Sugar: The poison is in the dose

All this sweet talk on sugar is making families confused and even guilty about eating a piece of fruit. Some health reports say sugar is safe and others report we must go cold turkey and completely deny this white stuff.

The most important part of the story has been overlooked: the question should be what are the safe and unsafe amounts of sugars.

The poison is in the dose. Lactose, glucose, and fructose are all sugar. Lactose is the sugar component from dairy products. Glucose in our natural food supply is used for brain and muscle energy when they are in need of refuelling. Both lactose and glucose sugars have an important place in our diets. Fructose is metabolised in a different way than lactose and glucose. However, too much sugar is too much sugar, in any form and excess consumption is not good for our wellbeing. Excessive quality proteins or fats are not good for our health either. Our health and the health of our children is in danger because we are not aware of the amount of hidden sugars in our foods. Becoming knowledgeable and aware of the names of hidden sugars and quantities is one task we should all commit to this year. The Sugar Disguise Manufacturers are good at disguising sugar. Every manufacturer product in Australia has a nutritional panel. Become a label reader and note that ingredients are listed in decreasing order by weigh on the packet. LOOK FOR Sugar in disguise:

Turbinado sugar
Raw sugar
Maltodextrin
Barley malt
Malt sugar
Corn syrup
Sucrose
Maltose
Dextrose
Manitol
Fructose
Glucose
Molasses
Treacle
Malt extract
Syrup
Fruit concentrate

The Sugar Surprise If the nutritional panel says that a muesli bar has 36 gr of sugar, that means that is roughly 8 ½ teaspoons of sugar in some form. If a can of soft drink or ginger beer has 48 grams of sugar, that is 12 teaspoons of sugar. If a small container of honey yogurt claims 28 grams of sugar, then it contains 7 teaspoons of some form of sugar. For a general rule of thumb divide the number of grams of sugar by 4 and you will see how many teaspoons of sugar there are in the serving size of that product. The American Heart Association states that for optimal health we should only be consuming 6-9 teaspoons of sugar per day, yet most of us are consuming more than 30 per day. The World Health Organisation is currently working on a new proposal on its recommendations of 6 teaspoons per day for optimal health.

Try This	Not This	Why?
Real Oats drizzled with maple syrup	Boxed cereals	A small serving size of some pre-sweetened cereals can contain up to 7 teaspoons of added sugars. You would not put 7 teaspoons of sugar on your oats.
Cocoa, Almond & Date protein balls	Packaged muesli bars	Homemade protein balls contain natural sugars and you control the amount. ’Healthy muesli’ bars are often full of hidden sugars- usually about 5 tsp per bar..
Greek plain yogurt with honey and seeds	Fruit flavoured yogurt	Flavoured yogurts contain concentrated fruit syrups or purees and lots of hidden sugar. Often about 7 teaspoons per serve.
Dark chocolate bar	99% fat free lollies	Don’t fall for ‘fat free’ marketing. A one kilo bag of sugar can claim to be fat free. A small handful will be about 6 teaspoons of sugar.
Fruit, yes fresh fruit!	Fruit juice	Fresh fruit is full of vitamins and minerals. Most importantly, it is full of fibre, which slows down the way its natural sugar effects blood sugar. It is too easy to drink a 3 minute apple juice without fibre, but it is not easy to eat the five apples the juice was made from. Even though it is natural sugar – there is about 5 teaspoons.
Water, coconut water, homemade smoothies, vegetables juices, teas, coffees, sparking water with a splash of fruit juice.	Soft drinks, flavoured milks, flavoured coffees, premade smoothies, and sports drinks	Check the label on these products. Liquid sugars are one of the primary risk factors for diabetes, obesity and other health sugar related conditions. Most sodas have at least 10 teaspoons of unnatural sugars in them!

A true sugar addict may find coming off sugar completely and then easing your way back into a low- sugar lifestyle is a worthy transition and a profitable investment in your health. Once you begin eating real, whole food, you will forget about the junk food of the past and the fear of sugar.

92 Comments

- - ahealthyview said
  - 31 May 2014
    11:24 am
if you liked this story you will love this….http://ahealthyview.com.au/low-sugar-lifestyle

- - Gracelow said
  - 29 May 2014
    12:40 pm
Wow, this is actually very enlightening, thanks for the heads up!

