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Sugar is the general term that we use to refer for the additives we mix on food to make it taste sweet but in high school, we learn during our chemistry class that the sugar we commonly use in food was called sucrose and was formed by the combination of other two sugars called glucose and fructose which are the primary source of our energy. That said, having to consume too much sucrose can result on various complications such as tooth decay, obesity, hearth disease and diabetes so it is important to make sure to regulate our sucrose intake to keep our bodies healthy. In this post, I will tackle the ways by which I try to regulate regulate my sucrose intake.
While glucose and fructose are sugars that our body use to get energy, it does not mean that the only way that we could get them is through sucrose. We can get both glucose on and fructose on most fruits and vegetables so just by eating unprocessed foods, we will be able to get the energy that our body needs. This is why I always prefer home cooking over fast-food like how I told in this post. However, anything that contains sugar can still pose danger to our health. For example, Rice alone, which is our staple food already comes with lots of glucose which is more than enough to make people fat or be diabetic so as much as possible, I limit myself on eating 1 - 1 1/2 cup of rice per meal then eat a lot of the other dish and fruits for dessert when they are available.
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At the same time, instead of drinking sweet beverage, I rather prefer to just drink plenty of cold water. Not only it will satisfy my hydration needs, it is also more effective on alleviating thirst compared to sweet beverage like soda as their aftertaste would always be left in our mouth which sometimes even result for us to drink more soda. On the other hand, water almost have no taste and can even help to remove the aftertaste of whatever we eat. If it really come to a point that I fancy drinking soda, I choose to buy either diet or zero sugar soda.
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That said, even if I reduce my sugar intake, it does not necessarily mean that I can't get ill due to the complications of too much sugar consumption. As an adult, our bodies would just get weaker for each passing years which means that it will be harder for us to maintain normal weight even with a balanced meal. The only way that we can fight this is through exercise which allows us to burn the extra energy produced by the sugars we consume. This does not exactly reduce my sugar intake but by exercising, I unconsciously am removing the excess energy that becomes fat away from my body.
What do you take to replace sugar?
I do not cook that much these days and I'm not that much of an expert when it comes to alternative ingredients for cooking recipes but we use to add pineapple on certain dishes instead of sugar to make them sweet. We also often uses honey as replacement for sugar in our tea and even uses it as fillings for our bread. Last year, I also came to know of a plant called Stevia upon visiting a nearby restaurant as they used it on their dish. So far, I think Stevia was the most flexible alternative for sugar since it can be turn into powder in the future but for now, its production was still limited and cannot yet compete in price of commercial sugar.
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Sugar is an essential source of energy for humans and the consumption of it was not necessarily bad. It only becomes bad for the body when we abuse it and even when there are other safer alternatives around that are more safer than the sugar that we currently use, it is still best if we practice regulation to make our body safe.
Thank you for reading my post and see you on the next one!
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