Are you sweet enough?
Sugar is enemy number one if you are trying to lose weight, prevent type 2 diabetes, manage inflammation, or just lead a healthier lifestyle, but making sense of food labels and trying to find a decent alternative can be a minefield.
There is no doubt about it, sugar makes you feel good – but only temporarily. It’s a quick fix, followed by a slump. Coming down from the sugar buzz can leave us feeling tired, moody, irritable and craving more of the sweet stuff.
Most of us eat far more than our healthy share. The average adult in Northern Ireland is hitting double the recommended amount of sugar, and children are consuming about three times the recommended amount. This is putting us at risk of a whole range of health conditions – from type 2 diabetes, dental caries, obesity, inflammatory conditions, cancer, dementia, and more.
This sugar load is coming from fizzy drinks, fruit juices, biscuits, cakes and breakfast cereals. Some of it is obvious, and some of it is hidden.
Cracking the sugar cycle can be tricky, but once you are free from the sugar shackles, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
Here are some simple swaps to cut your sugar load:
Swap from milk chocolate to dark chocolate. Just make sure you are choosing a high cocoa chocolate. Aim for a minimum 70% cocoa solids. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the lower the sugar content.
Make your own sweet treats. That way you know how much sugar is in what you are eating and you have more control over it. There are lots of great healthy baking recipes with lower sugar content. Energy bites using nuts and dried fruit, oat flapjacks or healthier cookies are a good place to start.
Drop your fruit juice habit. A glass of juice can contain as much sugar as a glass of coke. Drink water instead. Add sliced fruit, fresh mint or some cucumber for a refreshing cooler.
Choose natural or Greek yoghurt instead of the flavoured versions.
Swap your sauces. It’s always better to make your own cooking sauces and it can be quick and easy to do with a few simple storecupboard ingredients like soya sauce or miso, tinned tomatoes or passata and coconut milk for curries, but if you are buying ready made sauces, then read the label and consider some of these simple swaps: Sriacha instead of sweet chilli, soy sauce instead of teriyaki, curry sauce instead of sweet and sour!
Swap to savoury snacks, or choose healthier options like fruit, carrot sticks and houmous, crackers and cheese or nuts.
Medjool dates stuffed with a teaspoonful of sugar-free peanut butter makes a sweet and satisfying treat that packs in more fibre, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals than sweet alternatives.
‘Heathier’ or natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup will still add to the sugar load, so use less than usual. They are ok to have in your diet, but no better than sugar in terms of their sugar content.
Beware of artificial sweeteners – they can knock the good bacteria in your gut microbiome out of balance.
If you are looking for a better sweetener, look out for chicory root fibre You’ll find it in your local health food shop. It is a prebiotic that helps support a healthy gut microbiome, a source of fibre and it tastes sweet, Try it anywhere you would use honey or maple syrup.
Offload some hidden sugars. Breakfast cereals, yoghurts, cooking sauces and pre-packed foods are often high in sugar. Get to know what’s in your food – check out the nutrition panel on the back of the pack and aim for 5g or less per 100g.
Know the difference between ‘low sugar’, ‘no-added sugar’ and ‘reduced sugar’. If a label claims to be low sugar, this is a legal term and when you look at the back of the pack, you will see that it has less than 5g sugar per 100g. Most other terms like ‘no added sugar’, ‘less sugar’ or ‘reduced sugar’ are marketing terms and could still add substantially to your sugar load.