Does sugar make you hyper!?!?

As I watched my daughter and her friends run around like crazy after eating her birthday cake I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is it sugar that is responsible for this behavior?”

I asked a couple other adults and we decided it has to be because of everything we have heard.

Why then, when I eat candy by myself, don’t I run around my house like a maniac?

It turns out, sugar does not have a hyper-causing effect on how kids behave, rather it is situational. For example, when I think of the times when my daughter Marley is the most hyper after eating sugar, it is when she is in exciting situations with lots of other people. Situations like Halloween or birthday parties are prime examples. Another factor is often times the sugar she ingests is chocolate, which has caffeine that can make one hyper.

Like most things, sugar in moderation is OK. It is when one consumes large amounts of sugar that problems well beyond the perceived troubles of sugar-induced hyperactivity can develop. 

The average amount of sugar Americans consume per day is about 22 teaspoons or half a cooking cup. Some comes from foods that naturally have sugars in them, like fruit, but a lot of it comes from foods in which sugar is added, such as soda pop.

With this amount, we ingest almost 355 mostly empty calories. These are calories that are very high in energy but low in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber and essential fatty acids. Sugars add calories to your diet while displacing nutritious foods. And too much sugar day-in and day-out can sneak up on one to cause some pretty destructive diseases, including diabetes and heart ailments.

I recently received this message loud and clear and decided to cut some sugar from my diet. Not in my coffee, though — I reasoned that because I use raw sugar it was better for me.

Sugar is actually the sap in sugarcane plants. To get the sap, the plants are crushed and the sugar juice is released. The sugar juice is then heated to make a thick dark molasses that contains sugar crystals. To remove the crystals, the molasses is poured into a large centrifuge to separate the syrup and crystals. What is left is the white granulated sugar.

The raw, brown-hued sugar I like to add to my coffee to make myself feel healthier contains a little molasses added back into the white sugar. It is called raw because it is just a little less refined since the molasses is added back into it. So, sadly,

1 tablespoon of so-called raw sugar a day did not make me any healthier. I was fooling myself by still adding empty calories, raw or not.

Now, I have been running around like crazy at ExplorationWorks. I guess sugar is partly responsible. Learning all this has shattered my perspective on sugar in a good way. It is not going to keep me from putting sugar in my coffee in the morning, but I will use it in moderation. And, because sugar is sugar is sugar, at least I will not freak out if it is not in the raw!