YOU AND SUGAR

 

YOU AND SUGAR

 

We may add sugar for a little sweetness to our tea or coffee, but did you know that sugar plays an important role in food production, preparation, cooking, and baking?

Sugar is not used without reason – it has important functional properties. Sugar is a sweetener and preservative. With the pressure to reduce the sugar content in our foods, it is important to realize that sugar is difficult to replace in food production.

Of all the staple products in our diet, sugar has the broadest area of use and helps to ensure the quality of our food and diet.

So let’s look at the functional properties of sugar:

🔷 Taste and increasing the quality of your diet.

🔷 Innate preservatives

🔷 Sugar's role in food production

🔷 Texture

🔷 Colour

🔷 Sugar, baking, and cooking.

A preference for sweet food starts at an early age and remains with us throughout our lives. We even have scores of taste buds dedicated only to tasting sweetness.

The key is to try and enjoy the sweet taste of sugar in small quantities.

Eating smaller portions of sugar-laden food and drinks, and adding less sugar when preparing sweet items, will keep your taste-buds satisfied without piling on the pounds.

Alternatively, you can replace the nutritive sweeteners (natural sugars and sugar alcohols ) in your diet with calories-free/low-calorie artificial sugars.

You should also make yourself aware of the different types of sugars that are commonly added to food and drinks, and to try and limit or avoid products which have either a high sugar count/percentage or a number of sugar sources listed in the ingredients.

The key to utilizing sugar for energy is to choose healthy sources of sugar. Fruits, for example, contain fructose, which is a natural sugar. Eating a serving of fruit, such as a banana, apple, peach, plum, or a handful of grapes, is a nutritious and low-calorie snack that can boost the sugars in your body before exercise or help replenish them after exercise. Fructose is a simple sugar, so it can give you a quick burst of energy. Fruit also contains fiber, which helps counterbalance the effects of fructose and keep blood sugar more stable. Sugars in dairy foods, such as milk and yogurt, are healthy choices, too, because the foods provide other nutrients, such as protein and calcium, in your diet. Complex carbs contain beneficial sugars, as well, so include whole grains and starchy vegetables in your diet.

No matter how bad your day is when you start talking about cookies or cakes or pies, or you bring someone cookies, there's just not bad news. The worst news is, 'Hey, there's sugar in that.'

 

                                                        KEEP CALM AND EAT SWEETS

BANARASI MISTHAN BHANDAR