Sugar

The sugar in the table represents only a quarter of the quantity of sugar we eat: there is sugar in many other foods. We should find out the ways in which we can eat sugar.

How we can do it

The fresh foods that contain the most sugar are fruit and honey, followed by milk. There is a little in all vegetables, and none in meat and fish.
It is also contained in sweet processed foods: soft drinks and other beverages, sweets and preserves, biscuits, cakes, buns, ice creams, dairy products, etc.
We also find it in not such sweet processed foods in which sugar is used to provide texture or volume, as a flavour enhancer, or as a colourant (in this case it is additive E150...). Quite a lot of foods unexpectedly contain sugar.
Here, we have an indication of how much sugar various foods contain.
European law regulates the information concerning sugar content that can be put on food labels. It is a regulation that leaves room for a degree of ambiguity.

We have the idea that sugar is fattening, but in fact what is fattening is eating more calories than we burn (those we have not used are stored in the form of fat). Excessive calorie accumulation can result in various illnesses. To prevent sugar from being damaging to us, we need to seek a balance between “the sugar coming in and the sugar going out”.

How we can do it

We should have a varied, balanced diet without an exaggerated intake of sweet things or of anything else. We should be careful to not eat too many cakes and buns or eat between meals, which normally leads to eating more foods rich in sugar and fats (the other big source of calories).
We should remember that, as we have seen above, “sugar comes in” by many routes, in addition to eating sugar itself, and some are unexpected (many processed foods that are not sweet).
We should not blindly trust products that “are not fattening” (low-calorie, light, etc.) which the industry makes so we can carry on enjoying sweetness without worrying about our weight. Labelling regulations allow false “lightness claims” LINK etiquetes-sucre.htm, and sweeteners with dubious health effects can be included.
If we see that we ought to cut down the quantity of sugar or sweet things that we eat, it will be difficult for us in the beginning, because our bodies are used to operating with a certain level of sugars. But this yearning will pass, because the body adapts to the level of sugar to which we accustom it.
We should fight growing sedentarism, doing at least a minimal amount of physical exercise.

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Data d'actualització: 04/01/2012 - 16:53