We Britons really do eat too much sugar: 700g of the sweet stuff a week – that’s an average of 140 teaspoons per person.
What is sugar?
All sugars are carbohydrates found naturally in most foods.
Their main nutritional value is in providing energy. In the ingredients list, sugar added to food may be called:
Agave Nectar/Syrup - Beet sugar- Blackstrap Molasses -Brown Sugar -Caramel- Cane Sugar- Coconut Sugar -Confectioners Sugar- Demerara Sugar- Dextrose-Fructose- Galactose- Glucose- Golden Sryup- High Fructose Corn Syrup- Honey- Icing Sugar- Invert Sugar- Lactose-Maltdextrose- Maple Syrup- Muscavado- Palm Sugar- Raw Sugar- Rice Syrup- Sucrose- Treacle.
"Free sugar" is the enemy!
Any sugar that is added to foods by the manufacturer, cook or consumer,
as well as those that are naturally present in honey syrups and fruit juices.
It does not include sugar naturally present in milk, diary, whole fruit, vegetables and grains.
These "Free Sugars" shouldn’t make up more than 5% of the energy (calorie intake) you get from food and drink each day. These are the new figures recommended by WHO in July 2015.
That’s about 35g for men and 25g for women - 7 tsps and 5tsps respectively.
Why not Fruit Juices?
All fruit contains the "complex" sugars that are good for us, but if it has been processed to make juice, the cell wall is broken down and sugars are released, That's why fruit juice even if it is 100% juice is classed as a free sugar,
How ever dont avoid it (after the 21 days) just drink in moderation a small glass of 150ml is fine- try watering it down and drink with meals to avoid its impact on the teeth
THEY HIDE IT!
Check for variants of sugar in anything with a "low-fat" label mayonnaise, ketchups, canned soups, ready meals,
fruit yoghurts, crackers and fruit smoothies.
Are all terrible sugar hiders.
10 Reasons Sugar is bad for you....
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Sugar has no essential nutrients
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Sugar can overload your liver
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Overloading the liver with "free sugar" can cause non-alcoholic "Fatty Liver Disease"
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Sugar can cause Insulin resistance, a stepping stone towards "Metabolic Syndrome" and Diabetes
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The insulin resistance can progress to type II Diabetes
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Sugar can give you cancer
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Due to its effects on hormones and the brain, sugar has unique "fat-promoting effects"
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Because it causes massive Dopamine release in the brain, sugar is highly addictive
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Sugar is a leading contributor to obesity in both children and adults
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It isn't the fat… It’s “FREE SUGAR” that raises your cholesterol and gives you heart disease*
*The evidence is mounting that sugar, NOT fat, may be one of the leading drivers of heart disease via the harmful effects
of free sugar on metabolism.
Studies show that large amounts of free sugar can raise Triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL (very, very bad), raise blood glucose and insulin levels and increase abdominal obesity… in as little as 10 weeks.