Good sugars, bad sugars: It’s all about the company you keep
“The principle difference between heaven and hell,” said Lois McMaster Bujold, a Hugo-award-winning science fiction writer, “is the company you keep there.” And the same might be said for the principle difference between added sugars and syrups and sugars that occur naturally in various foods, from strawberries to 100 percent whole grains.
We’re always going on about the evils of added sugars, but conversations with folks around the country have made us realize that you may not understand why it makes a difference to get moderate levels of glucose and fructose from fresh foods instead of highly processed and packaged foods. It’s all about the company they keep!
Carbohydrates (sugars are carbs) are found in all fruits, veggies and whole grains. You need them to live. All carbohydrates metabolize into simple sugars (glucose and fructose) in your body, feeding your brain, which feasts on glucose. It provides you with energy and interacts with insulin secretion to maintain healthy blood glucose levels.
When the sugars are found in or metabolized from fiber-rich veggies, fruits and 100 percent whole grains, they’re digested slowly, fueling you without causing an unhealthy rise in blood sugar levels, damaging your gut biome or disrupting your metabolic processes.