We are proud sweet lovers of Bengalis. Sweets in our hearts. Most of our traditional dishes are sweets like Kheer to pitha, payesh to puli you will find the use of sugar everywhere. Our food habits also consist of sweets. Bengali loves to eat sweet dishes directly or indirectly. On occasion, at festivals, invitation, programs, and wherever you go, sweets is a mandatory dish. Our children, teenagers, and young buddies also can’t think without pastries, cakes, brownies, cheese delight, etc.
However, Bengalis don’t want to believe or can’t make themselves believe that they need to control their sugar consumption as it’s a sweet slow poison.
Sugar is made up of glucose and fructose molecules. When we metabolize fructose in excess amounts our liver turns it into liver fat and liver fat causes all of the downstream metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes, higher blood pressure, inflammation, fatty liver, and weight gain. All of them are linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Dr. Richard Johnson, a leading kidney specialist at the University of Colorado says that “you are gaining weight because you have changed your ability to regulate your diet”.
Individually fructose is the bad guy in this term. when it is consumed in large amounts. Excess fructose ends up as liver fat. It also causes obesity and metabolic syndrome by encouraging us to eat more and by clogging our cell’s energy generators. It promotes insulin resistance which causes obesity and type 2 diabetes. Processed food is one fine example of this.
Moreover, added sugar in foods like bakery stuff, puddings, chocolates, candies, cold drinks etc contains much fructose as they are more sweet.
Here one question arises in our mind: how can we avoid sugar? As sugar(glucose) is the Only source of energy and reason for brain development. So glucose is the good guy here. Glucose comes from complex carbohydrates like rice, flour, vegetables, fruits, cereals. These foods contain sugar that breaks down and turns into glucose. So try to get sugar from these sources in a minimalistic way.
Moreover we are asked to avoid white sugar and replace it with brown sugar. Because white sugar consists of sucrose. Which Don’t break down and it mixes with blood fast and increases sugar level in blood. It has more calories but no vitamins, minerals, fibre etc. It increases our cravings and addiction to sugar, destroys teeth enamel.
Now don’t you dare to think that brown sugar can be consumed as your desire. we should consume sugar in a limited amount. As we Bengalis are born as sweet-tooth so we can use substitutes like stevia, dates, fruit purees, honey, jaggery. Also substitute sugar should be taken after knowing its positive and negative effects. Because everything should maintain a parallel way.
According to WHO, consuming sugar more than 25 gm(6 tablespoon) daily is the reason for the mentioned diseases. So don’t love blindly. A pure Love needs limitation, boundaries, space, understanding. Even in the love between sugar. Keep eye on how much you are consuming. Don’t let it deceive and destroy you. Love sugar, eat sweets. Don’t let it turn into poison to you and your close one. Be conscious, be healthy and be careful.
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Writer
Sadia Akter
Intern
Content Writing Department, YSSE.