The Difference Between Good and Bad Sugars

You’ve heard the advice a million times about how sugar affects your health. Given the available options today, it’s clear you may experience difficulty knowing what type of sugar has harmful effects on your body. Well, not all of them affect you in the same way. The significant difference in good and bad sugars depends mainly on their nutritional content and their effect on your health. With plenty of evidence linking most sugar side effects to the refined ones, naturally occurring sugars found in whole foods are the only ones beneficial to your health. Let’s find out what makes sugars good and bad and the underlying effects of these sugars on your health.
Good Sugars

Although sugar is regularly portrayed as unhealthy food, other types may have good effects on your health. These are the naturally occurring ones usually found in unsweetened dairy products, legumes, vegetables, natural fruits, and all starchy foods. They are one of the simplest forms of carbohydrates that powers our bodies. This type is ideally what our bodies need for higher energy levels.
Benefits and Effects of Good Sugars
Besides being valuable energy sources, good sugars consumed alongside other nutrients like vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber are essential for body nourishment. What’s best is that the fiber presence slows down the sugar absorption rate, hence toning down blood sugar levels. This means you’ll reduce the chances of suffering from other sugar effects linked to diabetes.
But even so, not all people experience good effects when consuming unrefined and natural sugars. Some, such as lactose, which naturally occurs in milk, comes with side effects that make them intolerable. That’s why we have the best lactose free protein powder designed for lactose-intolerant people who may experience such health effects.
Health experts will always recommend sugar as one of the foods you need to eat less of throughout the year. However, you can still benefit from better health effects if you maintain a moderate consumption. Some of the few benefits and effects of good sugars in your body are;

• They have an instant effect of energy burst to your body.
• They help you preserve more energy for tedious tasks.
• They usually occur alongside other nutrients that grant your body a natural health effect.

Bad Sugars
As the name suggests, they are indeed bad thanks to their immense harmful effects on your body. This is usually the refined type we put in our tea, coffee, and even sweet drinks like soda. It’s also found in other foods such as ice creams, yogurt, fruit juice, and ketchup. Besides the energy boost, they have no other nutritional effect on your body.
They are free of vitamins, minerals, protein, and other essential body nutrients. Their only use to your body is as an energy source devoid of any nourishing effect. When consumed in high amounts, there’s a higher chance of experiencing a high blood sugar level effect since they quickly get absorbed into the body.
If you have to consume them, it’s advisable to control the bad effects of these sugars’ by balancing them appropriately with other nutrients. Fiber is the common supplement you use since it helps to slow their digestion and absorption rate. This will, in turn, reduce most of the common side effects. But even so, you should remain cautious of any signs that indicate you are consuming too much of this sugar.
Effects of Bad Sugars
Sugary drinks, baked goods, and in most cases, sweetened dairy are the primary sources of bad sugars. You should also take caution against foods like bread and protein bars. This will put you in a better position to avoid their associated adverse health effects, such as the ones highlighted below.
They Affect Your Brain
There’s no doubt bad sugar affects the brain. Overeating them leads to an increase in dopamine levels in your brain. This is why you’ll equally find it difficult to tame your addiction to sugary foods such as ice cream. The addiction puts you at a more risk effect of further developing other lifestyle diseases.
Increase in Body Weight
This is perhaps the widely known side effect of too much consumption of bad sugar. The fact is, the more you consume, the more you’ll weigh, as any excess consumption aggravates the body fat cells causing them to release chemicals that increase your weight.
Affects Your Mood
You may not know it, but the occasional consumption of foods rich in bad sugar affects your mood swings. Some of these foods cause an increase in your blood sugar levels too fast. Therefore, when these levels drop, you may feel nervous, causing you to experience mood swings. This harmful sugar effect also causes depression in adults.
Final Thought
Sugar consumption is still a challenge many of us have to deal with because it’s highly addictive. But with the knowledge of which type has good or bad effects on your health, you should be able to know what to consume. Besides, limiting the consumption of processed foods and opting for natural ones with healthy ingredients is a worthy alternative if you want to evade any harmful health effects.
What healthy consumption habits can you recommend to someone seeking to avoid suffering from adverse high sugar level effects? Let’s know in the comments below.
Author Bio
Thomas Nemel is an outgoing writer who has worked on many writing projects. He specializes in health, entertainment, and lifestyle niches. Thomas also has a passion for cars and travel.