Share
Often, when it comes to fitness and health, we find ourselves confused as to what is the right option? There are too many opinions on everything and somehow, almost every opinion seems to differ from the other. In such case, it is important to remind oneself, that everyone’s body is different and what may work for one person, does not necessarily work for others. So, any decision that you take regarding your health and diet should not be motivated by what the health trends are, but by what your body needs to be healthy.
One such trend is identifying sugar as the root cause of all evil and holding sugar consumption responsible for everything that goes wrong with our health. Although there is no doubt that sugar is in fact, not that great for our health and having too much of it is not beneficial, but the taboo associated with eating sugar is getting out of hands. There are several people who would tell you to opt for jaggery or sugar instead of sugar. Now, let us see how do these 2 hold their own against sugar.
Now, let us first understand on what criteria we can judge all three. If we are talking purely from the point of view of health, then we need to judge all three on calorie density, nutrient density and overall benefits. We will judge all three on these criteria and then decide which one is beneficial for our particular need.
Sugar
The root of all evils, sugar is here to be judged by us on three criteria. If we talk about calorie density, you will be surprised to know that there isn't a lot of difference between sugar and other alternatives that are touted to be much healthier. It has 390 calories per 100 grams, compared with brown sugar, which has 375 calories! Now, where sugar actually lags behind in the nutrient density and benefits. Sugar causes a spike in the blood sugar almost instantaneously, which is what makes it a slightly bad option, especially for diabetic people.
Honey
Honey does not cause a sudden blood sugar spike
Jaggery
It is an unrefined sugar made by boiling concentrated sugar cane extract until it hardens. And if it in fact is unrefined sugar, there is little reason why it would have lesser calorie density. This natural sweetener has 380 calories per hundred grams, which falls under the same bracket. In fact, the insulin spike is also very similar to that of sugar. But one department where it scores is the overall benefits. It is extremely nutrient rich and has Protein, fats, iron, magnesium, potassium and manganese in ample amount.
So, now that we have seen the benefits and drawbacks of all three, we can surely make a choice according to our personal requirements. Remember this rule of each body being different and you will never have the pressure of abiding any trend.
