Sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, hydrolysed starch, corn syrup or generally any word ending in ‘–ose’. Just because it’s not called sugar, it doesn’t mean it isn’t sugar and doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the leading causes of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in the UK.
In a recent survey, it was found that a third of children aged 2 – 15 are overweight or obese and the majority of these children are from more deprived areas. Children aged 5 are twice as likely to be obese in comparison to their most well off counterparts. By aged 11, the likelihood of this triples.
It’s not just children suffering. Adults in the UK who are found to be obese are 7 times more likely to be a Type 2 diabetic than adults of a healthy weight. In very severe cases, this disease can lead to blindness and limb amputation.
Not only does obesity double the risk of dying prematurely, increase the chances of illnesses such as heart disease and depression, but it costs the NHS over £5 billion each year. In the UK we spend more money each on year on obesity treatment alone than we do on the police, fire service and judicial system combined.
A change in diet could hugely improve these figures and make a drastic change to your health. Cutting out sugar isn’t as easy as you think it may be. It’s not just a case of cutting down on your favourite fizzy drinks or stopping your daily chocolate bar; sugar’s hidden in a variety of every day foods which you wouldn’t necessarily think would contain any sugar, let alone the amount it does.
Foods that contain more than 22.5g of sugar per 100g are considered high in sugar and should be avoided, while food contains less than 5g of sugar per 100g are considered low in sugar. Many companies are now making it easier to know the facts with their traffic light charts on the fronts of packets. Aim to fill your basket with more green (and amber if necessary) packets than the red!
Have a read of our top tips which can help you cut out any unnecessary sugar in your meal times.
Breakfast:
- Many cereals contain huge amounts of sugar so it’s best to stick to low sugar options such as plain porridge or whole wheat cereal biscuits. These can be jazzed up with some chopped apricots or banana instead of being sweetened with sugar! If you can’t go cold turkey straight away, alternate your usual cereal with the low sugar option on different days, or even mix the two in the same bowl! If toast is your preferred breakfast choice, use less topper than you usual would and try and go for wholemeal or granary bread
Main meals:
- Many meals that you would consider a savoury dinner option actually contain high amounts of sugar – shop bought soups, stir in sauces and ready meals. You can easily cut these out by making meals from scratch so that you’re in control of what goes into them. Many condiments can contain up to half a teaspoon per serving. This doesn’t seem much but if you’re having it every day, the sugar content soon adds up.
Puddings:
- Think of a pudding as more of a treat, not necessarily something you need to have every day. If you do need something sweet to finish off your meal, try going for fruit, low fat yoghurt or rice pudding but don’t be fooled. Just because something is low fat, that doesn’t automatically mean its low sugar so be sure to read the labels carefully when making your decisions.
Snacks:
- It’s easy in this fast paced day and age to pick up a chocolate bar as a quick and easy snack but there are many other options which are just as convenient. Fruit, unsalted nuts, rice cakes and plain popcorn are all easy choices to snack on when you need something extra between meals. If you’re reluctant to give up your usual snack, maybe just try and cut down the quantity or see if there’s a low sugar alternative.
Drinks:
- A quarter of all added sugar we consume comes from drinks but these days, there is generally a low or zero sugar alternative. You can even try having soda water with a splash of fruit juice added or add fruit to normal tap water to make for a tasty option. Your intake of fruit juice, veg juice or smoothies shouldn’t exceed more than 150ml a day. Even though one portion counts as 1 of your 5 a day, don’t think that having more than one portion will count as more – it’s not quite how it works!
We’re not advising you to cut all sugar out of your diet because realistically, it’s really not that easy (believe me I’ve tried!) but just a few small tweaks here and there can cut up to 30 teaspoons of sugar out of your diet which will make you feel better and do your body a whole lot of good! Got any good tips on how to make some easy changes to your diet? Then let us know in the comments below!
