Not all sugar is created equal. Some are good for you while others are not only bad, but have been linked to some serious illnesses and diseases. To know why sugar is a big deal now, we have to know how our consumption has changed over the last century.

One-hundred years ago, we only had cane sugar, sorghum, honey and maple syrup as sugars. There were almost no processed foods, so most households baked or made their own foods, meaning they knew and could control what went into their food. Back then the typical American ate less than two pounds per year of each type of sugar.

Compare that with today, where we buy much of our food already made (and we don’t really know what was added), we are consuming up to 160 pounds of sugar per person per year. Continue reading →

Generally speaking, sugar in fruit is not bad for us. As a matter of fact, fruit contains a natural sugar – fructose – that is better for you if you are diabetic, with the exception of pineapple and some of the melons, as the body digests fructose slower than it does sucrose or table sugar.

Because of the slower digestion, fructose doesn’t cause the high glycemic swings as do other types of sugars. In 2008, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition advised diabetics to use fructose instead of sucrose as a result of studies done by researchers.

One thing you’ll notice right away is that fruits tend to taste sweeter, especially cherries and peaches, than the more tart fruits, like the citruses; regardless of the type, few fruits contain enough sugar to make them bad for you. Continue reading →