Sugar Clarification

twinmom01

In short the reason why Fruit sugar is better for you than table sugar
is that by eating table sugar (Sucrose) our bodies go out of sync with
our sugar levels as the sugar is processed in the body extremely fast
and in doing this the body informs the pancreas to pump out insulin.
Someone with a weak pancreas will have a hard time doing this.
Fructose (Fruit sugar) is broken down more slowly which allows the
body more time to react to the sweetener that has been consumed. This
puts less stress on the body and also the pancreas which is good news
for diabetics as they too can have sweet tasting things but without
the worry of a sudden sugar spike.

ETA - so fruit sugar and table sugar are indeed NOT the same.

Sucrose is about 50% Glucose and 50% Fructose

Sugar in an Apple is about 25% Glucose and 75% Fructose

As I said the % might be different - but you have three main types of sugars - you have Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose (which is a combo of Glucose and Fructose)

Basically the difference between eating a serving of table sugar and eating an apple is the apple has fiber which can help slow down the metabolism of the sugars in your body - so in that respect eating an apple is better than a spoonfull of sugar....but if one eats say 3 apples (or a bunch of fruit high in sugars) you can still cause a spike in blood sugars and if you don't use it as an energy source fairly quickly it can covert to trigylcerides or fatty acids.

If you are fairly active and utilize the sugars fairly quickly then yes an overabuncance of sugar isn't going to hurt you....

but if you do eat an overabundance of sugars from even "natural" sources it could be detrimental to your goals...

If you eat in a calorie deficit, it is impossible for your body to add fat. It may temporarily store the fat when you eat it, but it doesn't stay. That would defy the laws of physics. In other words, sugar is irrelevant unless you overeat total calories, and even then, it's the calorie excess that's the problem, not the sugar specifically.

Hence why I said goals.....weight loss may not be a goal...but in reality too much sugar can have an affect on how your body functions....it could lead to the manufacure of trigylcerides and fatty acids which can lead to other issues....

I don't think sugar overall is bad if like anything else is kept in moderation - I agree to keep sugars to the recommended 25-30 grams a day and have a few servings of fruit or veggies is very, very hard (heck I have anywhere from 25-50 a day) and the other benefits from whole fruits and veggies do outweigh going over in sugars FROM THOSE SOURCES....vs things like candy, cake, treats, soda...

but in the basic sense to say that sugar is different be it from a soda or a piece of fruit is wrong...if you take the sugar by itself it is basically the same...your body isn't going to tell the difference between fructose from an apple or fructose from a soda....so hence why an overabundance of sugar in ANY form can be detrimental to your goals

hpsnickers1

I can't edit my post anymore.

I will correct this, though. Fructose doesn't raise blood sugar. It bypasses the bloodstream and heads straight to the liver.

So depending on how much glucose is in the fruit will depend on what it does to my blood sugar levels. But a high sugar fruit will raise my blood sugar the same as eating table sugar.
This is why I stick with berries. You get the most bang for the buck. They are low in sugar and very high in nutrients. But I don't eat a lot of fruit. They don't fill me up (the whole fiber is filling thing is bogus, too). They just make me want more fruit.

Some eggs and uncured bacon fills me up.