The Good—And The Bad—On Sugar

For some health-conscious people, sugar may sound like a dirty word. And for good reason: Its reputation is widespread as a diet-busting ingredient with dangerous implications for your health. But does sugar really deserve all that notoriety? To get some answers to this sweet conundrum, we turned to Lauren Block, MD, MPH, an internal medicine physician with Northwell Health, to help us unpack the facts about sugar and how it can fit into a balanced diet (yes, really!).

We often associate sugar with processed sweets, but it’s much more common in our daily diet than many people realize. “A lot of our diet consists of sugars—both refined sugars and those naturally existing in things like fruits, vegetables, and many of the foods we eat,” Block explains. “Sugar has been part of the human diet for a long time—it's just in a more refined and processed form now, and in larger quantities.”

In addition to candies, cakes, and cookies, it’s also hiding in less-obvious processed foods such as breads and pastas. The issue, she says, is not about the ingredient itself, but the quantity of intake.

To understand the perils of sugar, it helps to first understand what it is, and how it affects your body.

In the simplest terms, sugar is a carbohydrate. Since 1 gram of carbohydrate has about four calories, if you eat something with 100 grams of carbohydrates (sugars or otherwise), you’re consuming about 400 calories. “Your body uses that as direct fuel, but if you consume too much of it, then it stores that as fat.” Block explains. And although we know that taking in some fat is good, healthy, and actually needed for bodily functions such as energy preservation and to keep your skin glowing and your hair growing, too much of it can lead to chronic health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and more. This is why a balanced diet is key.

But what does a balanced diet actually look like? The answer, Block says, will depend on your personal health conditions and goals. “If you have diabetes, you may need to be on a more strict diet and reduce your sugar consumption,” says Block. “If you’re overweight or obese and looking to lose weight, you may have different goals than if you're at a healthy weight or underweight. Regardless, it's about a balance of foods.”

Block counsels her patients on the MyPlate approach recommended by the federal government. It calls for filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables, a quarter with lean protein (such as meat, fish, or tofu), and a quarter with whole grains (such as rice, bread, or pasta). “That gives you a rough guide as to what your meal should look like,” she says. “And this may look really different than what a lot of us grew up with, which may have been a whole plate of pasta with a couple of pieces of vegetables on top.”

Processed, packaged foods should be approached with caution. They tend to contain less fiber, protein, and vitamins than whole foods that are found in nature. “Our bodies tend to perceive that we're less full as we eat processed foods, and as a result we often end up eating more than we intend,” she says. “By sticking to whole foods, you have a chance to get some extra fiber and mixture of textures, vitamins, and water that can help us feel fuller earlier, so we don’t consume empty calories,” she says.

Ideally, snacks should contain some protein, fiber, and vitamins in addition to carbs and fat. This is a “more healthful approach and it will keep you feeling full for a bit longer,” Block advises.

With so much sugar lurking in heavily processed and packaged grocery items, Block advises avoiding these as much as possible for an overall healthy diet. But she acknowledges that is easier said than done. This, she says, is when planning ahead helps.

“I counsel my patients on meal planning,” she says. “Just like you plan out other things for your week—your work schedule, your kids’ activities—you need to think through what your meals are going to be,” she says. “When you have a little bit more time to plan, you can make healthier choices than if you're grabbing something when you're hungry and tend to opt for whatever may be easiest.”

She also advises that patients log what they’re eating every day for accountability. “Many of us have habits that we're less aware of, like eating a cookie or two here, or a handful of pretzels or chips there,” she says. “Writing it down can help make you aware of what your diet really looks like.”

Beyond that, she says, sugar happens. And consuming it in moderation is part of a normal lifestyle. “Give yourself a little grace,” she says, “Nobody is perfect in terms of their diet. Every day is an opportunity to eat more healthfully and put some of your goals into practice.”

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