Jennifer DiPasquale shares facts about sugar

[March 29, 2018]  LINCOLN - At the ALMH Ladies’ Night Out, there were two breakout sessions offering ladies a chance to hear health and wellness advice from health educators.

Certified Diabetes Educator Jennifer DiPasquale spoke on the topic “Sugar, Sugar” with the objective of offering attendees a basic understanding of how sugar and carbohydrates affect blood sugar, how sugar affects the brain, how sugar deficiency affects you, how to achieve sugar balance, and how to avoid sugar toxicity.

DiPasquale also provided sugar recommendations, discussed sugar substitutes, and talked about how to decrease sugar intake.

DiPasquale has been a dietitian at ALMH for sixteen years and enjoys helping people on their journey to health.

DiPasquale said sugar is a life sustaining chemical but can be toxic. She explained how almost 100 percent of simple and complex carbohydrates become blood sugar. Half of sugar alcohols become blood sugar. Sugars include glucose, fructose, lactose and sucrose also called table sugar.

DiPasquale said carbohydrates are the preferred fuel source for our bodies. Cars use gas for fuel, and we use glucose. Simple sugars are easy to digest. They provide quick energy like rocket fuel. In fifteen to twenty minutes, the blood sugar goes down.

DiPasquale said one teaspoon equals four grams of sugar. Many processed foods are full of sugar. Even half a cup of orange juice has the equivalent of four teaspoons of sugar. Simple sugars include table sugar, fruit juice, syrup, jelly, sherbet and candy, where all calories are from sugar like lifesavers, smarties, gummy bears, jelly beans, and gumdrops. They are also found in glucose tablets and gels, which give people with diabetes get quick energy when needed to raise blood sugar.

DiPasquale said sugar is needed to raise low blood glucose and get quick energy after extended exercise. It is usually not needed otherwise. DiPasquale said complex carbohydrates have many bonds to break. The more fiber something has, the more complex it is. Fibers slow down digestion, which slows down the rise of blood sugar.

Complex carbohydrates include whole grains like breads. Unprocessed whole grains include buckwheat, bulgur, quinoa, barley and teff. Other complex carbohydrates include starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, peas and legume beans. DiPasquale said complex carbohydrates have much slower digestion and rise in blood sugar than simple carbohydrates.

DiPasquale explained that natural fruit and milk sugars are blood sugar friendly when consumed in moderation. DiPasquale said we need to avoid added sugars and more than minimally processed foods.

DiPasquale said sugar alcohols are used in place of other carbohydrates and sugars to give food sweetness similar to table sugar sweetness. Some examples used in place of sugar and found in sugar free products include xylitol, sorbitol and mannitol.

DiPasquale said sugar affects brain chemistry because added sugars lead to a dopamine release in the brain associated with reward and motivation causing a sugar rush. MRI's have shown the response to sugar is the same as the response to cocaine or heroin. The brain in obese people responds to sugar like drug addicts and alcoholics to their addictions.

DiPasquale said the more sugar consumed, the less resistance you have. Sugar induces cravings and a dependence on pleasure. Chronic high added sugars in the diet reduce the production of brain derived neurotrophic factor. This relationship is directly related to difficulty learning, retaining, and remembering new information, and is likely related to dementia and Alzheimer’s development.

DiPasquale said we need blood sugar, and our brain needs about 90-120 grams of glucose a day. Glucose stores in the body are mostly used up after six hours of fasting but may last two or three days for someone with good muscle storage. When it is depleted after three days you enter ketosis, burning fat for energy.

After three days of sugar deficiency, the brain must use stored fat. The metabolism slows down to conserve energy and the brain adapts to using only 30 grams of glucose by day four. Muscles are broken down for energy needs. DiPasquale said ketogenic diets should be medically monitored for these reasons.

DiPasquale said after carbohydrates are again consumed, normal carbohydrate metabolism begins by immediately storing any excess glucose from carbohydrates directly into fat cells. After significant calorie or carbohydrate restriction, the body will require fewer calories to meet needs.

DiPasquale promotes 90 percent or more better choices and just ten percent or less NOT better choices.

The USDA estimates the average American consumes about 156 pounds of added sugar a year mostly due to an overabundance of processed foods. The Centers for Disease Control estimates an average daily consumption of added sugar of 27.5 teaspoons for adults and 32 teaspoons for children.

Sugars should make up less than ten percent of calories according to the Centers for Disease Control. The American Heart Association recommends less than nine teaspoons added sugar daily for men and no more than six for women and children daily.

DiPasquale said “sorta sugars” include low calorie and artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes. They are 100 to 400 times sweeter than table sugars. Hyper-sweetness becomes normal, so natural sugars may no longer satisfy our taste buds.

The packaging of sugar substitutes can guide natural choices. Green and orange are naturally derived, while pink, blue, yellow are not. Anything not natural that is made in a laboratory may be recognized as foreign in the body, possibly triggering autoimmune responses or allergies. DiPasquale said moderation is key.

DiPasquale said we need to look for hidden sugars on labels. These include maltodextrin, dextrose, and corn syrup. The site www.fooducate.com is a helpful place to find out more about added versus natural sugars in our food products.

DiPasquale said it is important to identify added sugars front and center in our diets, then prioritize decreasing them. She gave several tips. Retrain taste buds by using unsweetened or pureed fruit in cereal and yogurt and as bases in sauces and salad dressings. Choose more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Eat more unprocessed, high fiber, and high protein foods like nuts, seeds, and nut or seed butters and legumes. Consume food Mind-FULLY. Repackage the less healthy choices into single servings for occasional use.

DiPasquale discussed an eating exercise to build a healthy relationship with "trigger" foods and to remember that after three bites, your taste buds are saturated, and you aren't getting the full experience of that rich, sugary or fatty food.

DiPasquale said it is good to work on changing one habit at a time. Small simple changes add up. She warned that drastic changes or diets without lifestyle changes or focus on habit changes are much more likely to fail. Over time, though, we can learn to have a healthy relationship with food and not a dependent one.

For more information, ask your physician for a referral to the ALMH Dietitian Office for a Medical Nutrition Therapy consultation.

[Angela Reiners]