Sugar: the devil du jour
Brian St. Pierre knew things had gone too far when a client emailed him three times in one day asking for advice on his salsa purchase. The client feared the sugar content would derail his health goals. “Dude, it’s salsa,” thought St. Pierre, a registered dietitian in Scarborough, Maine, and director of performance nutrition at Precision Nutrition. “[Buy] whatever kind you like.” Others are suffering from sugar phobia, too. “Back in the ’80s, it was anti-fat, and now it’s anti-sugar,” says Joy Dubost, a registered dietitian and food scientist in the District of Columbia. And while sugar isn’t a health food, it can have a place in a healthy diet. Here’s when and why:
1. It’s in its natural form.
Panicking about naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables and dairy is missing the point for most people. After all, sugar’s contribution to conditions like obesity, heart disease and diabetes has more to do with its abundance in diets filled with highly processed foods. Plus, many factors, including smoking and a lack of physical activity, contribute to chronic disease risk. “Things aren’t black or white,” St. Pierre says. If you are trying to rein in your sugar intake, swap in more natural forms — say, whole fruits instead of juice, suggests Dr. Michael Clearfield, dean of Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine. “Try to eat foods as you would have 100 years ago,” he says.
2. It’s a minor part of your diet.
Eating a doughnut for breakfast, a candy bar for a snack and a soda for a pick-me-up is one (not so healthy) thing. Eating overnight oats with brown sugar for breakfast, dried fruit for a snack and tea with honey for a pick-me-up is another (perfectly reasonable) thing. “The recommendations [say] you should have no more than 10 percent of total calories coming from added sugar,” Dubost says. The average American consumes 13 percent. If that’s you, focus on limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and baked goods like cookies and cakes. Then, step up your label-reading game. To your body, “natural” sweeteners like agave are no different from artificial sources like high-fructose corn syrup, Dubost says.
3. It makes healthy food palatable.
Would oatmeal topped with any other seasoning taste as sweet? Would salad without honey mustard make the menu? Does a spoonful of sugar really help the medicine go down? Just like when people obsess about eliminating carbohydrates, “if a few croutons helps someone eat their vegetables, I’m OK with that tradeoff,” says St. Pierre, also a strength and conditioning coach. After all, sugar is in our food supply for a reason, Dubost says. “We all inherently love the sweet taste of sugar; however, sugar plays roles in other ways,” she says. “It can enhance other flavors, it plays a role in color development of products … and it also helps to stabilize food.”
4. You need quick fuel.
There’s a reason hunter-gatherers aren’t just called hunters: They needed quick, accessible sources of fuel (think berries) to keep them running until they killed their dinner. Same goes for modern-day folks who engage in any type of physical activity — be it a marathon or a long family bike ride — for more than a few hours. “You want things that are more easily digestible that provide ready-to-use energy,” St. Pierre says. Read: not carrots or a chicken breast. Even some fruits can be too fibrous to digest comfortably while in motion. Plus, there’s the practicality factor. “You’re not going to bring oatmeal with you on a hike that’s six hours,” St. Pierre says.
5. It’s not your default response to negative emotions.
So you had a bad day and want a chocolate chip cookie. That’s human nature. “No one is reaching for a boiled potato when they feel that way,” St. Pierre says. Occasionally answering that call doesn’t have to be a big deal — if you can say, “I’m making an informed choice, I’m eating this to help me feel better, I’m going to eat it slowly and stop when I’m satisfied,” St. Pierre says. If one cookie inevitably leads to 10 or if food is your only coping mechanism, however, consider working with a professional to develop other skills. “Eating the cupcake every day isn’t the answer,” St. Pierre says. “Dose matters and consistency matters.”
6. It’s part of a meaningful social experience.
Whether it’s getting in line for a slice of grandma’s famous pie at Thanksgiving, licking an ice cream cone with your kid at the beach or getting to know coworkers over syrupy barbecue ribs at a company cookout, sometimes, the health benefits of strong relationships and positive life experiences outweigh the health consequences of added sugar. “Keep your life picture in mind; nutrition is not the be-all, end-all — it’s to help you live a meaningful, joyful life,” St. Pierre says. “There’s a big social component to eating a meal with somebody. You’re going to have less-than-ideal things in those scenarios. Be aware of that; be OK with that.”
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6 Darn Good Reasons to Eat Sugar and Not Apologize for It originally appeared on usnews.com
