Reducing sugar intake

I have been so grateful for the mix of suggestions given to me on reducing sugar in my diet. Anya has especially supported me through a tricky time in my life when a I have been hit by Polymyalgia.

As an adult I can sift through all the suggestions and make informed decisions, which I have been doing.

If you like tasty cheese do try Anya's suggestion of Gouda Vintage from Sainsbury's I'm hooked.

Thanks to each and everyone of you.

"jingl you go your way and I'll go mine. I don't feel the need to attack your food choices so why do you protest so much about others food choices confused] ???

You don't have to save us from ourselves - if that's how you see things."

(Obviously)

Btw, congratulations for having the luck to have been born with a very strong constitution.

Well I'm sorry you see that as resentful jingl that's not how it was intended to sound. It was primarily to say you do your thing and I'll do mine.

Thank you for commenting on my strong constitution. Born with it? Possibly, though I shared at least half of my genetic make up with my younger sister but she died last September aged just 66. She chose to smoke and drink herself to death.

Her choice.

We all make choices, and you can make yours and I'll make mine.

In the meantime, I'll applaud those who give it their best shot (like NanKate and others on this forum) and who try their damnedest to help themselves. Yes, some are dealt a short straw genetically but others bring things on themselves.

Perhaps we ought to continue this discussion on the philosophy thread, if it still exists.

NanKate Blesséd are the peacemakers

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said. However one chooses to do it, watching your weight/health requires focus, determination and discipline. For me, it's counting calories. So a bit of everything, but not too much of it. I wish I could adopt anya's way, but it's too prescriptive for me. Good for her, though, for sticking to that!

One thing that bothers me slightly about the whole healthy eating debate is the way in which foods are demonised, one by one. Once upon a time it was salt, then it was saturated fats, then trans fats, then corn syrup, added sugar and now carbs.

I think the carbs issue is possibly the most confusing, especially as we are a particularly carb-heavy nation with our dependence on spuds and bread. And having read up on it, and tried to understand, I really don't get the link between carbs and diabetes. Or obesity and diabetes.

Another thing I don't get is why is 2000 calories per day still being touted as some sort of magic figure? I put on weight at about 1500cals per day! mind you, I'm dead lazy.

We're all individuals! Some need more; some less.

Don't anyone get me wrong! I'm all for reducing sugar. But I do think the Eatwell plate GandTea linked to illustrates a very good sensible eating plan.

Anya I'm sure we don't need a "peacemaker".

I definitely would never advocate smoking and drinking too much Ana! Sorry to hear about your sister.

I still think the only way to lose weight is to put in less energy/calories than the energy you burn. I think there are healthy and not-so-healthy ways to do this. Clogging your arteries with fat is not good.

Any thoughts you Gransnetters who are cutting down, not out, sugar/carbs in your diet on my following query.

I am transitioning well into a different kind of diet but occasionally have a yearning for something crunchy. This is what I used to have a few halves of apricot in a tiny amount of fruit juice, a lovely dollop of coconut yoghurt from Waitrose, it is delicious, and a sprinkling of any muesli type cereal. What can I exchange the muesli for, or can I ?

Nankate the coconut yoghurt probably has added sugar so I would change it for plain. Not low fat though, it's too watery.
You can get crunchiness with a spoonful of mixed seeds & nuts.

Yeo Valley 0% organic Greek style natural yogurt has no added anything, and is deliciously creamy. You can get no added sugar muesli. Muesli is good.

Thanks will rethink my yoghurt. I found some low sugar granola today in the health shop. I only needed a tea spoonful on my fruit with the nuts and seeds. I have only been advised to cut down on sugar/carbs not cut out. It is easier than I thought it would be.

nankate once you have plain yoghurt (especially Greek) with your own fruit added to flavour it you will never buy sweetened fruit yoghurt a again, I promise

Yes I'm sure you are right Jane I am already noticing how sweet things are that I am reducing on this eating plan.

The taste for sugar is certainly reversible, as you reduce your intake, you will start to enjoy the tastes and flavours that sugar masks. After a month or two you will find sugar in drinks horrid.

I think you are right GandTea. I have been watering down fruit juice for a long time now and if I happen to sip it undiluted I feel sick. I now have about an eighth juice and the rest water.

