Road2HardCoreIron

The Benefits of Not Eating Sugar

The sugar in your diet can either be naturally occurring or added. Naturally occurring sugar is found in foods like fruit and dairy products. Because of this, naturally occurring sugar is accompanied by important vitamins and minerals. The term "added sugar" refers to the sugars and syrups added to foods during processing or preparation. Added sugars contain no essential nutrients and contribute to a multitude of health problems. It is these added sugars that you have to limit in your diet.


Complications of Sugar
Although there’s usually not a single cause for weight gain, eating a lot of added sugar contributes to the problem. Sugar is not only high in calories, it offers no essential nutrients. Sugar also contributes to tooth decay by promoting bacterial growth. The more sugary foods and beverages you eat, the higher your risk of developing cavities becomes. Eating a lot of sugar also contributes to elevated triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood that increases your risk of heart disease.

Sugar Recommendations
The American Heart Association has specific limits for how much added sugar you should consume in one day. Women should limit added sugar consumption to 6 teaspoons, or about 100 calories. Men should limit sugar intake to 9 teaspoons, or approximately 150 calories. Just one can of soda contains about 8 teaspoons of sugar, well over the entire daily recommendation for women.


Reducing Sugar Intake
An obvious way to reduce sugar intake is by not adding sugar, honey, syrup or molasses to any of your foods or drinks. Add fresh fruit to cereal and oatmeal instead of sugar or honey. Cut down the sugar in baking recipes by one-third to one-half; often you won’t be able to tell the difference. Buy unsweetened versions of foods, like fruit spread, applesauce and peanut butter. Check food labels and choose foods that contain little to no added sugar.

Spotting Added Sugar
Added sugar goes by several different names, so it is not always easy to spot on nutrition labels. Look for words that end in –ose, such as sucrose, dextrose, maltose, glucose, lactose and fructose. Agave nectar, cane crystals, corn sweetener, corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, honey, high-fructose corn syrup, molasses, syrup and fruit juice concentrates are also types of added sugars. All ingredients are listed on the ingredient list in descending order by weight, so where the sweetener is listed gives you clues about how much is in the product.


 

How much can it take in? I haven't found a limit yet.  I think my highest carb day has been around 3000 grams, but that is a rare high carb day. If I am depleted, I can consume around 2000 grams before I spill over.

My typical high carb day is 400-500 grams, medium carb day is 200-250 grams and low carb day is less than 100 grams.

There are a lot of studies showing insulin resistance is actually worse in high fat diets (saturated fat diets) than high carb diets.