Sugar Awareness Week might be over, but that doesn’t mean you can revert back to old habits. If you’re concerned about the amount of sugar in your family’s diet, then here are a few ways to help you cut down and have a healthier 2020.
There are lots of different ways that sugar can be listed on food labels – labels these days have a colour coded system so it is easier to spot foods that are lower in sugar, salt and fat, but for those of you who want to be more aware of hidden sugars, here are a selection of the names to look out for.
According to the NHS, the UK eats far more than the recommended allowance of sugar. The stats show that each individual in the UK is eating on average 140 teaspoons of sugar a week. That’s ridiculous! They say that sugar shouldn’t make up more than 5% of the energy you get from food every day, but as sugar hides in many different forms, it can be hard to keep track of how much is in our diets. Many ingredient lists have different names for sugars too, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible to cut down.
SUCROSE, GLUCOSE, FRUCTOSE, MALTOSE, MOLASSES, HYDROLYSED STARCH, CORN SYRUP, HONEY, INVERTED SUGAR, FRUIT PUREES AND JUICES.
BREAKFAST Many breakfast cereals are high in sugar, even those marketed towards families and especially those that claim to be healthy such as granola. There are a few that are naturally sugar free or low in sugar, such as plain porridge, plain wholewheat biscuits, like Weetabix, or plain shredded cereals, like Shreddies. By making changes to your breakfast you can cut up to 70g of sugar out of your diet a week! We know that having plain porridge or plain
You’ll find that many of your favourite foods, even those marketed as being healthy will have at least one of those ingredients listed, so here are some suggestions of swaps you can make during the day to reduce the sugar intake of you and your family.
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