Sugar is everywhere. It is in our drinks, it is in our sweets and desserts and it is in a host of other foods – even things like fruits that are meant to be good for us!
And sugar is delicious. It is sweet, comforting and packed with energy. After a long, hard day, a little sugar can help to pick us up and make us feel better. Not only that, but getting sugar from bread and other carbs can give us energy to keep going and to not tire out. It prevents fatigue and headaches and many of us have adapted to be highly dependent on it.
To bad then that sugar is also very bad for us and is in fact responsible for a ton of negative health effects.
Did you know that sugar is highly addictive and can actually encourage other additive behavior? I’m sure you’re aware of how bad it can be for our teeth (due to the fact that it fuels the bacteria that cause plaque). And you probably know that sugar spikes your insulin and can lead to poor insulin sensitivity and eventually diabetes…
So what do you do? The answer might just be to switch to a sugar alternative. There are plenty of substitutes out there and some of them are actually packed with health benefits. Others aren’t so good… so let’s dive in and see which are the best for you and which you should avoid!
1. Sucrose
Sucrose is actually a form of sugar, specifically it is the ‘table sugar’ kind that you find in most of your food or that you might have been added. If you find sucrose for sale, don’t be fooled! This is just plain old sugar. But it’s good to understand the different kinds so that you are at least aware of this.
The problem with sucrose is of course that it is completely free from nutritional value and is also the kind of sugar that gets most rapidly absorbed into the blood stream. That means it’s also the kind that will cause a flood of insulin and trigger lots of fat storage and a feeling of lethargy straight after.
