Published June 16, 2014

The right sugar for rapid fat loss.

Sorry, there is no good sugar for rapid fat loss. The body will never be aware which kind of sugar it is receiving, table sugar, organic, brown.

All sugars are bad for your health. It is related to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, just to name a few. Yes, you need carbohydrates, which are composed of complex and simple sugars, to obtain energy. The problem is the added sugars that sweeten our favorite foods you have to beware of.

So why do added sugars like agave nectar, honey or coconut palm sugar can’t be considered healthy? Because they are sugar. No matter what type you consume your blood sugar rate spikes. Any additional healthy content will not affect the body’s hormonal behavior. Any sugar will produce similar consequences on metabolic disorders. Whatever the origin of the sugar may be, there is no clear information that you will store or process it differently.

What is sugar? It’s a combination of glucose and fructose. Sucrose, usually known as table sugar, composed of half glucose and half fructose. When you consume sugar, the digestion and metabolic process begins when you put it in your mouth. But it is mostly absorbed in the small intestine, where it is metabolized and absorbed into your blood. Stomach enzymes convert sugar into glucose, which ultimately is the body´s preferred energy source. Even though it is necessary for proper functioning, the excess of glucose is stored as fat. It spikes insulin levels in blood and it is absorbed and used quickly.

Insulin is the bus that takes sugar to where it is needed, uses what is needed, transformed into glycogen and stored and ready to be used when necessary.  

Now fructose, or fruit sugar, is handled differently, since it is metabolized by the liver, and thus insulin levels don’t rise as much as compared to glucose. Fructose has a lower glycemic index than glucose. This could be understood as that fructose is healthier than glucose. But it is not like that. Insulin triggers a hormonal response of satiation, so fructose is easier to overeat. Fructose is also linked to higher Light Density Lipoproteins (LDL), higher levels of uric acid, and leptin resistance. Fructose is fine when consumed in small amounts, but it is also responsible for metabolic disorders like insulin resistance. Note that some so called healthy sugars, like those in honey, are higher in fructose as compared to table sugar.

So, what to do?

The problem with healthy foods is that you think it is better consuming it. But all you have to do is eat less of it, and you will have the pleasure of eating something sweet, but not too much.

If rapid fat loss is your goal, no matter what kind of sugar you consume, raw, "all-natural" or "healthy", keep it around 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day for an adult of normal Body Mass Index (BMI).

Be aware of hidden sugars. For example, 1 TBS of ketchup has 4 grams of sugar (one tsp). 

Remeber this: One can of sugar sweetened soda contains about 40 grams (around 10 teaspoons) of sugar.