There’s no such thing as “healthier” sugars
Diet culture gurus tote “natural” sugars as healthier. But it’s still sugar.
In my greatest effort to start “sweating for the wedding,” I decided to sign up for this major popular dieting program that promised I would lose lots of weight in 21 days. If you know it…you know it.
Anyways, in my attempt to try and lose weight (that I gained back fast post-wedding, *laughs*), my disordered mindset around food got even worse. To the point where I was telling people that “all carbs are bad” and other kinds of crazy nonsense. In this lovely little rabbit hole I went down, I also learned that there were “healthier” forms of sugar out there compared to the usual processed white stuff. So I instantly became one of those people swapping out sugar for honey and maple syrup, because, of course, it is so much better for me.
Laugh. The eff. Out loud.
First, this is all coming up this week because I actually came across a really fascinating study about honey (I’ll have an article published on this study soon). In short, this systematic review combed through data from 18 controlled trials and found honey to benefit one’s blood sugar and cholesterol levels when consumed. Scientists already know that honey actually has a better score on the glycemic index compared to sugar, so part of this was not shocking. What was shocking was some of the coverage I was seeing around it—that people were calling it a “healthier” form of sugar.
But…it’s still sugar.
Even if blood sugar levels were slightly better, even if cholesterol levels were better, it still is a form of added sugar that is being consumed. That doesn’t mean you are “allowed” to eat more of it; that just puts it back into this disordered idea that certain foods are “good” and “bad,” which is what got us into this toxic diet culture mess in the first place.
I interviewed my pal Lisa Young, PhD, RDN, an adjunct professor at NYU, for my article, and I think she said it rather perfectly:
“Because it’s ‘natural,’ people may perceive it as being healthier than it really is and tend to eat more of it,” she says. “This is an example of a ‘health halo,’ where people eat more of a [type of] food they perceive as healthy.”
I also wanted to speak to Lisa because she’s kind of a portion-control whiz—she literally wrote a book about it. She has been doing research on portion control and changes the food industry keeps making to packaging, causing people to eat more than they actually need to. Even if that food is marketed as “healthy” people can overdo it, especially when it comes to natural sugars like honey.
Now, why should we care? Isn’t this newsletter all about food freedom and eating what we want?
Yes, of course. If you love honey, eat honey. Heck, I drizzled honey on my toast this morning. It had ricotta cheese and warm blueberries and pecans and it was the bomb dot com.
My point is, we’re all smart; we know that too much added sugar intake can lead to certain chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. That’s why it’s so dangerous for health influencers to say honey is healthier for you. Because it is still sugar, and you can’t just eat more of it because honey is “good” and white sugar is “bad.”
Labeling foods this way is what causes disordered and confusing eating patterns that don’t make sense. When we actually step back to evaluate food for what it actually is, to understand the science behind what these foods do to our bodies, we can break out of these distorted ideals that diet culture has put us in for so many years.
All this to say, you should eat the sugar that you like, and be mindful of it. That’s it! And if that means making cookies with real-a** sugar instead of honey or dates or whatever natural sweetener that the health guru is telling you to use, that is completely and totally fine. Yes, you can still use those if you want, you do you! But you can also have the real stuff as well. Because in the end, your body digests it all the same.
Weekend reads
For more reads over your morning cup of coffee, check out my latest published work!
The Surprising Supplement That Boosts Your Workout Recovery (Clean Plates)
This New Sweet Dreams Cereal Is Perfect for Midnight Snackers (Taste of Home)
Joanna Gaines’ Garden Cottage Looks So Incredibly Cozy (Family Handyman)