It's National Nutrition Month, so let's revisit a post about sugar...
No doubt about it, sugar is a hot topic for anyone wanting to lose weight. Many clients tell me that they are addicted to sugar. Well, it does affect the same "feeling good" brain hormones as many street drugs. When you eat too many sugary foods, it alerts the part of the brain that controls how much we eat. Unlike fat or sodium, you don’t actually have a physical need to eat sugar. It has zero nutritional value. However, your body naturally turns food into sugars (glucose) to fuel the body and brain. Artificial sweeteners trick our body about how food should be metabolized.
We know that foods, like candy and ice cream, are high in sugar. But you may be surprised at the high amount of sugar in foods that you wouldn’t expect. It’s added to most processed foods and beverages. Sugar is added because of flavor but also because it can help preserve foods, fuel fermentation (like in bread) and serves as a bulking agent. Sugar occurs naturally in foods like fruit, milk, vegetables and even some grains. Remember sugar has 0 nutritional benefit!