Fructose and you: your questions answered, part 2

Fructose and you: your questions answered, part 2

Did you check out Part 1, here?

Still with me?

I’m going to break down some sugar facts for you, real quick!

There are several types of sugars.  Some are monosaccharides and some are disaccharides.  There are also polysaccharides, we call these starches and cellulose.  All of these are carbohydrates.  I know you don’t need a biochemistry lesson, so here are the sugars you should know for regular life:

Monosaccharides: simplest form of carbs/sugars; made of one sugar
glucose/dextrose: this is the sugar required by all living cells to, well, live!  About 80% of the glucose we eat goes to our cells for use (energy!); the remaining 20% gets processed by the liver.  A few things to point out about glucose:
-unlike when you consume fructose, the processing of glucose produces insulin.  Insulin is required for the glucose in your blood to be used by your cells, this is a good thing.
-as I said before, glucose is what your body needs for energy, buuuut if you eat more than your body needs it will be stored as fat.
àglucose is like your friendly neighbor that always lets you borrow anything you need, but you have to be careful about how often you take advantage because he talks a lot and you don’t want to be stuck talking to him for hours.
fructose: ok, you should know by now that this is the bad stuff.  It has no use in your body, 100% of it needs to be processed by your liver, plus it all gets converted into fat and does a host of other bad things to you.  Fructose also makes you want to eat more and is highly addictive!  Fructose is the root of almost all disease (including diabetes, obesity, and many types of cancer).
àfructose is like that friend your mom made you stay away from because she was a bad influence and you always made bad decisions around her.  Your mom was right, btw (duh – moms are always right).

Disaccharides: made of two sugar molecules
sucrose (white sugar) = glucose + fructose
lactose (milk sugar) = glucose + galactose
FYI-People who are lactose intolerant are unable to break lactose down into the usable sugars, glucose and galactose.
maltose (rice/barley malt – this is in beer!) = glucose + glucose

So…this brings me to the answer to your question what sweeteners do you recommend?

Short answer, anything that’s not fructose.  That boils down to two:

  1. Rice malt syrup/barley malt syrup (maltose).  You can usually find this at the grocery store or on Amazon

and

  1. Stevia.  Stevia isn’t actually a sugar at all; it’s a plant that just happens to be sweet.  I’m personally not a big fan of stevia’s taste, but it can work well in certain things.  Just beware of artificial sweeteners that contain stevia; if you want to use stevia make sure it’s 100% stevia (it comes in liquid and powder/crystalline form).

And lastly, what about artificial sweeteners, are they good or not?

There are opinions supporting both sides, but after the research I’ve done, it’s an easy answer for me – they are a no go.

Many studies show that people who eat artificial sweeteners often eat more in general.  The sweet taste signals to your brain that energy is coming.  Buuut the energy never comes because your body can’t use those chemical compounds for energy (or anything for that matter), sooo you keep eating.  No good, especially if you’re trying to lose weight.

While I’m getting all scientific on you, several studies have found that “consumption of an artificial sweetener in conjunction with a sugar containing food or drink could lead to more rapid sugar absorption, as well as increased…insulin secretion, potentially affecting weight, appetite, and glycemia.” (Brown, De Banate, and Rother. “Artificial Sweeteners: A Systematic Review of Metabolic Effects in Youth.” International journal of pediatric obesity) No good.

Or, just think about this: do you really want some weird, manufactured chemicals in your body that it doesn’t know how to handle?

Do you use artificial sweeteners?  Have you ever tried rice malt syrup or stevia?  Let me know in the comments or on Facebook!



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