How you may be consuming more sugar than you think
| Jun 4, 2019, 22:00 IST
You’ve cut back on the aerated sodas and the packaged drinks. You only have matcha now. Booze is out of the window. You begin your days with a wholesome bowl of oats and finish off the salad for dinner with a drizzle of honey syrup. You’re determined to make eat clean and healthy. And someone, with all these herculean efforts, after the end of the week, you still dare not losing weight. Clearly, something is going very wrong. Either you’re choosing the wrong things, or you’re being lied to about the right things. This may seem dramatic. But it’s true. According to a study in 2017, Britons eat up to 50% more sugar than they think. That’s appalling, considering the wide variety of ‘healthy’ food available in the markets.
Wholesome looking foods like cereals are laced with sugar. ‘Fresh’ fruit juices have added sugar. Moreover, even healthy sugar alternatives aren’t as healthy. Truth is, most of these are marketing gimmicks. So if you’re really trying to make a difference with your eating habits, it’s time you started flipping the labels. Nutritionists say, if the first of the ingredients is sugar, it may not be as healthy as they claim to be.
Here’s how you can pick healthier alternatives.
Honey
There may be countless claims about honey containing amino acids, vitamins and minerals, it’s still a kind of sugar that has the same effects of sugar on your body. It has three calories per gram compared to sugar’s four calories. Best, stay away from it.
Date paste
"There may be small amounts of nutrients in things like date syrups and molasses, but we shouldn't be looking to get our vitamins and minerals from such sugary foods anyway," says Benelam.
Stevia
You may think this naturally obtained sugar alternative may be the healthiest of them all. But truth is, food and bevarages company have been using stevia to their products, to make their products sweet without all those calories.
Truth is, there ain’t no real thing like a ‘healthy’ sugar alternative. It’s best if we reduced our acceptance for sweet tasting food items
Wholesome looking foods like cereals are laced with sugar. ‘Fresh’ fruit juices have added sugar. Moreover, even healthy sugar alternatives aren’t as healthy. Truth is, most of these are marketing gimmicks. So if you’re really trying to make a difference with your eating habits, it’s time you started flipping the labels. Nutritionists say, if the first of the ingredients is sugar, it may not be as healthy as they claim to be.
Here’s how you can pick healthier alternatives.
Honey
There may be countless claims about honey containing amino acids, vitamins and minerals, it’s still a kind of sugar that has the same effects of sugar on your body. It has three calories per gram compared to sugar’s four calories. Best, stay away from it.
Date paste
"There may be small amounts of nutrients in things like date syrups and molasses, but we shouldn't be looking to get our vitamins and minerals from such sugary foods anyway," says Benelam.
Stevia
You may think this naturally obtained sugar alternative may be the healthiest of them all. But truth is, food and bevarages company have been using stevia to their products, to make their products sweet without all those calories.
Truth is, there ain’t no real thing like a ‘healthy’ sugar alternative. It’s best if we reduced our acceptance for sweet tasting food items
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