Hold the sugar — you're sweet enough!

I used to be concerned with 2 things when I was eating, how many calories and how much fat was in the food that I was about to eat. When I hit a 2 month plateau 6 months ago I realized I had to take a good hard look at what I had been eating and what I found shocked me. I had been consuming huge amounts of sugar...sugar that I was not adding to my food but it was hidden in the ingredients!

Did you know that the average North American eats over 450 extra calories just from added sugar! So you're probably wondering what the big deal is? Sugar is a refined carbohydrate that causes your blood sugar levels to spike and it tells your body to store fat, not to mention too much of the white stuff can put people at increased risk to develop diabetes.

Before I go on, take this into consideration: 4 grams of sugar is equal to 1 teaspoon

To help you avoid those sneaky sugars that hide in your food you're going to have to start reading labels on those "healthy" foods you've been eating. You also need to understand the difference between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars.

Added sugars are found in many processed foods, especially those that are high in fat and calories. However, sometimes you may find them in surprising places, like breakfast cereals and yogurt. This is why it’s important to read food labels. You can spot added sugars by looking for ingredients that end in “ose” as well as ingredients like liquid invert sugar, molasses, honey, maple syrup, and corn syrup.

Choose foods most often that have naturally occurring sugar, such as what’s in fruits, vegetables and milk. This is because the sugar is also packaged with lots of other vitamins and minerals. Choosing these foods that are naturally sweetened by Mother Nature will help you to better maintain your weight and reduce your risk of chronic disease.

When it comes to sugar on a food label, what should you be looking for?

“Sugars” is one of the core nutrients listed on the Nutrition Facts table. It is listed under carbohydrates. There is no % Daily Value for sugars because there is no target recommendation for how much sugar a healthy adult should eat in a day. Keep in mind that the Nutrition Facts table lists total sugars, which includes both added and naturally occurring sugars

You will also want to look at the ingredient list when looking for sources of sugar. Here are some words to look for. When you see these ingredients it means that the food has added sugars.

• Sucrose, sugar, liquid sugar, invert sugar
• Words that end in “ose” such as glucose, fructose and dextrose
• Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrin
• Honey, molasses, maple syrup
• Concentrated fruit juice

Reducing sugar in your recipes

• For most recipes, you can reduce the sugar called for by ¼ to 1/3 the amount. So if the recipe asks for 1 cup of sugar, you can try using 2/3 to ¾ of a cup. Reducing the amount of sugar in a recipe may also change the texture of the final product. Experiment with your recipe until you get the desired level of sweetness and texture.
• When you reduce some of the sugar, add a touch of cinnamon, vanilla or almond extract to give a sense of sweet flavour.
• You can substitute sugar with the artificial sweetener sucralose. 1 cup of white sugar is equal to 1 cup of sucralose. Sucralose is stable under high heat, which is why it is a good baking and sugar substitute.

"Sugarspeak"

There are a lot of claims about sugar out there, let's break them down:

Sugar-free or Sugarless: Each reference amount (a standard serving decided by the manufacturer) contains less than 0.5 grams of sugar or less than 5 calories

No added sugars: The product contains no added sugars such as honey, molasses, concentrated fruit juice, glucose, fructose, etc...

Reduced or lower in sugar: Compared to a similar product of the same portion size the food contains at least 25% and 5 grams less sugar

Unsweetened: The food contains no added sugars or sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose.

Fact > some claims such as "light in sugar", "low carb", or source of complex carbohydrates are no longer allowed to appear on food packaging.





*Canadian Diabetes Association
*Dietitians of Canada
* Canadian Sugar Institute

Eat clean!

If you would have asked me a year ago what clean eating was I probably would have said it was when you licked your plate clean. And up until about 6 months ago I would have told you that I ate well, at least I thought I did. I chose low fat and no fat foods, drank iced tea instead of pop, ate rice crackers for snacks because they were low in calories...and so on, because that's healthy—right?!

Fact, "lite" foods often contain almost as many calories as the original versions because they usually add more sugar to make them taste better. Just because it's low fat or "Lite" doesn't mean you can eat twice as much but that's usually what happens. These foods can also be less satisfying which in the end leaves you wanting more. Personally I'd rather have a little bit of "the real thing" and be satisfied which is why I only eat things now that have a purpose.

Food plays an important role in our lives, if you are trying to lose weight or just get healthy. Even if you don’t exercise, you could still lose weight by simply changing some of your eating habits. And if you've been exercising and you find yourself hitting a plateau you should take a good hard look at what you're putting in your mouth and calling food.

Some of the most popular diet plans tell us we should cut out entire food groups or eat things like rice cakes and crackers because they'll make us feel full with little calories...the best one I ever heard was "if you're hungry just drink carbonated water, the bubbles will make you feel full", that water by the way, is FULL of aspartame which is a whole other topic of it's own.

So what's clean eating?

Clean eating is about eating food in it's most natural state or as close to possible. Clean Eating is not a diet, it's a lifestyle.

I no longer eat food just to feel full, I eat because I want my body to function better and I make sure that the stuff I'm putting into my body serves a purpose. In other words, I've given up munching away and drinking up empty calories. Think of your body like a car, if you fill it up with crappy fuel it's not going to run very well.

If you're planning on making Clean Eating part of your lifestyle, here are some things you should try and stay clear of:

• Overly processed, refined foods
• Refined flour and sugar
• Saturated and trans fats
• Anything fried
• Sugary pop and juices
• Alcohol
  

Having sad that, no one is perfect all of the time. I try to eat clean 90% of the time and I treat myself the other 10%. I love movie popcorn, chips and cookies so I have them once in awhile...but I also know that I workout enough during the week that I can have them without feeling guilty.

My basic clean eating guidlines:

• If it has more than 5 grams of sugar (refined) — I don't eat it.
• If it's processed, comes in a box or you can boil it right in the bag it's packaged in—I don't eat it!
  
• If I can't pronounce the ingredients — I think twice about eating it.
• If it's made with white flour or "enriched" flour — I don't eat it.
• If it leaves a grease mark on the paper it was sitting on — I for sure don't eat it
• Just because it says “low fat” or “made with Turkey” doesn’t mean it’s the best choice.
  
• Margarine freaks me out — I prefer butter. (Scientists invented margarine, butter comes from cows, cows are natural)
• I rarely drink alcohol anymore. (Alcohol inhibits fat burning)
  
• If it's after 8:00 pm—I don't usually eat it. (I try not to eat anything at least 2 hours before I go to bed)
• I LOVE movie popcorn, chips and homemade cookies, so I eat them once in awhile!

If you stop and take a moment to actually pay attention to what you are eating you'll be amazed at how quickly you start to feel better. I still crave poor quality deep fried foods sometimes, but once you have eliminated them from your body and then you eat them suddenly...you're body lets you know that it's not happy. You'll start to crave healthy food, clean food, nutritious food!

Start by making small changes, cut out the pop and the juice which is loaded with sugar. Instead of white pasta switch to whole grain or brown rice pasta. Get rid of the Enriched "Wonder Bread" and swap in some whole grains.

If you try to clean up your eating in one step, chances are you will get frustrated and fall of the wagon. Make small changes and you'll have sustainable results!