Deceptive Labels
Sugar is public enemy number one. Sugar is a root cause for much of our inflammation. In the past, fats were blamed for cardiac events, but have you ever wondered why cholesterol levels raise and subsequently cause chaos in our arteries? Sugar causes inflammation causing cholesterol to act as a band-aid and forming a problematic plaque. In fact, most often triglyceride levels are elevated from carbohydrates more so than saturated fats. This topic can be further explained in another post. However, how can you cut sugar?
Simply put: Sugars are anything white, anything sweet, and anything that grows below ground. How can you get fiber if you cut out bread? Put chia or flaxseeds in water and drink up! You don’t need bread. How can I have a sweet tooth? Cacao bars. What about vegetables? Buy those that grow above ground for a lower glycemic load and an easy go-to.
Hidden sugars: When you read labels anything ending in -ose is a sugar. Fructose is a natural sugar in vegetables(lower content) and fruits(higher content), but not good to have on a label. Get small amounts of fructose from a fruit or vegetable. Avoid high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose, maltose, lactose, glucose, and dextrose. Remember, in a pinch: -ose is a hidden sugar.
- Sauces: Ketchup, relish, and certain other condiments taste sweet because they are high in sugar content.
- Cereals, breads, oatmeal, grains: Get your fiber from vegetable sources, chia seeds or flaxseed in water. You do not need grains to survive — these are causing more harm than good.
- “Low-calorie, low-fat” foods: Low-fat foods have been pumped with sugar to increase palatability, but also increases your waist line by increasing your insulin.
- Meal replacements: If there is more sugar/carbohydrates than protein or fat, this is not a quality meal replacement.
- Dried fruits: They taste sweet because of their high sugar content.
- Flavored yogurt: The sweetened sensation is typically from added sugar content.
Overall, cutting sugar helps decrease your insulin load. This is helpful for those trying to lose weight, struggling to lose weight, those with hypoglycemia (avoids spikes), those with high blood sugar problems, those with high cholesterol, and even those with high blood pressure (lower insulin levels allows for a natural diuretic effect).
So keep the Sugar to a name we call each other down here, and help keep it out of you by reading those pesky hidden labels!
Best–
K