If you've decided to cut back on sugar, you can't resist that candy jar. Why is sugar so addictively delicious? And is it really that bad?
Your body can deal with a small portion of sugar every now and then. But that's the crux of the matter, because we spoon in much more sugar than is good for us. In the Netherlands we eat an average of 44 kilos per person per year, of which 26 kilos are added sugars and 18 kilos of naturally present sugars. This is evident from figures from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
That 44 kilos comes down to 122 grams of sugar per day. For the imaging:that's 27 sugar cubes, every day! The advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) is to limit the consumption of free sugars (ie all added sugars and all sugars from honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates) to a maximum of ten percent of the total calories you eat. For a woman who eats 2,000 kilocalories per day, this equates to fifty grams of free sugars per day.
Ordinary granulated sugar consists of half fructose and half glucose. An excess of fructose cannot be used for bite-sized energy and will upset your liver. This converts the fructose into fat (glycerol) and stores it in the fat cells in your abdomen. And belly fat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure and cholesterol. But it's not the only reason why table sugar is an attack on your health:
The answer is no! The confusing thing is that you can't live without sugars:they are your body's energy suppliers. Just to be clear:this only concerns natural sugars, such as fruit sugar, because you can do without refined sugars like a toothache. Sugars belong to the category of carbohydrates. More nuanced:all sugars are carbohydrates, but not all carbohydrates are sugars. You need at least 20 grams of digestible carbohydrates per day.
Dietitian Naomi Hoekstra:“The best approach is to get carbohydrates in combination with fibres, proteins or fats. For example, think of whole grains (bread, pasta, rice), potatoes, quinoa, legumes (lentils, beans and chickpeas). Or combinations such as yogurt with sugar-free muesli. This keeps your blood sugar level nicely balanced.”
Pay attention! De-sugaring your life is therefore different from cutting carbohydrates. If you don't eat carbohydrates, you can get health problems (fatigue, constipation, headache, depression). But if you stop excessive sugar consumption, especially the 'bare' sugars, you give your health a boost.
Sugar (sucrose) is obtained from plants:from sugar beets or the sugar cane plant. With sugar cane, the sugar is in the stem and with the beet in the root. In the factory, this raw sugar is purified, or refined. Some sugar variants are purified more (granulated sugar) than others, such as super sweet (cane sugar juice). A sugar molecule consists of fructose (fruit sugar) and glucose (also called grape sugar or dextrose). With natural sugars, the nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fibres) are not filtered out of the product. It remains sugar, but with added value so that it is better processed by your body. Think, for example, of fresh and dried fruit, coconut blossom sugar or dates.
Natural sugars have the image of being healthy, but beware. Your body does not distinguish between agave syrup, honey, dates, coconut blossom sugar, maple syrup or the well-known granulated sugar. It is true that snacks or products with natural sugars often contain healthier nutrients (fibre, vitamins and minerals) than products packed with refined sugars. The pitfall is that you think a cake sweetened with honey and bananas is 'healthy', so you eat more of it. Unfortunately, you still get a huge sugar shot and a mountain of calories.
Another thing to watch out for:statements on packaging. For example:'Apple juice without added sugars. What the manufacturer then does is add apple juice concentrate.
Naomi Hoekstra:“And fruit concentrate contains a lot of sugar, so you can compare it to sugar cubes. While you think you are healthy.”
Read also:Good to know:sugar-conscious for beginners
In short:not really. Hoekstra:“The amount of sweeteners in products is not the problem. It is safe and endlessly tested. But that does not mean that as a dietitian I recommend sweeteners. Sugar substitutes such as stevia, maltitol and sorbitol are often sweeter than sugar, but do not satisfy the sweetness needs in your body. Your body continues to look for something sweet. Light soft drinks are therefore a no-go when de-sugaring.”
There are theories that sweeteners would make you fat. These have not yet been scientifically confirmed, but if you drink four glasses of diet soda, your body thinks that insulin must be produced, while no calories are coming in. And so your body has an insulin surplus. As a result, your brain sends out the hunger signal, in the hope that you will eat and the insulin can do its job. That is why light products have an appetite-stimulating effect.
Another disadvantage is that sweeteners do not satiate, because 'a full feeling' is determined by the amount of calories, fiber and the type of energy source (fat, carbohydrates).
Carbohydrates, including sugars, are converted into glucose in your body and transported through the blood to your cells for the necessary fuel. In addition to providing energy, sugar also boosts the dopamine jackpot in your brain's reward system. That is why you are happier with a handful of licorice or chocolates than with a celery stick. The greater the amount of sugar you eat, the greater the sugar rush and sugar dip you will experience afterwards. Sugar causes the glucose level in your blood to rise. But prolonged blood sugar levels that are too high affect your blood vessels, so the pancreas is activated to produce insulin. This hormone stabilizes glucose levels.
