Sugar and Fiber

I've recently heard from two sources that the reason that sugar in fruit is okay for our health is the fiber. Not "all the other nutrients," just the fiber, which apparently slows down the absorption of sugar thereby making it easier for us to deal with in a healthy way instead of overloading the liver.

Ratios

So then, because I'm a spoiled American dreaming about being able to eat sugary baked goods in some sort of healthy way, I decided to look up the ratio of grams of sugar to grams fiber in one serving of some fruits:

apples: 19/4.4 = 4.32
oranges: 9/2.3 = 3.91
grapes: 15/0.8 = 18.75
raspberries: 5/8 = 0.63
blueberry: 15/3.6 = 4.17
sweet potatoes (not a fruit, just wondering): 6/4 = 1.5

I had thought it might be fifty-fifty, but no. Maybe for every 4 g of sugar, there should be at least 1 g of fiber. This sounds like the makings of a lovely rule of thumb.

Chocolate chip cookies

Now I'm wondering about adding nuts to my chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Sugary ingredients:
* 1/2 cup brown sugar - 106 g sugar
* 1/3 cup white sugar - 67 g sugar
* 3/4 cup chocolate chips* - 6 * 8.25 = ~50 g sugar
Total: 223 g sugar
Well, yeah, I guess I knew it was crazy. I'd need 56 g of fiber to follow my rule of thumb.

Fibrous ingredients:
* 1 cup white whole wheat flour - 16 g fiber
* 3/4 cup chocolate chips* (yay!) - ~25 g of sugar
Total: 41 g fiber, hmm.

Possible additional fibrous ingredient
* 3/4 cup chopped pecans - 8 g fiber (11 for a full cup)
New total: 49 - 52 g fiber
Surprisingly close.

* Annoying math: One serving (of Guittard extra dark chocolate chips) is 15 g and there are 22 servings per bag. But the recipes on the package tell me that there are 2 cups per bag or 8/4 cups. So I want the nutrition information for 3/8 of a 22-serving bag = (3 * 22)/8 servings or 33/4 servings or 8.25 servings.

In conclusion, a) pecans will not quite make cookies fruit-like (according to my new random rule-of-thumb). But b) with a ratio of 6 grams of sugar to 3 grams of fiber in my chocolate chips, they are just as healthy as fruit. Mwahaha! So c) I should use a lot more chocolate chips in my cookies. Currently, I put the minimum in that I still love.

Conclusion

In real life I have real trouble accepting conclusions b) and c) above. Still, I'm thinking it may be a good idea to eat high-fiber foods at the same time as high-sugar foods. And to maybe take a fiber pill when going to parties.

Fructose is the real villain

In related news, I've learned (via WHY Sugar is as Bad as Alcohol (Fructose, The Liver Toxin) that fructose apparently acts a lot like alcohol in the way that it stresses the liver. (Also, the "u" in "fructose" is pronounced like the "u" in "truck," not like the "u" in "fruit." But the "u"s in "glucose" and "sucrose" are pronounced like the "u" in "fruit.")

Fructose is one of the three monosaccharide sugars, the others being glucose and galactose. Glucose, at least, does not have this effect.

Sucrose is half glucose and half fructose, so that's why table sugar is problematic.

I looked it up, and lactose is made of glucose and galactose. Maybe that's why a bunch of studies show that even full-fat dairy products don't cause weight gain.

And maltose is made of two glucose molecules, so no fructose there, either.