Trying to cut down on sugar? The World Health Organisation (WHO) thinks you should be.
WHO have just released new daily sugar intake guidelines to help you to ensure you’re consuming a healthy level of sugar. The draft guidelines are up for comments from March 5th to 31st, after which they will be finalised as an official recommendation for sugar intake.
Rescu. spoke to Cyndi O’Meara, nutritionist and founder of Changing Habits, for her expert insight into the new guidelines.
‘With the increase in diabetes and obesity worldwide and the rising health costs, WHO after 10 years have changed the recommended total sugar intake from 10% of calories to 5% of total calories,‘ says Cyndi O’Meara. ‘The average Australian consumes around 35 to 45 tsp of sugar each day, the new guidelines means that they must cut their sugar intake down to 5 to 7 teaspoons per day. 1 teaspoon of sugar has a calorie count of 16 calories.’
O’Meara warns that many sugars are hidden in processed foods that we don’t necessarily think of as sweets. This means that cutting down sugar involves more than cutting down on your afternoon cake and bikkies. ‘Check food ingredients on your labels to look for hidden sugars, like glucose, sucrose, dextrose, maltodextrin, fructose. By being aware of these sugars you can then look for appropriate alternatives.’
We know that when it comes to kids, taking away sugary treats can you feel like the grinch, so we asked Cyndi O’Meara for her tips on providing kids with a low sugar diet. ‘Become a sneaky mother,’ she says. ‘They can still eat the same foods it just may be a different brand that you need that has a lot less sugar, and a slow weaning never hurt anyone. Start making foods from scratch then you know exactly how much sugar is in the food.’
Cyndi O’Meara’s Top 3 Tips for Curbing a Sugar Addiction:
1. Go cold turkey by choosing a good protocol that will help through the process, soon you we realise that berries and almonds are sweet and will not have any tolerance for sugary foods. I advise going cold turkey without any cheating, concentrating on food choices like meat, fish, chicken, lots of greens and winter fruits like berries, apple, pear and citrus and adding good fats like butter and coconut oil.
2. Once you are over the cravings start playing with real foods to make treats that are sweet without any sugar, there is a huge community on social networking sites already doing this and feeling better for the change.
3. Pass this information and learning onto your family and friends and let’s start a ripple effect that will not only help physically but mentally and emotionally.
