Gregg's Blog - Sugar Fight

Fruit is delicious right? We all know that. It’s bright colourful often juicy, we’re told it’s really good for us and we should eat at least five portions a day. However, it’s also got sugar in it right? That’s what makes it so delicious that’s what makes it so sweet.

So how is it? The doctors tell us to eat fruit and at the same time, tell us to cut down on our sugar if the fruit itself is full of sugar?

The truth is, fruit is packed full of sugar. However, fruit is also full of fibre. This means it releases the sugar slowly and doesn’t cause a blood sugar spike. Because it’s dense and full of fibre it also makes you feel fuller for longer.

Fruit also tends to be incredibly low in calories for its size and weight.

The fruit especially fruits of different colours full of polyphenols are also amazingly good for our gut micro biomes. Fruit is sweet, but it’s very good for us.

Sugar we find in biscuits, cakes, chocolates, and sweets is often made from refined sugar. This sugar without the benefit of fibre will spike blood sugars, causing an insulin surge followed by an energy crash.

These sweet things are easy to overconsume because they’re not in fibre you won’t get fullness signals as you were from a piece of fruit.

This is why these foods are linked so closely with obesity. They’re not just found in obvious sweet things either. There are breakfast cereals and ready meals that are packed full of sugar.

So to summarise, it’s the same sugar. However, the sugar found in fruit is delivered in the most healthy way. The sugar and biscuits, sweets, chocolates and many processed foods is delivered in its most harmful way.