Added vs Natural Sugar: The great debate.

Something that has been on my mind since this all started is Natural versus Added Sugar. There are a lot of people out there who are very against added sugar - myself being one - and other who say "Sugar is sugar".

So I did some Google searches (probably not the BEST research, but it's good enough for this).

Naturally occurring sugars are generally those found in fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose). 

Added sugar is just that. It can range from white sugar to honey to high fructose corn syrup.

Adding sugar to food, while making it taste better, also adds a significant amount of calories. And while I don't approve of counting calories, I don't think we need the extra calories from sugar either.  

The most aggravating thing (to me) is that our nutrition facts labels include both added and natural sugars together, not separated.  So looking at a label for fruity yogurt, you're going to be seeing the lactose sugar, the fruit sugar and the (very likely) added sugar to the fruit. You have no way of knowing the proportions.

But reading the ingredients list can help most of the time.  If you look at the nutrition list, you will see everything that is in the product from most to least. As a part of my cleanse, I am requiring myself to only eat store bought products with sugar if sugar is at the end of the list. This is really the only way to of knowing for sure that the sugar count on my product is more natural than added. 

(c) 100daysofrealfood.com 
Proposed changes to the labels

For this pledge, the only sugar I am allowing is honey and real maple syrup, as well as small amounts if I baked it myself. In reality, honey and maple are also considered sugar and should be eaten in moderation as well. Even fruit spikes your blood sugar a bit and should be in moderation. 

But I'll take an apple over a brownie any day.

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Daily update:

We made homemade bagels today. Yes it had corn syrup in it. But that was 2 tablespoons over 6 bagels and I was aware of what I was adding, so I didn't feel guilty eating it at all. Plus they tasted SO GOOD!

I also went to my local coffee shop to see a friend, but I had iced organic green tea. And dinner tonight? I resisted the beer and margaritas! Go me!

~Lisa