Nutrition

Nutrition Blog: Is Candy good for you?

Many individuals are concerned about eating fruits, including berries, because they are concerned about the sugar, or fructose in these fruits. But we have ample research showing that fruit, nature’s candy, is packed in just the right way, that it only brings health, whereas processed table sugar and high fructose corn syrup found in soft drinks and other sugary beverages, sometimes referred to as “liquid candy” is extremely harmful.

One 12 oz can of coke/pepsi contains 10 teaspoons of refined sugar. When this concentrated sugar “drink” gets to our GI tract, it is rapidly absorbed causing our blood sugar to shoot up which leads to an Insulin spike, and body usually overshoots and now with too much Insulin, the sugar plummets, making our body think that we’re starving. Body counteracts the “starving” state by dumping fat in our blood. Moreover, this “starving” state encourages us to eat more thereby promoting weight gain. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=56&contentid=19891

Moreover, these sugary drinks increase incidence of Diabetes, Heart Disease, and gout. They can also cause fatty liver and are harmful to our bones. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/soft-drinks-and-disease/

Fruits on the other hand do not lead to rapid increase in blood sugar and as a consequence there is no Insulin spike and you get none of the harmful effects of rapid fat mobilization or dyslipidemia. Presence of fiber but especially phytonutrients in fruits prevents the rapid rise of blood sugar. These phytonutrients bind to the cells lining our gut and limit the amount of blood sugar that can enter our cells. https://nutritionfacts.org/video/if-fructose-is-bad-what-about-fruit/

In general all fruits are healthy because they contain antioxidants and phytonutrients. Eating a rainbow of fruits ensures that you get a variety of these phytonutrients. These phytonutrients or bioactives reduce our risk for heart disease, dementia, and blindness from macular degeneration. They boost our immune system and also protect us from cancer. http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/eat-rainbow

Berries are the healthiest of fruits because they contain 10 X the antioxidants than other fruits and vegetables.  https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/berries/

In addition, berries increase Insulin sensitivity making this a favorable food for diabetics and non diabetics. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-reasons-to-eat-berries#section7

So, enjoy nature’s candy plucked right from a tree or a bush, and skip the man-made “liquid candy” commonly known as soda. Here is a great website which provides a summary of the harmful effects of sodas.

https://foodrevolution.org/blog/food-and-health/soda-health-risks/