Food
Sweet temptations
What
Sugar may be sweet, but it leaves a bitter aftertaste: too much sugar can contribute to major health issues such as obesity and diabetes, whilst its production threatens many environmentally sensitive regions.
The average person eats 66 grams of sugar a day - almost three times the amount recommended by the World Health Organisation (who’d rather we limit our intake to six teaspoons or less) . Isn’t it about time we started cutting back?1
Why
Eating too much sugar leads to weight-gain, which in turn increases your risk of various serious health conditions such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes and strokes.2 High blood sugar can also create what’s known as an ‘inflammatory response’, which weakens the immune system by interfering with your body cells’ immune responses.3
What’s more, a major study4 has shown strong links between high sugar consumption and a host of mental health issues - including depression.
And let’s not forget what your mum always said - too many sweet treats will make your teeth fall out (or, at the very least, lead to some expensive dentist’s bills!)
How
There's a heated debate about whether we can technically call sugar ‘addictive’. Either way, cutting back on sugar can seem like a daunting task...but it’s totally do-able, and worth it!
Here are a few top tips to get you started:
- Sugar isn’t always called ‘sugar’, and knowing how much is in a product can require a degree in food engineering. As a rough guide, look at the ‘carbohydrates as sugars’ figure on nutrition labels (this includes both natural and added sugars). Less than 5g per 100g is low, more than 22.5g per 100g is high
- Check the ingredients list for anything ending in ‘ose’ (glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose, maltose): these are all forms of sugar, and the higher up on the list they are, the more sugar the product contains
- Be wary of low-fat and ‘diet’ foods. Despite claiming to be good for you, these products are often high in sugar
- Fruit contains a lot of natural sugars. The general advice is to eat whole fruit because it contains lots of healthy vitamins, minerals and fibre. However, try to get plenty of nutrition from a wide variety of vegetables, including leafy greens
- We often eat sugar because we feel hungry, but sugar famously doesn’t fill you up. Instead, snack on protein-rich, good fats like nuts, avocados and natural yoghurt. Not only do these provide nutrients, essential fats and amino acids, they’ll make you feel fuller for longer, all while having a minimal impact on your blood glucose levels
- When you do consume sweeter or high carbohydrate foods, try to pair them with things like lemon juice, cinnamon, nuts and protein (like cheese). This will reduce the spike in blood sugar as you metabolise the food
- There are lots of apps out there that will help you understand and monitor your daily sugar consumption. For example, the NHS’s Change4Life Food Scanner app uses bar-code scanning to show you how much sugar is in your potential purchases
And finally, when the time comes to have that special sugary treat, make sure to choose something that uses Fair Trade sugar. That way, your purchase is helping support sustainable growing practices and fair treatment of workers. All the more delicious, right?
