Candy season is here, so how can we limit our sugar intake?
Sugar might taste sweet, but the reality of its health effects is a little more bitter. Although the Dietary Guidelines for Americans put out by the Department of Health and Human Services recommend you limit your added sugar to no more than 10 percent of your daily calories, adults and children throughout the United States are greatly exceeding that.
It’s even worse this time of year. The National Retail Federation estimates people will spend a collective $2.08 billion on candy ahead of Halloween—and the average person will consume more than three pounds of candy over the month of October!
Think about a fun-size portion of Halloween candy. A miniature Snickers bar contains 8 grams of added sugar—just over 1.5 teaspoons. And a mini box of Nerds or bag of Skittles has 11 grams, totaling 2.25 teaspoons.
And unfortunately, cutting back on sugar isn’t as simple as abstaining from trick-or-treating. Sugar is found in many processed foods—not only the usual suspects like cookies, cake, and ice cream, but even foods like bread, cereal, yogurt, spaghetti sauce, and protein bars are packed with added sugar. And it could be taking a toll on your health.
What’s So Bad About Added Sugar?
There’s a difference between added sugar and the naturally occurring sugars found in foods like fruit and dairy. Added sugars deliver calories without any added nutrients. This means that when your diet is high in sugar, it’s very difficult to get all the vitamins and minerals you need for proper function without taking in an excess number of calories, which can lead to weight gain.
The Cleveland Clinic encourages people to reduce the amount of added sugar in their diet to help stave off conditions like obesity, high blood pressure, and elevated triglycerides. Studies published in JAMA Internal Medicine have even found that people who get a higher percentage of their daily calories from added sugar have an increased risk of death by cardiovascular disease compared with those who consume less than 10 percent of their calories from added sugar.
Having a sweet tooth means you might be less inclined to choose more nutritious options. As the Mayo Clinic points out, fruit is naturally sweet, but it’s not as sweet as candy and soda. When tastebuds are accustomed to the sweetness levels of foods with added sugar, they no longer perceive fruit as sweet, and they can even have trouble tolerating non-sweet foods like vegetables.
How Do I Recognize Added Sugar?
Sugar isn’t always listed on ingredient lists in the plainest of terms because it can come in so many different forms. What most of us would recognize as sugar—the granular white stuff sometimes more specifically described as cane sugar, because it’s made from sugarcane—is only one type of added sugar.
Scan the ingredient list and look for items like corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, trehalose, invert sugar, raw sugar, brown rice syrup, and barley malt syrup. Each of these is a type of added sugar. Ingredients like honey and molasses are often considered healthier because they have some nutritional value in the form of vitamins, minerals, or antioxidants—but the body breaks them down the same way it does cane sugar.
Remember that any natural sugars would likely come from fruit or dairy ingredients. If a product does not contain any fruit or dairy, or it contains a minimal amount of either, then any sugars the product has likely derive from added sweeteners.
Are Non-Nutritive Sweeteners a Better Option?
“Hey, no worries,” you might be thinking. “I don’t need regular Coke when I can just have a Diet Coke. It doesn’t have sugar or calories, so it’s a healthy option, right?”
Not necessarily. While organizations like the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association say it’s okay to have moderate amounts of non-nutritive sweeteners, such as those in diet soda, to help curb your consumption of sugar, these ingredients still aren’t ideal.
Any of the non-nutritive sweeteners approved by the FDA—saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, neotame, and sucralose—might be free of calories or very low in calories, but they still set off your sugar receptors. If you use large quantities of non-nutritive sweeteners, you’ll continue to have a taste for sweetness and a reduced interest in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
The better option? The Mayo Clinic recommends going for two weeks with minimal amounts of sugar or non-nutritive sweeteners to give your tastebuds a reset. After this period, you’ll have a much better appreciation for the taste of natural foods.
How Can I Cut Back on Sweet Stuff?
Eating less sugar and non-nutritive sweetener doesn’t require a major overhaul of your diet. Instead, you can focus on simple, doable changes that will add up over time. Here are a few recommendations:
- Choose unsweetened or minimally sweetened breakfast cereal and add fresh fruit.
- Make your coffee at home instead of ordering a fancy drink from the shop. Dress up your java with a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa powder and a splash of milk.
- Cut back on the amount of sugar in your baking. Reduce the sugar a recipe calls for by 1/3 and you likely won’t even notice the difference. You could also replace the sugar with equal amounts of unsweetened applesauce.
- Instead of soda, go for seltzer with a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime. Cucumber, watermelon, and mint are other great ingredients to give your drink a great taste without any excess sugar.
- Choose full-fat foods like peanut butter and salad dressing. The low-fat or fat-free counterparts often have extra sugar to compensate for the different taste and consistency. This usually means a very minimal caloric difference—plus the healthy fats in peanut butter and oil-based dressings will actually help you feel satiated and full.
- Avoid convenience snacks, even if they seem healthy. Depending on the brand, a granola bar can have just as much sugar as a candy bar! Keep snacks like nuts, fresh fruit, whole-grain crackers, and string cheese on hand instead.
