Want to eat sugar without the "burden"? Here are 5 tips for "controlling sugar intake"

Whether children or adults, it is often difficult to resist the temptation of sweets. However, as the prevalence of dental caries, diabetes, and obesity in my country rises, everyone wants to know how to eat sugar scientifically to satisfy people's sugar addiction without adding burden to the body.

How much is appropriate to eat?

The World Health Organization and the Chinese Nutrition Society both recommend that in order to prevent overweight, obesity and dental caries, adults and children (≥4 years old) should reduce their daily intake of added sugars to less than 10% of their total daily energy. Specifically, the daily intake should not exceed 50 grams, but it is recommended to control it below 25 grams. Moreover, the added sugars mentioned here refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or granulated sugar) added to food and beverages by manufacturers, chefs or consumers, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juice and concentrated fruit juice.

According to the data on daily energy requirements for people of different ages given in the "Chinese Dietary Nutrient Reference Intake (2013)", you can check how much sugar you should eat every day. For example, a 7-year-old boy should eat less than 38 grams of sugar per day, about 9 teaspoons; an adult woman should eat less than 45 grams of sugar per day, about 11 teaspoons.

High-energy early warning "three categories"

In order to achieve the goal of not exceeding the intake limit of added sugar, in addition to adding less white sugar, brown sugar, and honey to our daily diet, we also need to identify which foods have high sugar content and consciously buy less of them. For example, the following three categories are high-energy warning products!

1. Sugary drinks

The sugar content of ordinary carbonated drinks, sports drinks, plum juice, pearl milk tea and other beverages is usually 10% to 20%. Drinking a can of cola (330 ml) will consume about 37 grams of sugar. If you are a child, you have basically reached or exceeded the upper limit of daily added sugar intake. Even for adults, this amount is not small. After many people noticed this, they rarely buy sugary drinks such as cola.

But there is a type of beverage that people tend to think is healthy and can be drunk as much as they want, and that is lactic acid bacteria (probiotic) beverages. Lactic acid bacteria beverages are made from milk or milk powder with water, sugar, flavoring, acidulant or fermentation agent, and are highly praised in the market because they contain probiotics that are beneficial to the intestines. However, its sugar content may even be higher than that of carbonated beverages, and it is recommended that people drink 100 ml a day.

2. Cakes and desserts

Whether it is Western or Chinese pastries, they all have one thing in common: they are high in sugar! Three cookies or a cupcake already contain about 10 grams of sugar. If you pair this with a cup of milk tea as an afternoon snack, the sugar intake will definitely exceed the standard.

3. Cooking sugar

The sugar added during cooking or in certain condiments is easily overlooked. For example, 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce contains about 4 grams of sugar; 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce contains about 3 grams of sugar. When making dishes, people often add sugar one tablespoon at a time to enhance the flavor...

Therefore, in order to reduce the intake of this part of sugar, it is best for everyone to eat out less, order less takeout, and cook more often at home so that you can be more aware of the situation.

5 tips for controlling sugar intake

1. Eat yogurt or homemade freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit juice

The raw materials of yogurt are milk, sugar and lactic acid bacteria fermentation agent. It not only preserves all the nutrients of milk, but also makes the nutrients easier to be digested and absorbed by the human body after fermentation. In order to improve the taste of over-acidity, manufacturers generally add 6% to 10% sucrose to yogurt. But in general, it has higher nutritional value than sugary drinks. Similarly, although the sugar content of fruit is generally around 10%, it is also rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and various phytochemicals with antioxidant and anti-cancer effects, so we can make homemade freshly squeezed juice as a drink. If you want to further dilute its sugar content, you can also add vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc., which are both delicious and healthy.

2. Eat with whole grains

Whole grains include whole grains such as oats, whole wheat flour, brown rice, and beans such as red beans, mung beans, and peas. They contain more nutrients than refined rice and white flour, and can also prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and colon cancer. However, many people think that eating whole grains makes their throats sore, and drinking whole grain porridge is tasteless, so why not make your own bean-filled buns? Although it is inevitable to add brown sugar or white sugar, it is more nutritious than simply eating sugar buns.

3. Use dried fruit as a sweetener

Although the sugar content of dried fruits such as jujube, raisins, cranberries, apples, apricots, longans, and figs is also high, they retain most of the nutrients of fruits and can replace sugar to add sweetness to other foods. For example, you can sprinkle some raisins and cranberries on corn cakes, and sprinkle a handful of jujube slices in oat milk. However, we would like to remind everyone not to choose candied, salted, or oiled preserved fruits or candied fruits when buying dried fruits. Instead, buy dried fruits that are naturally dried and concentrated, so as not to increase the intake of sugar, salt, and energy.

4. Eat breakfast regularly

If you skip breakfast, you will always find ways to find snacks and desserts to fill your stomach. Relevant institutions have conducted research and found that this will lead to a 4.5 times higher risk of obesity. After eating sweets, the blood sugar in the body will rise. At this time, the body will release insulin to convert blood sugar into glycogen, thereby restoring blood sugar to normal. If you eat sweets on an empty stomach, it may cause excessive release of insulin, and some people will experience symptoms such as dizziness, headache, sweating, and general weakness. In the long run, it will harm gastrointestinal function and even overall health.

5. It’s better to “do more accounting”

Often, friends who are doing fitness or losing weight will open their phones to calculate the calories of food before eating, hoping to control their daily calorie intake and exercise. In fact, it is also necessary to calculate the sugar intake of each meal every day. A glass of soda contains about 10 grams of sugar, and a piece of cream biscuit contains 5 grams of sugar... If you calculate carefully and control your sugar intake to 50 grams a day, your weight will not "explode".

Tips: Exercise suggestions for diabetics

Clinically, the most ideal exercise recommendations for diabetic patients are:

1. Do at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise every day (such as brisk walking, swimming, etc.) and 15 minutes of resistance training 3 to 5 times a week;

2. Perform low-intensity physical activities (such as standing, walking, etc.) every 30 minutes;

3. Increase flexibility and balance training, especially for the elderly or those who have already suffered microvascular damage due to diabetes.

Experts remind that all people with diabetes should undergo cardiovascular and blood sugar assessments before engaging in high-intensity exercise, including risk factors for hypoglycemia, history of hypoglycemia, and existing neurological lesions. Asymptomatic people with diabetes can participate in all sports if their cardiovascular assessments and maximum exercise tests are normal.

It is worth noting that all diabetic patients should be alert to chest discomfort or abnormal breathing difficulties during exercise, which may be a manifestation of coronary heart disease. If relevant symptoms occur, you must stop exercising and go to the hospital to find out the cause.

Patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes can significantly reduce their mortality rate by persisting in long-term exercise, but exercise cannot completely compensate for the harm caused by diabetes. Diabetic patients still need to control their blood sugar levels through medication and must not stop taking medication on their own to avoid causing damage to their bodies.