That brief surge of energy that swells in us after eating a large sugary treat, commonly known as a sugar rush, is due to a temporary rise in blood sugar.  Blood sugar spikes occur when your blood sugar first rises and then falls sharply after you have eaten and are linked to certain types of food. What is blood sugar? The widely used term “blood sugar” is a misnomer, as it refers to glucose.  During digestion the body breaks down carbohydrates into a simple sugar called glucose, which then enters the bloodstream.  Apart from glucose, other sugars are also present in the blood.  Food contains several types of sugar, such as fructose from fruit and lactose from milk.  Contrary to

What’s in a name?  Well, in the case of the eggplant, it depends on where in the world you are.   In British English as well as in German, Dutch, and French it is known as aubergine, while it is known as brinjal in South Asia and South Africa, and referred to as eggplant in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. The most common variety looks like a large, pear-shaped egg, which is where the name “eggplant” comes from.  It belongs to the nightshade plant family, along with tomatoes, potatoes, and bell peppers.  Although eggplants are grouped with vegetables, they are technically fruit.  The eggplant is a perennial plant that can live for three or more growing seasons in a tropical

As sugar is added to lots of foods and beverages, many people probably eat and drink more sugar than they may realise.  Reducing sugar intake is a healthy idea, although it is quite a challenge to reduce the intake of sugar, as it acts like a drug in the brain.  Less intense than cocaine and heroin, but nonetheless addictive for some people, sugar activates the very same region in the brain that makes you experience a high and feelings of pleasure.  Like using hard drugs, bingeing on sugar blunts the “pleasure” response over time, making you want the sugar fix more frequently and in higher doses to experience the same feelings of pleasure.  What is sugar and what does it

The human brain is the most complex object in the known universe, but short on its heels is the intricate biochemical factory that regulates the functioning of the body – a variety of individual chemical processes that work together in prefect harmony.  One of these chemical processes originates in the pancreas by producing insulin. Insulin: The pancreas is a gland located near the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine) which makes a few hormones, with insulin one of two principal hormones, the other being glucagon.  When insulin is excreted into the bloodstream, it acts like a key in a lock to open the cells in the muscle, fat, and liver, to allow the transport of glucose into the

Increasing global consciousness about the dangers of too much sugar in the diet has resulted in manufacturers of processed foods trying to hide the sugar content.  A myriad of names that could hardly be associated with sugar, or are innocent sounding, are used on the label.  But sugar by any other name is still sugar. In his book “Drop Acid” Dr. David Perlmutter lists seventy different commonly used names for sugar, listed here in alphabetical order.  A:  agave syrup, anhydrous dextrose. B:  barley malt, beet sugar, birch syrup, blackstrap molasses, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, buttered sugar/buttercream. C:  cane juice (crystals), cane sugar, caramel, carob syrup, coconut palm sugar, coconut sugar, confectioners’/powdered sugar, corn sweetener, crystal dextrose, crystalline fructose. D: