Its
filled in those donuts and cakes.
Those
healthy fruit smoothies… they are just tricking you, they are filled with
sugar.
And
yes, us Australians eat too much sugar every day.
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In fact, the World Health Organisation released a new guideline for sugar intake per person to be 10g a day of total energy intake (World Health Organisation, 2015, para, 1). This is because excess sugar intake is having a terrible effect on our health!
Firstly, what is the sugar free diet?
Essentially
the sugar free diet is a completed by cutting the number of Kilojoules you are
consuming by reducing your sugar intake. (Sugar free diet = no sugar).
Sugars
which are carbohydrates, can come in many forms known as fructose,
glucose, lactose and sucrose. They are used as an energy source for our bodies but
Better Health Channel states (2016) that “Too much sugar in the diet can
contribute to health problems like obesity and tooth decay. Refined (or
processed) sugar provides a quick, simple source of energy, but it doesn’t
contain other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals” (para, 3.)
Generally,
in the foods we eat we can divide the sugar content into two categories;
1. Naturally occurring sugar; found in fruit,
vegetables and dairy products.
2. Added sugar; table sugar,
confectionaries, fast food and any highly-processed food
The sugar group doing the most damage to our bodies is
the fructose group. The University of California Television (2009) video
discusses how “Humans don’t produce fructose and
throughout evolutionary history have never consumed it except seasonally when
fruit were ripe”. Meaning we have added all of this unnecessary sugar into our
diet as we have evolved for no reason what so ever.
Fructose is harmful because:
-Leads to high blood pressure.
-Causes insulin resistance; this leads to obesity and
type II diabetes.
-Tricks the brain into not thinking your full; this
means you over eat.
-It becomes addictive!!
Considering the Australian Dietary Guidelines
Ok
so for those of you who don’t know what the Australian Dietary Guidelines are,
here is a little bit of a crash course:
The
Australian Dietary Guidelines (2013) “use the best available
scientific evidence to provide information on the types and amounts of foods,
food groups and dietary patterns that aim to: promote health
and wellbeing,
reduce the risk of diet-related conditions and reduce the risk
of chronic disease” (para. 1)
They
state five basic guidelines, with the third guideline talking about limiting
added sugars. Hint, hint, wink, wink *lower your sugar intake*
Another
government recommended health scheme to keep in mind is the Nutrient Reference
Values for Australia and New Zealand (2014) who state the “Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges for macronutrients to reduce
chronic disease risk whilst still ensuring adequate micronutrient status” (table.
2).
This
table shows the range of energy that each nutrient group should account for in
your overall energy intake. There for if you stay within these boundaries your
body should be receiving the correct nutrients to grow and sustain itself. (please
note that sugar is not on this table) And yes sugar is a form of carbohydrate
and there is no way you can cut sugar out of your diet completely, (you still
need fruit and vegetables!) but you can cut out the excess sugar.
How to cut back on your sugar intake with these easy steps!
-No
more fruit smoothies, juice or soft drink!! Drink water or unsweetened tea or
coffee.
-Unless
your eating fruit and vegetables, food generally is not naturally bright orange.
Colour can be a useful indicator of added sugar!
-Fast
food is a fast no! the only reason it tastes good is because its high content
of fat and sugar!
-Alcohol
has sneaky amounts of sugar so be careful and limit or cease your intake.
-Eat
good wholesome foods whenever you’re hungry, this will stop you from snaking on
high sugar options.
-Don’t
skip breakfast! Your body will scream for a high sugar snack for a quick burst
of energy.
-Understand
why you want to undertake the sugar free diet, set yourself goals to keep you
on track.
References
World Health Organisation. (2015). WHO calls on countries to
reduce sugars intake among adults and children. Retrieved from http://who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/
Better Health Channel. (2016). Sugar. Retrieved from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/sugar
University of
California Television. (2009, July 30). Sugar: The Bitter Truth
[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
National Health
and Medical Research Council. (2014). Nutrient Reference Values for Australia
and New Zealand. Retrieved from https://www.nrv.gov.au/chronic-disease/summary
National Health
and Medical Research Council. (2013). Australian Dietary Guidelines.
Retrieved from https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/publications/n55_australian_dietary_guidelines1.pdf
