Most people consume too much sugar, which is essentially empty calories. Processed sugar can be bad for oral health and increase blood glucose levels for people with diabetes. Sugar can also prevent us from eating foods that are nutritionally beneficial. However, a small amount of sugar is okay, and using discretionary calories for a spoonful of sugar in coffee is not harmful.
A small amount of table sugar or sucrose will not cause significant problems for most people. The problem is, and the reason many people consider sugar bad, is that most of us don’t stop at a small amount. Even when elaborate meal plans are made and people receive a certain amount of discretionary or extra calories per day, they often consume much more than the discretionary amount and therefore consume much more sugar than they need.
What makes processed sugar bad in large amounts? First, although it can provide the body with some energy, it is essentially empty calories. We can meet the same energy needs with more complex sugars that offer us things like minerals, vitamins, and fiber. Even when we eat fruit sugars, honey, or maple syrup, we’re still not getting much nutrition for our bodies to use. The trade off with things like fruit sugars that we consume when we eat fruit is that they can combine with other vital nutrients that make fruit worth eating.
Some people should consider processed or bad white sugar to be bad in most circumstances. People with diabetes should be extremely careful when consuming sucrose because it can drastically increase blood glucose levels. We must all consider that sugar is bad for oral health. Although sugar doesn’t directly cause cavities, it does feed bacteria that break down our teeth. If we are eating a lot of sugar, especially without brushing our teeth regularly, we are at a much higher risk of getting a lot of cavities.
It is often seen that many people in western countries have a hard time with obesity. We tend to eat many more calories than we need on a regular basis. Foods with sugar have an additional problem. They may make us feel full, but they keep us from eating things that would actually be nutritionally beneficial. Therefore, we can consider sugar to be bad in the sense that the satiated feelings of eating it could prevent us from eating foods that are better for us.
Is sugar bad, horrible and terrible at all times? Some people argue that the processing methods used to create table sugar aren’t all that healthy for us. Others say it’s fair to eat a small amount of table sugar. It can improve the taste of food and it is okay to consume it. In diet plans such as those offered by the US Department of Agriculture, the plans allow 100-300 discretionary calories a day. Don’t forget that those calories also include things like extra fat you don’t need.
If you want to use a little of your discretionary calories for something like a spoonful of sugar in a cup of coffee, it’s not likely to have much of an impact. The average teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories. You can easily sweeten your cup of joe, as long as you’re not diabetic (or your doctor approves if you are diabetic). This amount of sugar won’t have a huge impact on diet or weight loss, and it’s not exactly bad for you.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
