How to control sugar intake reasonably

 How to control sugar intake reasonably

Why You Need to Control Your Sugar Intake

Before the article starts, it must be clear that the main object of discussion in this article is free sugar , and does not cover the sugar contained in fruits and vegetables and carbohydrates in a broad sense.

There are many types of sugars, which can be divided into monosaccharides and disaccharides in terms of molecular structure. Monosaccharides have one sugar molecule and include glucose, galactose, and fructose. Disaccharides have two sugar molecules, and the most widely consumed disaccharides are sucrose or granulated sugar.

And these sugars can enter our body in two forms-free sugars and endogenous sugars. Among them, free sugars refer to monosaccharides and disaccharides added to food by manufacturers, cooks or consumers, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrup and fruit juice; endogenous sugars refer to sugars in intact fruits and vegetables. Because the sugars in fruits and vegetables are surrounded by a plant cell wall, they digest more slowly and take longer to enter the bloodstream than free sugars.

WHO recommends that the sugars that people control are all kinds of free sugars, excluding endogenous sugars. As for why we should control sugar intake, the main reasons can be summarized as follows:

The first is "sugar addiction" .

Although this statement is not widely used, sugar is indeed addictive: sugar can also induce the brain to secrete dopamine, a substance that makes people happy, so when you are depressed, you will think "reward yourself with a cup of sugar." ", this is a manifestation of the brain's addiction to sugar, but it is not as extreme as alcohol and drugs.

However, unlike alcohol and tobacco, people do not fully understand the dangers of sugar, because the packaging of beverages and candies does not say "Excessive sugar intake is harmful to health", and public service billboards do not draw excessive sugar intake Fat-filled viscera. Of course, we can choose to continue drinking, smoking, and consuming sugar with our own free will, but most people actually don’t know enough about the negative effects they bring, and it is very easy to overindulge in a deluded state.

Followed by dental caries .

We have known since childhood that "eating too much sugar will cause tooth decay", and WHO research has also proved that there are more data on the impact of free sugar on dental caries than on other non-communicable diseases.

If you are often troubled by tooth decay, you might as well pay attention to whether you are consuming too much sugar while maintaining hygiene habits.

Uncontrolled sugar intake can also lead to a host of health problems .

For example, if you are obese, don't think that you are "slender limbs, not fat". People with normal BMI and slim body may also have high visceral fat. China has added an additional condition to the familiar BMI (Body Mass Index) classification - the waist circumference cut-off point. Men with a waist circumference of more than 85 cm and women with a waist circumference of more than 80 cm can be judged as central obesity.

Another example is fatty liver, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other diseases. The "Guidelines for the Treatment of Fatty Liver in China" shows that the prevalence of fatty liver in adults in my country has reached 12.5% ​​- 35.4%, and the incidence rate has ranked first among liver diseases. And this condition is getting younger and more common now1 . 

Wikipedia also points out that drinking excessive sugar-sweetened beverages (that is, intake of free sugar) can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes accounts for 90% of the total number of diabetic patients.

Finally, sugar intake can also affect skin health.

In daily cognition, it seems to be a cosmic truth that "eating spicy food is easy to cause acne", but in fact, there is no scientific research to prove that spicy food can cause skin problems, and the fact that sugar will definitely affect skin health is not understood by many people: If There is too much sugar in the blood flowing through the skin, and these excess sugars will attach to the collagen in the skin that is responsible for elasticity and firmness, forming a product called "AGEs" 2, which destroys skin elasticity and makes the  Dull complexion. Several major skin problems such as fine lines, acne, and pigmentation are related to AGEs, the products of the "glycation" reaction.

It is worth mentioning that the so-called "anti-sugar pills" currently on the market do not add active ingredients (such as aminoguanidine, etc.) that can prevent the formation of AGEs or decompose AGEs. The best way to prevent skin glycation is to consume less sugar .

However, sugar is not a drug after all, and the lack of sugar in the human body will also cause health risks such as hypoglycemia 

How to Control Free Sugar Intake

The average daily total energy intake of ordinary people is about 2000 kcal. According to the recommended upper limit of 10%, the average daily total energy intake of free sugar should be controlled below 200 kcal. According to the calculation that 1g of sugar can be converted into 4 kcal of energy, we should control the daily free sugar intake below 50g.

Considering the passive intake of sugar in the process of eating out (the chef added it but we don’t know it), it is more reasonable to actively consume free sugar around 25g a day.

