How can I reduce sugar in my diet? Part 3

As we saw in part 1, sugar is bad news for health. And as we saw in part 2, there are few alternatives that can be trusted either. So how do we reduce the amount of sugar we consume?

Unfortunately, the food industry exacerbates the problem by increasing and hiding the sugar content in our food. This includes fizzy drinks, processed foods, cooking sauces, condiments, breakfast cereals, cakes, biscuits, and sweet snacks, even those branded as ‘healthy’. These foods should, in general, be avoided, or you should at least become familiar with reading the label effectively to help you make an informed choice.
 

Sugar comes under many names, this list is scarily long;

Sucrose, Maltose, Dextrose, Fructose, Glucose, Galactose, Lactose, High fructose corn syrup, Glucose solids, Cane juice, Dehydrated cane juice, Cane juice solids, Cane juice crystals, Dextrin, Maltodextrin, Dextran, Barley malt, Beet sugar, Corn syrup, Corn syrup solids, Caramel, Buttered syrup, Carob syrup, Brown sugar, Date sugar, Malt syrup, Diatase, Diatastic malt, Fruit juice, Fruit juice concentrate, Dehydrated fruit juice, Fruit juice crystals, Golden syrup, Turbinado,  Sorghum syrup, Refiner's syrup, Ethyl maltol, Maple syrup, Yellow sugar.

It is common practice for manufacturers to list more than one of these ingredients in an attempt to downplay the sugar content. Often products are labelled as only containing ‘natural sugars’ which is unfortunately irrelevant - sugar is sugar to the body no matter where it has come from. Common table sugar, for example, is made from plants such as sugar beet and sugar cane.  Looking for sugars per 100g or 100ml is the best way to deduce if a product is high in sugar - anything below 5g per 100g or 2.5g per 100ml is considered low sugar, whereas anything above 10g per 100g I would say is 'high sugar'.

Particularly look out for ‘Diet’ or ‘Low Fat’ foods which are often high in sugar or sweetener to replace the lost ‘tastiness’ from the fat removed. Sweet drinks are a major culprit too, nearly a quarter of the added sugar in our diets comes from sugary drinks, such as fizzy drinks, juices, squashes, and cordials. Try replacing these with water or sparkling water that has been lightly flavoured with whole fruits.

As mentioned in part 1, why is sugar bad for you, one of the major negative health outcomes of high sugar consumption is the disruption of blood sugar levels. There are a few key ways to avoid this:

1. Adding protein and fibre to any meal or snack allows sugar to be released into the bloodstream more slowly. This also reduces the carbohydrate content, making your meals less sugar heavy and preventing cravings later in the day.

2. Magnesium, B Vitamins and chromium are key nutrients for blood sugar balancing so taking supplements regularly to make sure you are getting enough of these can be helpful.

3. Spices such as cinnamon are also a great natural way to help your body balance insulin levels.

4. One of the best things you can do to beat sugar cravings is to reset your taste buds. The more sugar and sweeteners you consume, the more your taste buds develop a ‘sweet tooth’. This is made worse by the fact that your taste buds then become desensitised to sugar, making you need more of it to obtain the same sweetness. If you cut out sugar for an extended period of time, you will find that your sugar tolerance levels drop and you won’t crave as much sugar as before.

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