The Extension Connection

Sugar Podcast

• Lindsey Edwards

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Lindsey Edwards:

Welcome to the Extension Connection podcast series where we connect our listeners to research-based resources to help them build better lives. Hey everyone. This is Lindsay Edwards, your family and consumer science agent in Polk County, coming at you today with a new topic that I wanna cover before we get deep into the holiday season, and that's sugar. So let's dive into this huge topic and shed some light on the research about this food. First, let's start talking about what I'm actually saying when I use the term sugar. Sugar on any food label falls under the carbohydrate category, and that is because it is a simple carbohydrate, simple carbohydrates, digest very fast in the body and give us a quick burst of energy or quick source of energy. If you've ever heard of a sugar rush, that is what they're talking about. While we do need energy throughout our day. We need a more steady form of energy, and that's where complex carbohydrates come into play. They contain more nutrients like fiber, vitamins and minerals. Normally, when you're eating a complex carbohydrate food source and they come from things like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, pea, and lentils. When we're eating any type of carbohydrate, we wanna try to get more of those complex carbohydrates than we do those simple carbohydrates or added sugar. If you look on a food label, you will notice there is actually a section that says added sugar. So if you're eating something that has a food label, this makes it super easy to see when or when you are not eating or drinking that added sugar according to the Oklahoma Extension website. I'm gonna be reading what they have quoted During digestion. All carbohydrates except fiber are broken down into simple sugars. Sugars and starches occur naturally in many foods that also supply other nutrients, such as milk, fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, and other grain foods. Added sugars are sugars added to food and processing or preparation. The body cannot tell the difference between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars because they are chemically the same. Many foods containing added sugars provide calories, but may have few vitamins and minerals, and in the US the major source of added sugar is non-diet soft. Sweetss candies, cakes, cookies and bakery items are also major sources of added sugar. Consuming a lot of foods high in added sugar is a concern because these foods may provide excess calories that contribute to weight gain or lower the intake of more nutritious foods. So basically what that's saying is when we eat the foods that are high in added sugar, we may be eating more of those like bakery items than we are fruits and vegetables. So we need to keep that in mind. Let's talk about how much we are supposed to have in a day. This will vary depending on your sex and your age. So the amount of sugar or the amount of added sugar an adult male should have is. Up to nine teaspoons of added sugar per day. A woman is six teaspoons, and children should have a maximum of six teaspoons a day. So in grams, one teaspoon is approximately 4.2 grams. So if you're looking at the back of a package label, you'll notice it's not measured in teaspoons, it's measured in grams. So if you're trying to get under that, for me, it would be six. I'm looking at around 25 grams a day of added sugar. The term of added sugar means sugar that is added into the processing of food. If we're looking at something like an apple, for example. This is not the type of sugar that we're talking about because an apple does not have added sugar put into it. That would not factor into those six teaspoons or 25 grams that me as a woman would be receiving in a day. I'm only factoring in any time added sugar is added into a product. So like if I'm drinking coffee in the morning and I'm adding sugar or honey or maple syrup, that would be considered added sugar. If I am eating a candy bar and I look at the label and it has added sugar, that would be considered added sugar. But like a banana is not considered that extra calories from added sugar may also increase the risk of becoming overweight or obese. There are many risks and complications associated with obesity, such as increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems, and trouble sleeping. That's according to Kansas State University. According to Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, it's also important to avoid. Foods that have been known to contribute to chronic inflammation, and one of those foods is added sugar. The Medin instead of meds resource or the website has a resource on it. Which is a Rethink Your Suites worksheet, and it's a really interesting worksheet. It has a picture of a body and then it has all these negative things that can happen in the body, like pointing to where it would happen in the body, for example, like heart diseases on there and it's pointing to the heart. These are all things that are associated with eating, high amounts of added sugar, so heart disease, non-alcoholic, fatty liver disease, diabetes, obesity, tooth decay, metabolic syndrome, and gout. The same worksheet also states on it that the average American consumes 23 teaspoons of added sugar a day. A lot of that is being or coming through sugar beverages, just like, the resource above stated that a lot of Americans are getting that through sugary beverages. So what can we do? How can we limit these added sugars in our daily lives? And just to put this into perspective, table sugar syrups, including like maple syrup and honey, which we think of as being a natural sugar, are all considered added sugars. And then the things that are not counted as added sugars are things like milk, fruit, and vegetables. They're not counted into the added sugar number. Added sugars are, I'm saying the word added a lot, but they're added to a lot of foods that we don't even realize have them, such as salad dressings, ketchup. Lots of condiments have a lot of added sugar in them, so just keep that in mind. Our bodies get wired to crave this sugar, so when we want to limit those, add added sugars, it can be really hard to break that habit. Because your body's going to want them. I found a resource through Illinois Extension. They did a article that suggested doing a seven day sugar reset to re retrain your taste buds. Basically, you try to take a week to completely eliminate added sugar in your diet. They tell you to still enjoy things like fruits and vegetables and do not eat those added sugars found in many processed foods. This will give your taste buds time to adjust to a lower sugar diet. They do state that this reset will not totally eliminate a added sugars in your diet, but the aim is that you're lowering the amount of added sugar intake that you are taking in. To more of what the American Heart Association recommends for a healthy added sugar intake. There's also a book that they recommend called Sugar Proof by Michael l Gorin and Emily Eve Ventura. And in that book it outlines a seven day no sugar added challenge. If you wanna do more research on that in the book, it talks about what the rules are for the seven day no sugar challenge. And also ideas and thoughts and recipes on how to accomplish that. I really like the approach of looking at how your body reacted to this after eating this way. So what they suggest doing is doing the seven day reset of trying to eliminate as much added sugar as possible and then just see how you feel. See if you feel any different. Has your body changed? Has your mind and your attitude changed? Have your cravings changed and just see. Even to how food, food might taste a little bit different to you, natural sugars or things like fruit might taste sweeter after adjusting your taste buds to this. So just see how everything feels after and, assess all those differences. So before I leave you today, I do wanna give you a couple other resources if you really are serious about decreasing your sugar intake and some recipes that you can find online. Like I mentioned above, the Med Instead of Meds website has a ton of free recipes. They have a whole dessert section for someone like me who has a sweet tooth and wants something sweet. They do have a dessert section that has. A lot of fruit-based desserts in it that are very low in added sugar, if they have any added sugar in them. I'll be attaching all these things to the show notes today. And then there's also, you can also do a deeper dive into this. myplate.gov has free recipes that you can use to decrease sugar intake. The dietary guidelines for Americans also has some resources for people who want to decrease their sugar intake. There's a lot of different places. There's cookbooks that you can find that are low sugar and I would just really encourage you, especially going into this time when we're having parties and get togethers, when the temptation of added sugars even higher than it normally would be during the year, to just kind of step back and assess it and see. What your sugar intake is, and if it is beneficial to you, it would be beneficial to you, which it will be beneficial to you to decrease or eliminate some of that added sugar in a day. I hope you found this podcast helpful. As always, if you have any questions or need some support or recipes or suggestions on how you can do this, feel, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to talking to you next time on the Extension Connection Podcast.