Words written by Gaby Dyson
Most of us are all too aware of the damaging effects of added sugar. We’ve all seen the public health posters and heard the horror stories about tooth decay and type 2 diabetes, and with so much insidious sugar working its way into supermarket food, I often find myself wondering what we can actually do to reduce our daily sugar intake.
Introducing Sugar Smart…
According to Sugar Smart – a joint initiative between the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation and the food charity, Sustain, improving our diet doesn’t necessarily mean cutting out all of life’s little pleasures. Instead, Sugar Smart aims to help clue us up on which foods contain excess sugars and which treats can be enjoyed in moderation. What’s more, it calls for organisations such as hospitals, sports centres, schools and restaurants to take assertive action to make healthy food and drink more affordable and accessible.
For the past 25 years, Exeter Sugar Smart Ambassador, Tamara Bennett, has watched the sharp rise of added sugar in our food and drink. In her role as a Public Health Nutritionist, Tamara has been offering families advice on how to manage this. As I sat in her East Devon kitchen, cup of tea in hand, I flicked through a dozen or so laminated charts outlining what actually ends up in our food and drink. It didn’t make for pretty reading and I was starting to feel a little concerned about my own eating habits…
“Consuming too much sugar is having a significant deleterious impact on the health of the British public,” Tamara tells me, “Tooth removal from too much sugar was the single biggest reason for under 18 year olds needing to have a general anaesthetic last year. We also know that excess sugar is converted to fat in the body. We are in the midst of an ever growing – forgive the pun – obesity epidemic. Unfortunately, frequent sugary snacks and drinks are a significant contributing factor to this epidemic.”
I’ll confess, it all sounded rather doom and gloom from where I was sitting. But Tamara’s glowing enthusiasm for the world of nutrition left me with a glimmer of hope and I was keen to hear how she and Sugar Smart suggested we go about remedying our sugar intake without depriving ourselves of our favourite treats.
“Well, for starters it’s a good idea to start taking a closer look at product labels the next time you’re heading down the supermarket isle,” Tamara explained, “It may come as a surprise, but we need to make sure we’re even checking savoury foods. A meal deal comprised of a ready-made sandwich, crisps and a drink can take us way past the adult recommendation of 30g of sugar per day”. For a better idea of just how much sugar that is, 30g is a roughly seven sugar cubes; which is certainly not an image I want in my head as I’m tucking into a sarnie. As a rule, Sugar Smart recommends avoiding foods that contain more than 22.5g sugar per 100g of product, or to simply enjoy them as occasional foods for a happier balance.
“H2O is the body’s favoured means of hydration,” Tamara smiled, tapping a large jug of filtered water. “Time and again many of us fall for clever marketing techniques on behalf of sugary fruit juices that claim to be ‘healthy’ or even that they’re one of our ‘five a day’. In reality, many of these name brand drinks are filled with unnecessary added sugar”. She pointed to a row of empty soda bottles on her countertop. Apparently, they’re going to form part of an interactive exhibit on how much insidious sugar ends up in our drinks. In just one bottle of these well-known brands there are almost 10 teaspoons of sugar. “Cutting out fizzy pop and energy drinks may be a difficult transition for diehard Fanta fanatics, but opting for ‘water only’ – except for high days and holidays – is another great way to reduce our sugar intake.”
Breakfast cereals are the next big contributor of sugar in a lot of children’s diets. We’ve all heard the expression “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, so a nourishing bowl of porridge or some freshly made scrambled eggs on toast are both great alternative ways to get kids off to a healthy morning start.
“Ultimately, I’m not going to stand here and tell you that what works for me will work for you,” Tamara continued, “If you have a real ‘sweet tooth’ you may wish to wean yourself off high sugar foods slowly. Others can go ‘cold turkey’ and just cut it out. It’s down to you. The aim of Sugar Smart is not to tell you how to eat, but to spread the word that we could all benefit from being more aware of where we get our sugar intake from. We’re not ‘preachy’ but we are passionate. We invite anyone interested in becoming a Sugar Smart Ambassador to come along to one of our training sessions, where you will meet like-minded people who want to learn a bit more and make some small, but significant, changes in the health of our families and communities.”
If you’re up for the challenge of reducing your sugar intake, you can sign-up online at www.sugarsmartuk.org or email the Sugar Smart Exeter Team on sugarsmartexeter@gmail.com.