
When we talk about sugar, what image do you get in your head? Most people think of table sugar. However, sugar comes in many forms and most people don’t know when they eat a ton of sugar. For example, if you eat a potato, it is full of sugar but because it is in starch form, you can’t taste the sweetness. But it is still sugar!
Some people also think that there is a difference between different forms of sugar, such as table sugar vs natural sugar, such as date sugar, or sugar in a fresh fruit, and most also have no idea that a slice of sourdough bread may has as much as 18 teaspoons of table sugar equivalent in starches that they can’t even taste as sugar. And this sugar I just listed is not added sugar. It is sugar within the food because a potato or a slice of bread or rice or beans, none sweet tasting, but they are all made of plants. Plants contain carbohydrates and carbohydrates are sugars!
What is your opinion?
Do you think there is a difference in sugar between the following items?
1 cup of cooked white rice (205 gr) —59 gr carbohydrates, 15 teaspoons of sugar
vs 15 teaspoons of sugar?
1 slice of sourdough bread (139 gr) — 72 gr carbohydrates, 18 teaspoons of sugar in starch
vs 18 teaspoons of table sugar?
Two cups vanilla ice cream (132 gr) — 62 gr carbohydrates, 15.5 teaspoons of sugar
vs 15.5 teaspoons of table sugar?
Two cups (16 oz) Minute Maid, lemon flavor — 58 gr carbohydrates, 14.5 teaspoons of sugar
vs 14.5 teaspoons of table sugar?
Two cups (16 oz) unsweetened orange juice (fresh & concentrate) — 57 gr carbs, 14.3 teaspoons of sugar
vs 14.3 teaspoons of table sugar?
4 Medjool dates (96 gr) — 72 gr carbohydrates, 18 teaspoons of sugar
vs 18 teaspoons of sugar?
I decided to add a comment that I posted also on Facebook:
A serving of banana, 136 grams without skin, has 31 gr total carbohydrates, of which 3.5 gr is fiber, so 27.5 gr net carbs, which is equal to nearly 7 teaspoons of sugar and it has no other nutrients, except for potassium. 136 gr banana has 487 mg potassium.
A California avocado, weighing 136 gr (without seed and skin) has 690 mg potassium and only 12 carb grams, most of which is fiber, so the net carbs that turn to sugar is 2 grams, or half a teaspoon.
So let me get this straight:
A nutritionist suggested that eating a banana is better in nutrition than, for example, an avocado of the same size, although the avocado has 1/4 of the sugar but nearly twice the potassium? And I didn’t even compare the banana to salmon or beef, both of which have more potassium or at least as much potassium, zero sugar, and a ton more nutrients!
If you think there is a difference between sugar vs sugar:
Please comment and explain: why?
Comments and questions are welcome, as always, and are moderated for appropriateness.
Angela







