Posted on November 17, 2012 by Jenny Cromack

HIDDEN SUGARS

When we discuss dnutrition and diets with clients at our personal training studio in Leeds we often find that on the whole their diets are healthy. However, there are many small changes people could make which would make a big difference. One of these things is to cut out foods which contain a lot of hidden sugars, most people know there are a lot of hidden sugars in processed foods such as ready meals, but often they will be consuming other foods such as ketchup or so called healthy yoghurts and not realising they are consuming lots of sugar in the process.

The average person (and we would like to think our personal training clients are not average people!) consumes the equivalent of 16tsp of sugar per day, this is 15% more than recommended limit. The recommended limit is 8-12 tsp per day ( depending on which source you read).

Why Is Sugar Bad?

 

1.Sugar Makes Us Gain Weight!

Consuming excessive amounts of sugar may make us gain weight, but it’s actually the other things which the sugar is combined with which is more likely to cause weight gain.  Many high sugar foods also contain high amounts of fat – think doughnuts, chocolate, biscuits, cream cakes, not only are they high in sugar but they are high in fat and therefore calories…..a recipe for disaster in the inch loss and fat loss arena.

Sugary drinks are linked to weight gain, one of the reasons for this is that people don’t often account for the calories they have drunk, and these calories soon tot up! Soft drinks are one of the main sources of added sugars in our diet, providing 15% of non-milk extrinsic sugars; alcoholic drinks provide an additional 11% and fruit juice an extra 8%. This means that drinks can account for over one third of the sugar in our diet! 

What about sports drinks? These are packed with sugar, which is fine if you are competing in an endurance event such as triathlon or marathon and need to keep your glycogen levels topped up….not great if you’re just visiting the gym. These sports drinks could have anywhere between 250-400 calories in per bottle….which could wipe out the calories you have just burned during your workout!

2. Sugar Causes Diabetes

If your diet is high in sugar, your body can become insulin resistant. Under normal circumstances your body produces insulin in response to your body breaking down carbohydrates. The role of insulin is to transport the sugar from the carbohydrates to cells to provide energy. However, if your diet is high in simple sugars your body can lose sensitivity to this process and become insulin resistant which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

3. Sugar Causes Skin Aging

Sugar molecules bind to collagen in the skin. This creates inflammation which then leads to the collagen breaking down, loss of skin elasticity and the dreaded wrinkles!

4. Sugar Rots Your Teeth

Sugary foods and sweets causes tooth decay. This is due to the acid formed when the bacteria in the mouth meet the sugar. The acid produced then attacks teeth enamel.

Where does the sugar in our diet come from?

Table sugar & preserves – 17%

Soft drinks 15%

Alcohol 11%

Sweets & Chocolate 9%

Fruit Juice 8%

Buns, cakes & pastries 6%

Biscuits 6%

Pudding & Ice Cream 4%

Breakfast cereals 4%

Fruit & Veg 4%

Yoghurt & dairy desserts 3%

Sauces, pickles, soup & condiments 3%

Other 10%

How much sugar is in the following foods?

1tbsp Salad Cream – ½ tsp

Dorset High Fibre Cereal – 3tsp per serving (still think it’s healthy?!)

Shredded Wheat – 0 tsp

Weetabix Mini Fruit and Nut – 2tsp

Red Bull – 7tsp

Mullerlight Yoghurt – 2 ½ tsp…ouch!

Volvic Touch of Fruit Lemon & Lime – 16tsp…..how is that, it’s just water….or is it?

Chocolate Milkshake – 13.5tsp

1 Slice Bread  – ½ tsp……eat 8 slices in a week and that’s 4tsps! 

1 Can Coke – 8-10tsp

1/3 Jar of Salsa – 1tsp

2tbsp Coleslaw – 1tsp

Small tin of mushroom soup – 1tsp

30g Branflakes – 1 1/2 tsp

1tbsp Tomato Ketchup – 1tsp

125g Ready made Bolognese Sauce – 2tsp

400g Lasagne Ready Meal – 3tsp

400g Chicken Tikka Ready Meal – 3.5tsp

Looking at these figures it’s easy to see how someone could eat more than the recommended amount of sugar per day.  The easy option is to follow the principle of eating clean and lean and as natural as possible with minimal processed foods.