All living things need energy for its cells to function.  Plants create their own energy.  Using solar energy to form chemical energy, they make their own glucose.  Animals and humans get energy from the food we eat, specifically carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose, which is our body’s primary fuel for energy

Carbohydrates are sugars.  They can be in the form of a sugar, starch or fiber.  They are either simple (shorter chains of sugar molecules) or complex (longer chains for sugar molecules).  Simple sugars are the simplest form of a carbohydrate; they have one molecule, monosaccharide.  The most common simple sugars are glucose, fructose and galactose. 

When two simple sugars combine, they become disaccharides.  These duos are sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose) and maltose (glucose + glucose).

Both starch and fiber are long chains of glucose molecules.  Digestible starches are broken down into glucose and absorbed in our body.  Resistant starches resist being digested.  Fiber isn’t digested either.  So both resistant starches and fiber move through the small intestine undigested and become fuel for the good gut bacteria in our large intestine.

You can see the importance of “sugars” as the fuel for your body’s energy.  These sugars can be either digestible or indigestible.

Remixology’s mantra of No Sugar refers to reducing those carbohydrate calories that must be digested, because they cause a rush of insulin in your body. 

Insulin is a hormone released in your blood stream ahead of the glucose to provide the key to unlock your cells to accept the glucose as energy.  Too much insulin can lead to health problems and could also cause your cells to become resistant to the key role this hormone serves for your body.

You don’t have to give up the taste of sweet in our cooking.  You just need to eliminate refined (processed) sugars and choose sugars that are naturally found in fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

Check out Remixology’s Top 10 sugar recommendations and discover how to remix recipes for a whole, better you.