In recent years there has been a particular crusade against sugar, which many studies are beginning to point to as responsible for the main health problems that threaten the civilized world (cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease) and others dare to label “sweet poison”. Perhaps because of the difference between sugar and glucose (fundamental for our body to produce the necessary energy each day).
Also lately, the press has echoed the pressures of the sugar lobby, and its most emblematic companies, to stop the publication of scientific studies that warned of the risks of sugar for health. Also to dispel its relationship with the obesity epidemic.
And they have done it, precisely by editing contradictory studies or blaming other foods for obesity. Obesity, especially childhood obesity, is being suffered in practically every country in the world, with special intensity in Spain, Mexico, the USA or England.
Food culture
All this noise is helping to make us aware of how our diet affects our health, and more and more people are concerned about knowing what they eat, that is, about their food culture, which is one of the “ingredients” of their diet. Lifestyle.
Food culture can be defined as the
« Formation of eating habits necessary to improve the quality of life and to serve as a basis and allow the population to adopt appropriate and healthy eating attitudes and practices» .
An indicator of this may be the evolution of organic product stores . A few years ago it was practically impossible to find organic products in Spain, despite being an important producer worldwide.
However, today the neighborhood of our cities that does not have some type of establishment that sells them is rare. Even large stores have incorporated ECO (or BIO) products to their shelves.
Keep in mind that eating organic is not only healthier, but also helps to improve the environment. If your pocket allows it, do not hesitate!
We must watch the sugar we eat
As for sugar, if we analyze how it has been introduced into the human diet since its origins, we will be able to understand the effect it has on our body, and thus better understand the risks of excessive intake.
The first thing to consider is the way sugar appears in nature. In general, sugar is present mainly in fruits, in vegetables to a lesser extent, in honey, in some trunks and in the sap of plants such as sugar cane or sweet maple and little else.
In the origins of humanity, sugary foods were not very frequent, and generally had a strong seasonality, that is, they were not available all year round.
A difference between the original sugars and those that we have today in our sugar bowl and added in processed foods, is that the original sugars came in a package along with many other things, such as fiber (regulates the entry of sugar into the blood). and various nutrients, which the so-called free sugar has eliminated.
In this sense, it must be taken into account that all the sugar that is sold comes from natural sources (except for saccharins, which are chemical sweeteners), although this does not imply that they are healthy.
Regarding its effect on the diet, foods rich in sugars mainly provided energy. But also minerals, vitamins and nutrients that helped to complete a diet, which in many cases would be quite deficient. In this way, the energy, vitamins, minerals and micronutrients contribution of these foods was very positive for our development as a species.
In this way, our body developed natural reward mechanisms, to guarantee that when we found a source of these foods we would take full advantage of it (since you did not know how long it would take to find another one).
The problem in our developed societies is that our pantry is an inexhaustible and permanent source of these sugary foods, and the same defensive mechanism that allowed us to survive in its day puts us at risk today.
Excess blood glucose
In addition to the reward system, the body had to develop a mechanism to process sugar, since excess blood glucose (hyperglycemia) causes serious problems .
Thus, when the admissible glucose level is exceeded, insulin is activated, which is basically responsible for finding accommodation for glucose, first in the muscles, if we have worked on them and have room, and then in your “love handles”. » in the form of fat.
This was great in the past, because sugar soon disappeared from the diet, and with shortages, it was good to have stored reserves before days with a lot of physical activity.
An important issue that we often forget is that the body’s main energy reserve is in the form of fat, and this is not a trivial issue, because if we work with a permanent injection of carbohydrates, when do we burn the reserve fat?
In many cases the answer is never, so if reserve fat is not burned, and we continue to store excess glucose in the form of shiny new fat, the result is obesity . And all this without having taken a torrezno.
These two mechanisms of reward and accumulation have not changed much from those times to the present day .
What has changed, as we have seen, is the availability of sugar in the diet and its characteristics. If we add to all this that the multinational food industry has taken advantage of the reward mechanism of our system, to get us addicted to its sugary products to a greater or lesser extent, we have the bomb set.
We are going to close this entry with some practical advice:
- Cut sugar out of your diet gradually, educate your palate to other flavors, and reduce your dependence on sugar.
- Don’t forget that sugar is everywhere, and the least important thing is the teaspoon that you put in your coffee. Eat foods that your grandparents would recognize as food, and cook them yourself instead of industrial and processed. Take control of what you eat.
- If you want to sweeten your food something, use honey, plant saps, molasses, or sweeteners that have nutrients that complement sugars.
- Eat a full fruit before a juice. When making the juice we release the sugars and leave them uncontrolled.
- Nobody is bitter about a sweet, but from time to time, and if possible make it coincide with the day you do physical exercise, which should be a daily and lasting habit.
