Good Lifestyle

Adding sugar hides in many packaged and processed foods, and you may not know it even. All nutrition labels have not been updated to demonstrate how much the diet sugar is added and that occurs naturally, if any. It will all change by 2020 but with the help of2015-2020 Dietary Directives for Americans, theAdministration of food and medicine Called for a makeover on the nutrition label so that consumers can start making better informed decisions about what they put in their bodies. The major food manufacturers have until January 1, 2020, to make the switch and smaller ones have until 2021. So, what does it mean for those who try to determine how to cut the added sugar?

Instead of "sugars", the new label clearly differentiates which sugars are added and which are naturally present in the food by being in two categories, "Total sugars" followed by the subcategory "Includes x g added sugars."

In part, in part, by this future modification in the nutrition label, I decided to move forward and reduce the added sugars of my diet for five days. (More,Our founder did it for two weeks and it really made a shocking difference!) I also wanted to practice full awareness during the grocery store (take the time to read the label in full) and see if I felt like I was addicted to added sugar. I had two friends with me too and to our collective surprise, we discovered that several food products consumed regularly have sugar regularly.

In order to discover correctly how to reduce the added sugar of our diet, we had to first identify food products to avoid because, once again, all nutrition labels are not updated. Instead, we recorded on the list of ingredients to tell us if the addition of sugar adduced our favorite packaged foods.

RELATED: The easy guide toSugar reduction is finally here.

What is the difference between added sugar and natural sugar?

Added sugar Is described as sugars and syrups that are added to food and beverages during the process or preparation to make the product more enjoyable and to be able to stay on the rays of supermarkets longer. According to the guidelines, added sugars have also "contributing to functional attributes such as viscosity, texture, body, color and browning capacity" in foods. Natural sugars include fructose (found in fruits) andlactose, which is in cow's milk.

Added sugar can take a lotDifferent names, including molasses, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, brown sugar, sucrose and organic gross sugar. Do not let the organic stopper fool you either, it's always added to the food to make them more sweetened. There was a current debate on whether maple syrup and honey should be classified as added sugar. Apart from the rest of the added sugars,Pure honey and 100% maple syrup Are intrinsically natural sugars, which means that no sugar is added to make them sweet. Where the discussion becomes complicated, it is the notion that you would not eat maple or honey syrup alone, you would do itaddin a smoothie or pancakes. It's literally a sticky situation.

TheFDA recently has come to a consensus in the final direction ofThe declaration of sugars added on honey, maple syrup and certain cranberry productsThat a symbol "†" should immediately follow the daily value percentage of added sugars. This indicates that the sugar content comes from what the FDA calls a source of ingredient sugar, and no additional sugar has been added to this product.

Complete disclosure: I agitated less than one tablespoon of 100% pure maple syrup in myoatmeal steel cut Every morning, while on cleaning because of its rich antioxidant content and its low glycemic index, which means that it does not cause yourblood glucoseThe levels of rapidly increasing (then crash) as quickly as honey or sucrose (table sugar). I truly love the taste of maple and prefer to consume a unique ingredient sugar derived from nature rather than a sprinkled oat packet with a mixture of cinnamon sugar crystals.

Why is the added sugar a health concern?

The obesity rates of adults and children are on the climb, as well as the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among the two groups. Unhealthy eating habits are largely to blame for these growing rates and an ingredient that perpetuates these health conditions are added sugars, which increasesvisceral grease (big belly). Excess visceral grease, including fat that lies between the abdominal organs is associated with health complications, includingCardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The FDA recommends that there are no more than 10% of their daily calories to add sugar, or 50 grams of added sugar if you consume 2,000 calories a day. However, theAmerican Heart Association Suggests still lower daily sugar to 25 grams for women and 36 grams for men. We decided to try to cut the added sugar completely from our diet for 5 days.

What I learned after cutting the added sugar from my diet for 5 days.

I am agluten free Diet (majority of time) for health reasons - I learned in 2018 that I developed a sensitivity to wheat proteins - and I was shocked that something Bland like gluten-free tortilla contained 3 grams added sugar. I also realized that the sunflower butter I bought regularly contains added sugar. I often go to health food stores such as whole foods, but I'm not always aware of the sugar content in some foods I buy, namely free gluten pizzas, granola and even preserves of Blueberries.

I do not drink soda,sweet tea, or chocolate milk, and I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, so I assumed that my added sugar intake was quite weak. My friends thought also in the same way. That is, we have made this challenge and closely examine the labels on foods of our refrigerators, freezers and pantries.

One of my friends discovered vanilla almond milk she used to make her homemade oatmeal cup contained 10 grams of sugar for 8 ounces. In fact, the cane sugar is listed before the almonds on the list of ingredients, which means there is a greater concentration of sugar in almond milk than almonds. She also ceased to use an Italian vinaigrette on her salad and rather plunged a spoon of the Tzatziki lawyer from hummus or trader Joe at the top of the green bed.

My other friend resisted voluntarily engage in treats such as cupcakes and bagels at any time at any time, they were offered in his office. She also jumped the bun for homemade burgers in Turkey because the added sugar was in the rolls she had bought formerly.

This challenge helped me reconnect with a concept calledintuitive. I was closely monitored what I am packed for snacks and meals and, therefore, I did not allow myself to perverse me without snack, but I listened to my body for hunger benchmarks. I also traded snacks such as gluten-free granola and pretzels for mango slices, cubes of cantaloupe or a strawberry handle.

None of us weighed before or after the challenge, because weight loss was not the incentive for this challenge. We all agreed that we felt better after cutting the added sugar, probably because we introduced more entire foods such as fruits and vegetables in our diet and removed almost all the processed foods. The best part? It was not difficult. Now we are more aware of what foods contain added sugar and we will feel continuing to limit our overall consumption by making it simple swaps.