Humans seem to be born with a love for sweets. However, if sweets are consumed incorrectly, it can seriously affect health: in addition to causing obesity, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases, it can also lead to problems like osteoporosis and gallstones.
First, do not eat sweets on an empty stomach.
When your stomach is empty, sugar is absorbed almost immediately without being digested, causing a rapid, short-term spike in blood sugar levels. This temporary hyperglycemia can react with proteins in many important tissues in the body, damaging them and increasing the risk of chronic diseases.
The best times to eat sweets are before exercise, when vomiting or having diarrhea, and when diabetic patients have low blood sugar.
Second, learn to choose the types of sweets.
First, when you want something sweet, you can prioritize natural sweetness, such as fruits like pomegranates and apples. Not only can they satisfy your craving for sweets, but the oligosaccharides and other sugars in them can also promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the body and inhibit the proliferation of pathogenic and spoilage bacteria in the intestines.
Second, you can appropriately choose some foods processed with sugar alcohol sweeteners, such as xylitol gum. They have lower energy and cause a lower postprandial blood sugar response. But be careful not to overconsume, as this can cause diarrhea.
Third, less processed sugars are better; for example, brown sugar is more nutritious than white sugar.
Finally, do not chew sweets for too long. Lactobacilli in the mouth can ferment sugar to produce acid, which accelerates tooth aging, and the longer the chewing time, the greater the degree of aging. Additionally, remember to rinse your mouth with plain water after eating sweets.