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Health & Fitness

What Does Shakespeare Have to Do With Sugar?

Brown sugar has to be better than white, right? And surely organic, evaporated cane syrup is healthier. Learn more about the different names for sugar with this Shakespeare inspired piece...

“That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet," said Juliet.  She probably wasn’t finishing off a hot fudge sundae with Romeo as she said this, but rather a couple fresh figs would have been more her style. But I’m swiping a little poetic license from Shakespeare today and rephrasing it: “Sugar by any other name is always just as sweet.”

The brown packet feels like something you’d find in the "health food section." Or so I thought when I would rip open a package of Sugar in the Raw. And surely brown sugar can’t be as bad as the evil white stuff, right? And honey, bees make that, it’s got to be good. Organic kids’ yogurt uses "organic evaporated cane juice." That can’t be bad. And all sugar has to be better than high fructose corn syrup, right? Even Kool Aid has jumped on that, declaring its sugary drink better than sodas because it uses REAL sugar.

Guess what? It’s all sugar. Your cells don’t differentiate the subtle manufacturing nuances in these different forms of sugar. As consumers we’re starting to get savvy about our sugar. And baby, the manufacturing companies are listening. They still want to sell the stuff. Good old Dominoes Sugar has an organic sugar in the picture above. They’re listening and giving you a product to help you feel better about what you’re eating. But, when you ingest any sugar, (not fructose from fruit but manufactured sugar) your body reacts the same. Whether it is in the form of white crystals, brown, cane syrup or honey, your body sees sugar and kicks on the processes needed to deal with it.

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And what a process it is. Multiple organs, enzymes and glands go into hyper drive when sugar hits your tongue. In my next sugar blog, we’re going to look at exactly HOW your body deals with it. And if you’re eating a lot, the scene inside isn’t pretty. 

Until then…check out my 50 Names for Sugar. And remember Juliet next time you read a label.

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