Sugar tastes so good! Who doesn’t love it? Such a bummer it has a bittersweet impact on our health. Sugar has been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, heart disease and… it’s very addictive. Not fair, I know.
Natural Sugar
Sugar is naturally present in lots of foods we eat. Any food with carbohydrates contains natural sugar. Carbohydrate containing foods are fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy. Because these foods also contain nutrients and fibre, they’re not a big issue in terms of health risks.
Hidden Sugars
The stuff to watch out for is the added sugars, the silent sugar bombs, which are sneaking their way in many, many foods these days. As customers are becoming more aware of this, food manufacturers are hiding sugar under ‘innocent’ names in the ingredient list.
Common names for sugar in food
- Molasses
- Honey
- Maple syrup, and anything with the word “syrup”
- High fructose corn syrup, and anything with the word “corn”
- Coconut flower nectar, and anything with the word “nectar”
- Fruit juice
- Evaporated cane juice, and anything with the word “cane”
- Rice syrup, and any derivative of rice
- Agave syrup, and anything with “agave”
- Sucrose, glucose, fructose, dextrose, and anything ending with “_ose”
- Anything with the word “malt”, like maltodextrin and malt syrup
- Brown sugar, coconut sugar and anything with the word “sugar”
You can find even more names for sugar here.
Recommended daily sugar limit by THE WHO
The World Health Organisation recommends limiting your consumption of added sugar to 25g a day, that’s 6 teaspoons. To give you a bit of an indication, a can of regular soda usually contains about 35g of sugar. That’s almost 9 teaspoons, and way above the daily limit.
Nutrition Fact Labels: where to find sugar?
Now, to determine if foods contain lots of hidden sugars, you need to determine the sugar content of the product.
How do you do this? First, ignore the health claims on the front of the packet. Then, flip the box over and read the nutrition panel on the back.
The image below shows where you can find the amount of sugar in your product. The sugars mentioned on the nutrition fact label are the sugars that the product naturally contains, and the added sugars.
New nutrition fact labels for the USA
In the USA they’re actively trying to combat the obesity epidemic and came up with a new standard for nutrition fact labels.
One of the changes is that large food manufacturers now need to specify how much added sugar is in the total sugar content of a product.
The manufacturers need to add an extra line that clearly distinguishes naturally occurring sugar in a product from added sugars. Smaller food manufacturers still have until 1 January 2021 to implement these changes.
Hopefully, other countries will follow suit. It’ll be a lot easier for everyone to pick the healthier option over the foods full of hidden sugars.
Hidden Sugars
When reducing the sugar in your diet, there’s a couple of products to watch out for. Besides the obvious culprits like biscuits and lollies, watch out for these products with lots of hidden sugars:
• Soda
Soda generally contains loads of sugar. As mentioned above, one soda may contain over 35 grams of sugar. Swap your soda for sparkling mineral water or just water. It will keep you hydrated without the sugars. Add some slices of fruit or mint to your water if you want to add some flavour.
• Fruit Juice
Fruit juice is always better than soda, but also contains lots of sugar. Even if there are no added sugars in the juice, it still contains fructose, which is the natural sugar present in the fruit. Although fruit juice does contain some beneficial nutrients, it has been stripped of the fibre. This creates a big sugar hit in your system, so juice needs to be consumed in moderation. High consumption of juice has been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
• Cereals
The common denominator in most cereals is sugar. Cornflakes, fruit loops, coco pops or a healthier-looking granola. Sometimes even 15g per serving, that’s almost 4 teaspoons. The serving size is usually on the small side, so you have a double serve. That would make 30g for just cereal.
And we’re just talking about the cereal here. You haven’t even added the yogurt or milk. With a breakfast like this, it’s so easy to get over the recommended daily limit of 25g per day. That’s not breakfast, that’s desert.
An easy swap for your store-bought cereal and granola is to make a big batch yourself. You can find my recipe here.
• Muesli bars
The name “muesli” can be very misleading here. These convenient snacks can contain lots of sugar. Watch out for the added sugars in the ingredient list, and stay away from those muesli bars.
If there aren’t any sugars mentioned in the ingredients, but there’s quite some sugar mentioned on the nutrition facts label, it’ll be because of dried fruits like dates and sultanas. Although these dried fruits also contain nutrients and fibre, eat these muesli bars in moderation and as a treat. It’s always better to eat the whole (non-dried) fruit as a snack.
• Sugar in hot drinks
Adding sugar to your coffee and tea? It’s not really hidden sugars, as you’re actually adding it yourself. But, for some people this is such a no-brainer, they’re not really aware that they’re doing something that is compromising their health.
Try giving it a miss. This is easier when you gradually reduce the sugar to zero. If you normally add 1 teaspoon. Reduce it to half a teaspoon for a week, then ¼ of a teaspoon for a week, then no added sugar at all.
• Processed foods
Packaged processed foods, like soup and meal kits, sauce and gravy mixes, are loaded with sugar and other non-ideal ingredients like MSG. Although very easy and convenient, try to stay away from them and prepare your own food from scratch. If you don’t know how to, find some recipes on the internet, get a recipe book, or attend a cooking class. Start with simple meals, don’t overcomplicate. Experimenting in your own kitchen can be so much fun if you allow yourself some time.
• Tomato ketchup
Called tomato sauce in Australia, it’s one of the most popular condiments in the world. This sauce contains – hold on to your chair right now – 4.1 grams of sugar per serving. One serving is a tablespoon of 15g. That means one serving of sauce, is 27% sugar.
To put things in perspective, one bottle of 500ml sauce contains more than 34 teaspoons of sugar!
It’s best to stay away from this sugar bomb completely, but if you really want to have it: make some yourself.
Sugar is not only a problem in tomato ketchup, it’s added to many other sauces and condiments. Always check the label.
• Dessert
Craving something sweet after dinner? Desserts like ice cream, are loaded with sugar. Try not to give in and have a piece of fruit instead. Instead of the added sugar with empty calories, you’ll have nutrients and fibre along with the natural sugar instead. A much healthier option.
Artificial Sweeteners: not a good alternative
I can hear you think, I’ll just add artificial sweeteners. No bueno! Artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar (Splenda is up to 600 times sweeter), but contain zero calories. This confuses your brain as it’s expecting the calories when it senses the taste of sugar. It corrects the imbalance by making you hungrier. Not the result you were after, as you’ll eat more food and this can make you gain weight. It can intensify your sugar cravings too, which makes it harder to quit sugar all together.
Artificial sweeteners have also been linked to stroke, dementia, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. It’s best to stay away from these sugar replacement products.
Taste Buds, change it up!
If you’ve got a sweet tooth and are really struggling to reduce sugar in your diet, here’s a motivating fact: it only takes about 10 days to completely change your taste buds. That’s right, you get 10% new taste buds every day. If you have to get used to the lack of sweetness in your food, be persistent, at least 10 days. You’ll notice that it will be a lot easier after that.
Sugar withdrawal symptoms
Some people may experience withdrawal symptoms when they drastically reduce their sugar intake, like headaches, cravings, and mood changes. These should go away in a few days or weeks. The symptoms are caused by fluctuating blood sugar levels. Eating enough protein and fibre, staying hydrated, and getting enough sleep will help your body to get through these symptoms.
Stay strong, 10 days, you’ve got this!
