You may want to print this page and take it with you next time you head to the grocery store . . . better yet hit your local farmers market and buy some fresh, local, organic fruits, veggies, meat and cheese, etc.  You’re body, planet and community will thank you for it! Click here for Toronto area Farmers Markets.  UPDATE: I’ve added a new video to the end of the page.  It’s important information everyone should understand (yes there’s a little biochemistry in there and it’s a bit long but give it a chance when you have a moment).

Sugar in Other Words

Sugar (see About.com):

Glucose (Simple Sugar found in plants and animals, Blood Sugar, what our bodies turn carbohydrates into in our blood stream and use for energy)
Fructose (Sugar found in Fruit)
Lactose (Sugar found in Milk/Dairy products)
Maltose (Malt Sugar also Maltotriose)
Dextrose (Essentially Glucose)
High-Fructose Corn Syrup (Because apparently regular Corn Syrup isn’t sweet enough!?  They had to add more sugar?)

“Natural Sugar” is STILL Sugar:

Honey
Maple Syrup/Maple Sugar
Evaporated Cane Juice (This “Juice” is the liquid from Sugar Cane.  This and sugar beets are what manufaturers make refined white/brown/icing sugar etc. from.  Don’t get me started on genetically modified sugar beets!)
“Raw” Sugar (Not raw . . . Evaporated Cane Juice is the only “Raw” sugar.  This type has been refined.  By the way Brown Sugar is refined sugar with molasses added for colour)
Molasses
Brown Rice Syrup (not nearly as sweet but something to be careful with . . . remeber those first Coolers that came out in the late 80′s . . . not much alcohol but still . . . or the difference between Canadian and American Beer   )
Agave Nectar/Juice
Barley Malt Syrup (see Brown Rice Syrup)
Fruit Juice (without the fibre of the fruit this might as well be pure fructose.  The only difference between juice and pop is a few vitamins and minerals in the juice . . . just eat the fruit!)

Artificial and Calorie Free Sweeteners (JUST SAY NO!  First wow bad chemical taste!  If you really, really like your sugar you can taste the chemicals, think near beer or alcohol free beer for an alcoholic.  Second holy chemicals!  Yuck!  Who really knows what these things can do to you.  And finally and most importantly . . . You’re not faking out your body as much as you’d hope.  These can still trigger cravings and overindulgence):

Aspartame (NutraSweet & Equal)
Saccharin (Wow see this ones history here)
Ascesulfame potassium
Sucralose (Splenda which as they say in the commercial is sugar that has been processed even further)
Neotame

Last One (for the moment):

Stevia – a plant with leaves that taste a couple thousand (possibly even million) times sweeter than sugar.  There are little to zero calories in this plant or it’s powdered form found in health food stores/sections.  More than a couple of grains of stevia powder in your coffee/tea and it’s too sweet.  Bit of a bizzare taste (not my favourite taste again it’s that whole near beer thing.  You know it’s not the real stuff) and cooking with it is rather challenging to say the least.  The main problem is . . . it might still cause cravings and trigger all the old responses that sugar does.  Question is – is it really worth it?

Questions – If sugar isn’t addictive why have companies gone to such great lengths to create different names and other alternatives for sugar?  Why do they need to hide sugar with other names?  Why do they need to put sugar in everything (have you seen packages of Grapples at your grocery store?  Apples injected with Natural and ARTIFICIAL Grape flavour.  Because apparently plain old apples are just too plain.  How insane is that?)?   So they’ve developed an entire range of chemicals that taste like sugar but have no calories . . . because the sugar is killing us but we’re so addicted that we’re desperate to taste it.  Even if it’s not the real thing and still triggers cravings for sugar and the compulsion to over eat.

I wonder if this is how people felt when they were trying to convince the world that cigarettes cause cancer?  At the rate obesity and diabities are growing in North America warning labels should be created for processed food.  Warning: consistent consumption of this product will lead to weight gain and type 2 diabetes (which is completely and uterly avoidable unless something attacks and/or harms your pancreas . . . and even then that might be considered type 1 diabetes.  For more information on diabetes click here and to “scare” you straight away from the cookie jar click here).

Still need another reason to kick your sugar addiction?  Check out this video from University of California Television:

Sugar:  The Bitter Truth

Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin.