Sugar, baby! - FACTS

Sugar is not THAT 'sweet' as you think...

What is sugar?
Most commonly processed sugar cane or sugar beet plant in granular form. From plant to granular form involves several chemical processes. 
So this is the "common" sugar.
Apart from this, there are many types of sugar and not all of them are bad!
1. sucrose or saccharose - common sugar - VERY BAD!!!
2. fructose - fruit sugar (this is the good type of sugar!) - THE BEST POSSIBLE!
3. lactose - found in milk - LACTOSE ITSELF IS NOT BAD FOR YOU (it is if you suffer from lactose intolerance) BUT MILK IS and we gonna talk about this later
4. glucose or dextrose - grape sugar - THIS IS GOOD IF YOU NEED INSTANT ENERGY FOR YOUR BRAIN BUT DON'T EAT IT REGULARLY [Glucose is an energy source for the body. It is the main source of energy for the brain, and when glucose levels are low, person's mental abilities may be impaired.]

How does it work in your body?
All sugars are broken down by the body into glucose and fructose and are processed in the liver. Sugars are converted into glycogen or fat for storage, or kept as glucose in the blood for use in the body's cells. So it's the quantity you consume that makes the difference to your health. When people eat a diet that is high in calories and high in fructose, the liver gets overloaded and starts turning the fructose into fat.

How much sugar should you take in a day maximum - IF YOU ARE NOT ON DIET?
Added sugars shouldn't make up more than 10% of the energy you get from food and drink each day. This is whether it comes from honey, fruit juice and jam, or soft drinks, processed foods or table sugar. This works out at about 70g a day for men and 50g for women, although this can vary depending on your size, age and how active you are. Fifty grams of sugar is equivalent to 13 teaspoons of sugar a day, or two cans of fizzy drink, or eight chocolate biscuits.
Got it? Not 1.5 litre of Coke! And not a full box of chocolate biscuit! And anyway... as we know already, fast-food and pre-made food contains lots of lots of sugar already! So - you should NOT take any added sugar ANYWAY! And IF YOU WANT TO GET SLIMMER, YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE ANY ADDED SUGAR!!! Just watch:

Eating a lot of fructose IN THE FORM OF ADDED SUGARS may:

• Make your liver synthesize fats, which are exported as VLDL cholesterol, which leads to dyslipidemia (blood tryglicerides and cholesterol), fat around the organs and ultimately, heart disease
• Increase blood levels of uric acid, leading to gout and elevated blood pressure
• Cause deposition of fat in the liver, potentially leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Cause insulin resistance, which ultimately leads to obesity and type II diabetes
• Insulin resistance leads to elevated insulin and insulin like growth factor in the entire body, which may ultimately cause cancer
• Fructose doesn’t affect satiety in the same way as glucose, making you eat more total calories automatically if your fructose intake is high
• Excess fructose consumption may cause leptin resistance, throwing body fat regulation out of whack and contributing to obesity
• Sugar may be downright addictive

What's more, lots of sugar can cause CANDIDA!
Yeast infections are caused by an overgrowth of the normal yeast in the body. So foods that the yeast is feeding on can promote yeast growth and lead to an infection. In small quantities, many yeasts are harmless.  However, under the right conditions, some of them, such as Candida Albicans, overgrow and become pathogenic.

What contains lots of yeast?

• Hydrogenated oils
• Sugars
• White sugar
• Brown sugar
• Syrups
• Honey
• Fructose
• Sorbital
• Dried fruits and fruit juice
• Vinegar and condiments containing vinegar (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressing)
• Starches
• Refined carbohydrates
• White flour
• White rice
• White potatoes
• What Grains
• Yeast and yeast containing products
• Beer
• Mushrooms
• Bread
• Cider
• Fruit skins
• Malt beverages
• MSG (often extracted from autolyzed yeast extract or from wheat)
• Wine
• Yeast Extract

When in the supermarket it's worth remembering that produce is classed as high in sugar if it contains more than 15g in 100g and low in sugar if it has less than 5g per 100g. 

It’s important to realize that all of this does NOT apply to fruit.
Fruits aren’t just watery bags of fructose, they are real foods with a low energy density and lots of fiber.
They’re hard to overeat on and you’d have to eat ridiculous amounts to reach harmful levels of fructose. In general, fruit is a minor source of fructose in the diet compared to added sugars.
The harmful effects of fructose apply to a western diet supplying excess calories and added sugars. It does NOT apply to the natural sugars found in fruits and vegetables.