How Not To Eat Sweets
Many people wonder how to eat less sugar. Eating less sugar is not easy, because sweets make us feel good. We are also constantly tempted to make unhealthy choices. To help you, we would like to give you some handy tips to eat less sugar.
What is in sugar?
Sugar is fuel for all cells in our body. Muscles, organs, the nervous system: to function properly, they need energy and the main source of energy is sugar. We do not only get our sugars from 'regular' sugar; grain products ( bread, rice, pasta), potatoes, and pulses are also suppliers.
Sugar is converted into glucose in the body and absorbed into the blood in this form. The brain, in fact, they are almost entirely dependent on glucose as fuel. Sugar is really just fueled: it contains calories but no other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, or fiber. You don't get tired of it either.
If you are hungry, it, therefore, makes little sense to eat something that contains a lot of sugar. There is even a good chance that you will only get more cravings for sweets afterward.
Tips to eat less sugar
Whenever you do something your brain thinks deserves a reward, your body makes dopamine. Dopamine is a substance that activates the reward center in your brain, which makes you feel good. Your brain finds food that provides energy, such as sugar, very pleasant. When you eat a sweet snack, your brain, therefore, releases dopamine. So you get a small reward from your brain, which means that you have the need to eat sweet snacks more often.
Tip 1: Know what sugar does to your body
The substance sugar is not necessarily harmful to your body. However, consuming too much sugar can be harmful. Products that contain a lot of sugar cause your blood sugar level to rise quickly.
In response, your pancreas produces insulin to bring blood sugar levels back into balance. Too much sugar (especially from soft drinks and fruit juices) can put a lot of strain on your pancreas in the long run.
Your pancreas is located near your stomach. The gastrointestinal tract is largely responsible for your digestion. Eating too much sugar can disrupt digestion.
An excess of fructose (fruit sugar) can cause intestinal problems such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, and/or bloating.
Your teeth can also be affected by too many sugar-rich products. Bacteria in your mouth convert sugars into acids that damage your tooth enamel. These acids are also found in fruit juices and soft drinks (including the diet versions). Drinking too much apple juice or cola increases the risk of tooth erosion.
Tip 2: Recognize and avoid sugar
Recognizing sugar is avoiding sugar. But that's not so easy. Sugar is not only referred to as sugar on food packaging. Did you know that there are over 50 different names for sugar?
Sugar has names such as dextrose, galactose, lactose, and maltose. Also honey, candy syrup, and agave syrup are other names for sugar. You can find the different names for sugar on the ingredient list on the label. The more products you buy, the better you get at reading the label.
When avoiding sugars, it is advisable to mainly avoid the so-called 'free sugars'. Free sugars are all added sugars plus the sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit concentrates.
Naturally, present sugars in fruit, vegetables, and dairy are not included. These are products you need to stay healthy.
You can generally find free sugars in processed foods such as soda, fruit juice, candy, cookies, and ready-made sauces. From research, food watch shows that sugar is added to 56% of the food in the supermarket. The organization examined more than 650 products from Albert Heijn, Jumbo, and Lidl.
Eating less sugar is therefore not so easy. Especially not when you know that many products that are generally known as 'healthy' or 'responsible' contain a lot of hidden sugars.
You could be consuming too much sugar without realizing it. For example, a 250 ml glass of orange juice already contains more than 5 sugar cubes. The products below also contain the necessary sugars.
Tip 3: Choose fewer sugar recipes
Of course, you can enjoy a sweet snack every now and then, but it is also important that you can tempt yourself to make conscious food choices. You can make many sugar-rich ready-made products such as tomato sauce, applesauce, and satay sauce.
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Don't have time for that? Then you can of course also opt for products and recipes with less sugar. Perhaps the following fewer sugar recipes are something for you:
Natural and added sugars
This article gives you specific advice to eat less sugar. Not to eat completely sugar-free. Everyone needs sugar to think, exercise, and stay healthy.
Several products in the Wheel of Five contain sugar. An apple, for example, contains 14 grams of sugars but is a healthy choice according to the Wheel of Five. A pear even contains 21.4 grams of sugars but is just as much a healthy choice.
Why? Because apples and pears are unprocessed products. They contain natural sugars instead of added sugars and, unlike sweets and biscuits, are a source of vitamins and fiber.
Benefits of eating less sugar
If you feel like a snack, it is better to opt for natural sugars instead of added sugars. Are you able to be consistent and keep choosing, for example, an apple instead of a chocolate bar? Or for tea instead of soft drinks? Then you are on the right track. By eating less added sugars, you can reap several benefits.
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You can lose weight
Sugar, like starch and fiber, belongs to the carbohydrates in food. The substance sugar does not make you fat, but sugar-rich products such as soft drinks, biscuits, and sweets quickly give you a lot of calories.
If you consume these calories for a longer period of time, much more than you consume them, you have an increased chance of gaining weight. This also makes you more likely to develop diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
Positive effect: by eating and drinking less sugar, you can lose weight. Tip: If you feel like a snack, find a distraction by taking a walk and try replacing sugary products.
No withdrawal symptoms
Is sugar addictive? It is a much-discussed question. The answer: no, sugar is not addictive. If you eat a lot of sugary products for a week and not the following week, you can't get withdrawal symptoms such as headaches or fatigue.
However, you may have a strong craving for sweets and therefore find it difficult to cut back on sugar. So there are mental effects of sugar because eating sweets gives us a feeling of reward.
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