Sugar vs. Fat

People often ask whether diet that contains lots of sugars is better or worse than the diet with plenty of fat. The answer is not straight forward.

There is an important distinction between the type of sugar and the type of fat. The kinds of sugars and fats that should be avoided at all cost are refined sugars (white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, etc) and refined fat (trans-fats in processed foods, margarine).

Fruit contains sugars that can be characterized as good and complex carbohydrates found in brown rice and lentils are good for your health as well. Nuts, seeds and avocados contain good fats that are essential to our well being.

It is also important that our diet is well balanced, meaning that we need to consume balanced amounts of sugars, fats and protein. A diet that contains too much or too little of any one of those will have adverse effects on our body.

Now, back to the original question - sugar vs. fat. Which is worse?

A gram of sugar has 4 calories, while a gram of fat has 9. At first glance fat seems worse because the same amount of food gives us more energy. Fatty foods contain a lot of energy in tiny packages which means that we can easily consume much more energy than our body needs at the time, which can lead to weight gain.

On the other hand, eating too much sugar (and not enough fat) causes surges in insulin level which after a short period lowers the blood sugar too much. At that point we feel tired and hungry and we eat more and that excess of energy goes into fat.

So, there is no clear answer. We cannot survive on sugar or fat alone, we need balanced diet of all essential nutrients and we need to stay clear of refined sugar and processed fat.