I have started drinking chilled water with either a piece of lime or lemon in it which is delicious. I got DH to slice said fruits very thinly and then freeze them down, that way it is quite economical.

kate have you set yourself a daily target for your sugar intake (sorry haven't read the whole thread).
I think the new target set by the WHO is 40 g/day.
I find I can manage that, but only by having a very small glass of orange juice with breakfast (about 80ml), and a very small portion of dessert & a glass of wine with dinner.
Mid afternoon I have a scone or something else with very little sugar, or a banana.
I still don't really like tea without any sugar and have about an eighth of a teaspoon per mug.
It's surprising how quickly the grams mount up.

the new target set by the WHO is 40g pet day.

See, this Is where I get confused. How do you count those grammes? Is it added sugar ie the stuff you put in tea; is it jam, added to a scone, say; or is it the stuff you look for on the packet and add in?

Janea above has counted in the sugar contained in her orange juice. I'm presuming that's indigenous (ikwim) sugar, not added. The cake she has later, though, contains added sugar, derived from sugar that's been added in during the baking process. How does one count it? By piece? By guessing? How?

I know I'm sounding a bit simple here, but it's really not that easy, is it?

For example, I'm having Sweet and Sour chicken for lunch, with rice. There's going to be loads of sugar in that-it's obvious. However if I were to add some baked beans to it (bleurggh) how do I then count the sugar in those?

Like most people, I've always assumed stuff like baked beans to be savoury, along with tomato soup, ketchup, etc. It would not have occurred to me to count the sugar in those products before now, and I bet I'm with 95% of the population on that.

So, how's it done?

Hi gettingonabit
Yes it's confusing.
The sugars you are supposed to count are 'non-milk extrinsic sugars'. So if you look at a carton of plain yoghurt, which says no added sugar on it, it will still say sugars 5g per 100g. That's the lactose from the milk - but you don't need to worry about that because it isn't metabolised in the same way and doesn't cause the spike in your blood sugar level, and insulin spike, that glucose and sucrose do.
I rarely eat shop bought cakes and desserts. If I make a batch of scones, I know exactly how much sugar there is in them. If I put a tablespoon of sugar into the mix, and it makes 10 scones, that means there's 1oz or 28 grams in the whole lot. Each scone has only 2.8g - so I'm happy with that. And even only 2.8 g is enough to give a slightly sweet flavour.
Shop bought desserts have to state the amount of sugar per 100g and per portion. Where it gets confusing is if the dessert is something like a cheesecake or a fruit fool and some of that 'sugar' will be coming from
Milk or cream and can be discounted. In that case you have to take an educated guess.
Robert Lustig explains in this video m.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM why fructose (fruit sugars) and high fructose corn syrup are damaging and why sugar in fruit juice matters more than sugar in whole fruit.
I don't think you can accurately count to the nearest gram how much of the harmful sugars you're consuming, but I try to keep a rough track and although we don't have instant dinners very often, I do look at the labels to work out how much sugar each portion contains.
And yes, the sugar in baked beans definitely counts I'm afraid
If I'm out for lunch and MrA has to fend for himself he always makes beans on toast because he's not allowed them at any other time

what bugs me is that they say no / low sugar then they add sweetners in foods!

I agree jenty. Adding sweeteners does nothing to train your palate away from sweet things.
I always buy Tropicana orange juice but recently had some Tropicana 50 at a friend's. It tasted disgusting
I had a sneaky look at the label and the reason it had only 50% sugar was that it was 50% water, and sweetened with stevia
Double yuk as the DCs used to say!

Ive stopped eating yogurt because of the sugar content as that was adding to the problems of recurring thrush! whats the point in having a low fat yogurt thats filled with sugar!

jenty the sugar is added presumably to make the yoghurt more palatable. Fat gives it its palatable texture, so once that's gone something else has to be added to make it palatable again.

I've never been in favour of Govt interventions, but I think if sugar is the problem it seems to be, more needs to be done to regulate it.

Yogurt will always have to contain the sugar that comes from the milk it is made from. Just get organic no added sugar and zero fat. The 0% Yeo Valley meets that criteria and is lovely. Shame to cut out yogurt.

this one

They've started doing it in individual cartons now too. Lovely with a few raspberries or blueberries added.

thanks jinglbellfrocks will try some of that...??