating vague mantras we all know, like “eat less” and “exercise more”, Dr. Lustig has a more tangible science based catchphrase “A calorie is not a calorie”. In other words, the body processes calories differently and not all carbohydrates are bad, though sugar is the worst.
The body can digest sugar when it is found naturally with fiber, like in fruits or vegetables. However, sugar is hidden throughout our processed food because the food industry has found that it is a cheap preservative, maintaining shelf life at low costs. Sugar is detrimental to the body as it changes the hormones that determine hunger and stimulates dopamine, a neurotransmitter that controls reward-motivated behavior. This in turn, causes the body to seek out more sugar, wreaking havoc on the metabolic system and leading to diseases like diabetes. Natural fiber helps slow the absorption, controlling the rise in blood sugar. Blood sugar is used as a quick source of energy in the body, however given today’s lifestyle trends, the elevating blood sugar is not used appropriately and then converted to fat triglycerides in the liver.
So, what can we do?
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting the amount of added sugars you consume to no more than half of your daily discretionary calories allowance. For most American women, that's no more than 100 calories/ 6 teaspoons/ 24 grams of sugar per day. For men, it’s no more than 150 calories / 9 teaspoons/ or 36 grams of sugar per day.
Below is a list of hidden sugar examples. Many of these foods we consider to be “healthy” however they have high rates of sugar with not enough fiber that we need for digestion.
Dr. Lustig provides some tips to help decrease sugar and improve our diets.
DO
• Shop the edges of the store, not aisles for real food
• Eat fruit as dessert, and if you’re craving cookies or cake, make your own
• Up your fiber intake. Fiber protects your liver from sugar, says Lustig, and keeps you from overeating.
DON’T
• Buy processed food. “If it comes with a label,” says Lustig, “think of it as a warning label.”
• Drink your calories. Avoid soda, sports drinks and juice
• Buy anything that has sugar as one of the first three ingredients
• Shop hungry—it leads to poor food choices
Links
• TED Radio Hour: “The Food We Eat”
• AHA Sugar 101
Sources
• Goodfriend, Wendy; Pope, Shelby; “Sweet Revenge: Dr. Robert Lustig Explains How to Cut Sugar, Lose Weight and Turn the Tables On Processed Foods”. KQED Food, August 6, 2014
• Oaklander, Mandy; “10 Hidden Sugar Bombs”. Food Nutrition Advice. Prevention Magazine.
