One tablespoon of honey has 64 calories, and one tablespoon of sugar has 46 calories. (Or has 22 calories in one teaspoon of honey versus 16 calories in one teaspoon of table sugar.) While the amount of calorie in honey is more, we actually use less of it since it is sweeter than table sugar. And for many people, honey is still a preferred healthier choice because of its vitamins and minerals that can aid in digestion, and its anti-oxidants which can also bring health benefits. In fact, it is a carbohydrate that is recommended in fasting because of its vitamins content and antioxidants effect.



Honey contains the same basic sugar units as table sugar -- glucose and fructose. Granulated table sugar, or sucrose, has glucose and fructose hooked together, whereas in honey, fructose and glucose remain in individual units. Fructose is sweeter than glucose, which is one of the reasons fructose is used in so many food products today. However, fructose does not convert to energy as efficiently as glucose. As a result, processed foods containing granulated sugar high in fructose convert to fat stores more easily than honey. Honey, a natural sweetener, has only one processing step involved - heating to prevent crystallization and yeast fermentation during storage, whereas, table sugar is highly processed, whereby all naturally occurring trace minerals from the sugar cane plant are removed, leaving us with "empty calories" which are devoid of nutrition like vitamins, minerals, and important enzymes. That is why ironically, in developed countries, there are way too many overweight people who are suffering from malnutrition!

Cut down on the simple sugars in your diet by eliminating the chocolate and hard candies. If you simply cannot resist the desire for sweet stuff, replace them with healthy natural sweeteners like honey. Take regular meals with some protein and fat in each, and eat complex carbohydrates that contain ample soluble fiber-- fruits and vegetables for example. Fat, protein and soluble fiber in the diet tend to moderate swings in blood glucose. Other than the concern that excessive intake of sugar and hence calories, could lead to obesity problems, some people have a reaction to sugar called reactive hypoglycemia which is characterized by irritability, nervousness, headache, sweating and confusion a few hours after eating a meal high in simple sugars. These symptoms are caused by the pancreas' overproduction of insulin in response to rising blood glucose levels.

Copyright (c) 2008 Ruth Tan