How to Calculate Free Sugar Intake

Don't blindly trust "low sugar" or "sugar free" labels. If you want to know the free sugar contained in a drink or pastry, it is better to look at the ingredient list on the package.

Since beverages contain almost no carbohydrates other than sugar, it is generally considered that the "carbohydrates" in sugary drinks are all sugar; the "carbohydrates" in pastries can be roughly estimated to be about 50% sugar.

For example, the sugar content of a soda in the picture below is 4g/100ml, and the capacity of the whole bottle is 275ml, so the free sugar content in a bottle can be calculated as 4(275/100)=11g.

There is no clear sugar standard for freshly made sugar. According to the data collected in the past few days, its sugar content is even more exaggerated, with an average of 12g/100ml. Therefore, when buying freshly made tea, you can calculate your intake according to this standard. Sugar (and multiplied by the sugar discount, eg 50% for five cents).

Sugar control TIPS

Set a longer sugar control cycle

Sugar can cause "addiction" means that controlling sugar intake must not be an easy process (if you have been consuming too much for a while). In order to reduce your own resistance, you can set a longer period of time to slowly achieve sugar control.

Even if you can't reach the goal of consuming only 25g of free sugar a day at the beginning, you can first aim to reduce the amount of sugar you eat every week , then gradually reduce your intake, and finally approach or reach the goal.

Explore your sweetness

Friends often complain to me after buying sugary drinks, "Today's cup is too sweet", but they will finish it in the end. Therefore, it is best to know the sweetness you are used to before buying a drink to avoid excessive sugar intake.

When buying bottled drinks, you can check the sugar content in g/ml of the drinks you like to drink, so that you will not step on the thunder and buy too sweet drinks when trying new varieties.

When buying freshly made tea, you can try a certain sweetness of a certain tea at room temperature first, and see your own evaluation of its sweetness to determine the amount of sugar you want to add in the future. Because people's sense of sweet taste will become insensitive as the temperature of food deviates from body temperature, leading to drinking more sugar when drinking iced drinks (also because of this, the melted ice cream tastes really greasy).

After determining the sweetness you like in a certain store, you can record it in the memo on your mobile phone. When you buy the same drink in the future, do not change the sweetness even if you add ice

Find alternatives to free sugars

Fruits contain fructose, and you can feel the pleasure of sweetness when chewing.

However, due to the existence of cell walls, the sugar contained in fruits is endogenous sugar, and moderate consumption will not be harmful to health. And because of the presence of dietary fiber, vitamins, etc., there are other health benefits. A word of caution: Juice and fruit are different. Because the wall breaking opportunity breaks the cell wall, then the sugar will "swim" out of the cell wall and enter your body in the form of free sugar.

Stores such as HEYTEA provide the option of "replacing sugar substitutes" when ordering, and there are many types of sugar substitutes available for purchase on the market.

Sugar substitutes are actually edible sweeteners, such as xylitol, sorbitol, and aspartame that you often see in product ingredient lists. They do not belong to sugar and produce almost no calories. As long as they are brands that pass the food safety inspection, they will not cause harm to the human body and can be eaten with confidence. The sugar substitutes that you can usually buy include stevia, erythritol, etc. A while ago, a friend gave me a box of stevia. I thought that I would not use it if I don’t usually add sugar to cooking, but Within a week of getting it, I used it in two scenes of salad tomato and grapefruit.

However, it should be noted that consumption of sugar substitutes may trigger the body's "calorie compensation" mechanism, making people want to consume more sugar in the next meal, so it is still very important to control the total free sugar intake in a day.

Create a sugar-friendly environment

I am not very interested in sugary drinks, but I always want a cup of sugar in the hot summer, and what I set for myself is "a quota (quota) of one cup a week."

Although I didn’t intend to do this at the beginning, when my colleagues want to order drinks together, I always unconsciously say “it’s not too hot today, so I can’t waste this week’s quota”. After a while, my colleagues accepted this setting , When sending me new drinks, I will also ask "Do you want to give it this week's quota?"

If you also order drinks with your classmates and colleagues, you might as well try to create an environment where "everyone knows I have a quota", which is really helpful for sugar control.

find other sources of happiness

Exercise, massage, and doing creative things can all promote the secretion of dopamine. If you can find happiness in other things, you may not be so dependent on the happiness brought by sugar.