Unfortunately, the effect of insulin has a less popular side effect:the excess glucose that is removed from the blood is stored as fat. In other words, insulin drains a sugar-rich fast food menu into your problem zones. Unless you use the energy that the sugars provide within the same part of the day, for example by exercising. In that case, your body simply uses up the glucose and it goes straight to your muscle cells, where it is converted into energy.
Nutritionist and lifestyle coach Meijke van Herwijnen:“If you eat sugar in combination with fibre, for example a wholemeal sandwich with apple syrup, it is absorbed into the blood less quickly and your blood sugar level remains better balanced. Purely due to the fact that not only sugars, but also other nutrients have to be digested.
What also produces a stable blood sugar level is the combination of good fats and/or proteins with sugars. This ensures a slower release of glucose into the blood, for example cottage cheese with fresh fruit.”
Read also:6 products that add unnecessary sugar to your breakfast
Van Herwijnen:“Eating sugary snacks can suppress unpleasant feelings. Sugar has a positive effect on the serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain, which makes you feel good immediately; the sugar rush. This serotonin effect also determines the eating factor of sugar bombs such as cakes, pastries and sweets. And the more often you eat something sweet, the stronger the need for sweetness becomes. So addictively delicious.” Yet you cannot really speak of an addiction, because sugar does not have the same effect as, for example, drugs.
Hoekstra explains:“With sugar, it's not about the active ingredient. This would mean that you can solve a chocolate craving with a bite of sugar. It's about the taste of the chocolate and the feeling it gives. You could call the sugar rush and the habituation an addiction. Like a standard dessert after dinner or chocolate when you watch a series. This increases your sweetness requirement. And before it is finally reduced again, it will take you four to six weeks.”
Another reason why it is so difficult to cut down is that 80 percent of foods contain sugar. It almost takes a course in reading labels to find out what sugar is in it. The most common names end in ose (fructose, maltose, dextrose, lactose). But the problem is that there are a hundred and fifty synonyms. A large number are not so well known and have undercover names such as:turbinado, muscovado and gula djawa. There are also names that still sound quite healthy, such as coconut blossom, honey and fruit concentrate. But this is all the same for your body:sugar!
You can stop eating added sugars cold turkey without any health problems. The best approach varies from person to person. Perhaps you prefer to scale down at your leisure. The following applies to everyone:plan your meals in advance. Make complete daily menus for the first few weeks, so that you don't make unwise choices. In six weeks you can master your sweet cravings. In any case, make sure that your first meal of the day is rich in protein and fiber, so that you are less hungry again.
What you can get:Eggs, fatty fish and lean meats (more digestible), nuts and seeds, all kinds of vegetables and fruits (three pieces a day), legumes, tofu. In the beginning, be more economical with starchy carbohydrates (potatoes, wholemeal bread, brown rice), because large amounts of these lead to a considerable insulin production.
Insulin is a fat storage hormone. And you want to calm your hormone system during the sugar detox. What can you expect? If you reduce or stop eating added sugars, your taste will improve after one to two weeks. Your sweetness needs are more persistent and need four to six weeks. Only then will you notice that you have less sweet appetite and a pastry will probably do you much less.
You're rehab, now what? If you sink your teeth into a cheesecake or lemon tart after six weeks, you'll have kicked the habit, and you'll get shivers down your spine:super sweet! But be careful… you get used to that quickly. This is because we naturally have a preference for sweet. Are you eating plenty of sugars again for three to four days? Then you are back to square one with your sweetness needs. As long as you stop after that one cake, there's nothing to worry about. The irony is:the healthier you live, the more you feel it when you sin a lot.
Van Herwijnen:“If you hardly ever eat sugar, your body gives signals when you eat a sugar snack that it is not good for you:hot flashes, menstrual complaints, acne, a bloated stomach, difficult bowel movements. People who often eat unhealthy and sugary foods have once also received these hints, but ignored them, so that the signals are eventually (which can take years) no longer being passed on. Your body has kind of given up, as it were. And resetting your body to factory settings is not without a struggle.”
Sweet control by Liesbeth Oerlemans and Meijke van Herwijnen. A workbook to get a grip on sugar and sweet flavors in six weeks. Full of practical tips, assignments and info.
Sugar or a sugar substitute is still added to many light products to save some of the taste because fats have been omitted. So be extra alert.
A bottle of fruit juice (250 ml) from the supermarket contains just as much sugar as a glass of soft drink, namely seven lumps.
Fat-free products may have fewer calories, but in some cases sugar is added to make them taste better. For example with (fruit) yogurt. So check the label.
Granola, fruit juice, some low-fat yogurts, ketchup, sports drink, coffee with an extra flavor shot, ice tea, canned beans, cereal.
Read also:How much do you know about sugar? Test your knowledge with this quiz
