What’s in a name? That which we call sugar
By any other name would taste as sweet.
—With apologies to Shakespeare
Reading nutrition labels and ingredient lists is now second nature to me. It’s not enough to know how big a serving size is and how many grams of carbohydrates are in it. Not all carbs are created equal. Some are simpler than others and cause my blood sugar to spike.
The simplest of carbohydrates is sugar. For keeping my blood sugar levels in control it’s best to avoid sugar, or at least limit it. But sugar goes by a lot of other names. It’s kind of sneaking that way.
Here’s a (partial) list of what I watch out for.
Honey. Yes, it’s made by bees and is natural. It’s natural sugar!
All the “-oses.”Sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, and lactose (as in milk).
Corn syrup, which has gotten some bad press lately about how quickly it causes blood sugars to go up.
Sugars with modifiers, like brown sugar, beet sugar, powdered sugar. It’s sugar, sugar, sugar. Hello!
Whatever it’s called, it’s still sugar and it will still cause blood sugar to rise…quickly and massively. And for health’s sake it’s best to avoid it.
I just ran to the refrigerator to check the ingrediants in my low fat soy drink. It has cane juice. In one cup there is 5 grams of sugar and 70 calories. I will have to check out milk to see how they compare.
Since I began to read from your blog I started a food diary. I want to become more aware of my eating patterns. Let us see if I can do it for a week.
Sugar, sugar it’s everywhere. Just got to be aware of what you’re taking in and what affect it’s having on blood sugar, mood, etc. Remember that milk has sugar in the form of lactose.
Great idea ot keep a food diary. I know keeping mine going really helps me keep on track. Good luck with it!