Sugar...

[Tessababy]

....can we live without it? I do have a very sweet tooth and I thought I'd go the whole hog and cut it out altogether, now, I'm sure I read sugar are 'empty' calories and we do not need it. Is this right? or do we need a certain amount of it?....

[margrete]

What did we do before sugar became so readily-available? OK, it's a few centuries ago now, but our ancestors did not have access to refined white sugar. Have a look at something called the 'paleo diet' which aims to get back to what we were genetically developed to eat. Basically, if it grows on a tree or in the ground, if it runs, swims or flies...in other words if it hasn't been through an industrial process and/or is artificially-made. Sugar is in most processed foods but it is possible to live without it! Not even as far back as our remote ancestors, have a look at what was eaten during rationing in World War Two. Sweets - just over 100 grams a week.

[lilliput in reply to margrete]

I think that hunter/ gatherer diets are great. Catching protein equals exercise and people must have eaten far more unprocessed veg, grains and friut. Plus less red meat. Before getting fat I did a roughly annual 2 week Carol Vordeman detox. Not of her lol but it did stop my weight from creeping up.

[Beek]

No we don't need sugar - it is a poison!

Take a look at this link and see how you feel:

theguardian.com/commentisfr...

You will be able to follow the links there!

[OlsBean]

As others have said it's not essential for life, in fact I think most would say if anything it's detrimental to life! You should though reduce it from your diet slowly if currently you consume an amount, this will help reduce any withdrawal symptoms (Carb Crash) , it will take 5 to 10 days on average to re-program your taste buds (sweet tooth).

[Hidden]

Hi Tessababy,

Can we live without it - no. We need some degree of sugar in some form or other and it's perfectly right to ingest it in say the form of fructose in fresh fruit, etc.

What we don't need is the huge amounts of added sugars (of various types) that most people's diets include. So very much of our modern food is sweetened up or fatted up as - since about the time of WW2 - we've increasingly perceived eating as a form of luxurious indulgence involving sweet, luscious, creamy foods.

Sensible amounts of sugar in your diet, preferably attached to healthy wholesome and nutritious food, is the way forward and particularly avoid 'empty' calories in sugary foods or drinks that contain almost no other nutrition in them.

Refined beet and cane sugars are a comparatively modern invention when compared to the history of humans and before the arrival of those, people sweetened things with fruit or honey in the main.

[Penel]

As others have said, it's the "added" sugar that is doing us no good. Sugar used to be an occasional treat, now it's hidden in everything from low fat yoghurts to wholemeal bread. Fruit juice also has a high sugar content. This is a recent article written by a cardiologist about the health dangers of too much sugar (weight gain, diabetes etc).

theguardian.com/commentisfr...

Good luck with cutting it out. It was quite a struggle, as I didn't realise how addicted I was!

[lilliput]

Since using MyFitnessPal I've been surprised by the amount of sugar I eat. I'm not over the recommended limit but didn't realise that eg wholemeal bread contained it. I don't have a sweet tooth but eat fruit and tinned tomatoes. The only way to stay within the limit is not to eat conventionally sweet food.

[margrete in reply to lilliput]

If you make your own bread you need a little sugar for the yeast to work on, but that's different from industrial bread production, in which extra sugar is added for the 'shelf life'.

[bruggen]

Suger should be treated like heroin, it is not essential in any form, it is empty of all vitamins and minerals and is pure energy, we could all live the rest of our lives without carbohydrates as suger is one of them. For interests sake have a look at the following zoeharcombe.com/?wpdmact=pr...

I find it very interesting and digging further into Zoe, you will truly become enlightened, personally I would go cold turkey with the sugar withdrawal it will take about five days, fruit is also not good for you as it is a natural sugar delivery system, all processed food as a rule has sugar added, even Mayonaise!

[Tessababy]

Thanks for all your informative replies. I also go on fitness pal and am surprised in the amount of sugar and salt in foods.