- - scottie said
  - 28 May 2014
    8:43 pm
The translation into teaspoons is a bit of a shock!

- - ahealthyview said
  - 27 May 2014
    9:02 pm
if you want a quick cheat sheet on this go to http://ahealthyview.com.au/low-sugar-lifestyle
I promise it will be a great investment of five minutes!

- - christial said
  - 26 May 2014
    8:47 pm
I will definitely b trying to replace some of the things in the list above.

- - coppin85 said
  - 25 May 2014
    10:03 am
its crazy all the places its hidden!

- - ahealthyview said
  - 24 May 2014
    10:54 am
There is so much to look out for … but here is the thing… it is easy once you are taught how. I have a free download about sugar on my website http://www.ahealthyview.com.au

- - coppin85 said
  - 23 May 2014
    1:49 pm
wow there is a lot to look out for

- - catgrrl3 said
  - 22 May 2014
    10:30 am
I knew sugar also went by a few different names, but I had not idea it was sooo many. How is it they are allowed to get away with it, and abuse the fact that the majority of us have no idea those ingredients are also sugar?

- - nida saeed said
  - 20 May 2014
    12:53 am
This is a great article, it had increased my knowledge related to sugar and it’s use. So brief and simply written. A must read for everyone

- - twinmum2 said
  - 19 May 2014
    4:19 pm
I know I consume too much sugar, I buy low fat products and often these products seem to contain even more sugar than normal products.

- - rachaelchara said
  - 19 May 2014
    10:56 am
Very imformative…I will think a bit more carefully about my sugar intake.

- - rustyblue said
  - 19 May 2014
    8:31 am
that is a very informative article – we try not to eat too much sugar, – but its hard, when the manufacturers put it in everything with little regard for our outcome. When I bake, I put fresh berries in the muffins instead of sugar (we grow them, and freeze excess) and you can hardly taste the difference.

- - colleen b. said
  - 18 May 2014
    10:56 pm
Am interesting read but what about sugar substitutes?

- - hopefullyheidi said
  - 18 May 2014
    4:37 pm
Some great revelations here. Thanks for posting

- - dr rosina mcalpine said
  - 17 May 2014
    10:10 pm
Great article and fabulous substitutes. I’ve shown our son how to read labels from the time he could read … he’s six now and its been a few years. He looks for products where the sugar content is less than 5 grams per 100 grams … anything above that he exclaims to me “this is really bad right mum”. My husband tried to buy a flavoured milk at the supermarket a few weeks ago and Cameron grabbed the bottle and said “no daddy that has 30 grams of sugar its too much!” We all laughed… out of the mouths of babes!

- - heidles82 said
  - 17 May 2014
    7:29 pm
I have been reading labels for a long time, and the amount of sugar in some foods astounds me! When I bake, I have been trying ‘clean’ recipes with no refined sugar, and have had some success. I also bake old favourites and just reduce the amount of sugar, or substitute for unrefined sugars (maple syrup, honey, molasses, organic raw sugar) or stevia. People have not been able to taste any difference and I feel better knowing that my little treat is just that little bit healthier for me 🙂
- june11 replied
  
  26 Aug 2014 , 7:27 pm
  A lady I know was recently diagnosed with Diabetes type 2 and went to group lectures at which she was advised to avoid stevia.
- - meimei said
  - 17 May 2014
    5:58 pm
Need to pay attention read the label before buy the products. Informative article.

- - katyap said
  - 17 May 2014
    1:29 pm
There are so many hidden sugars in food. One really has to read the labels on packaging and find out exactly how much sugar is in that food. I find that I am addicted to sugar. I suppose the first step is to try to omit sugar from my tea and coffee. I have been wanting to do this for a long time but cannot get to do it. One should just think of the positive outcomes of limiting their sugar intake- weight loss, good teeth!!
- sisterhood27 replied
  
  21 Jul 2014 , 4:35 pm
  So many hidden sugars in foods I actually picked up a tub of yogurt as it said no sugar i thought ok I will just read the label and check to my surprise no sugar turned into 12 sugar
- - no1ladydj said
  - 16 May 2014
    11:18 pm
Reading labels on food packaging these days has become a minefield, and I feel like I need a science degree to work out some of the ingredients. Truth in packaging and labelling would be great.