Are you ready? with Leigh Elder

Raising taxes on, or getting rid of, sugary drinks – and sugar-bashing in general – is a hot topic in our daily news fare.

While reducing sugar in our diet to acceptable levels makes complete common sense, widespread condemnation of sugar does not. Our approach has always been to accept that all biologically safe food has its place and our job has been to help people be as well informed as possible to make the right choices.

This demonising of sugar is a case in point and just too simplistic as a principle. Let's have a look at why. People go looking for food which has low-sugar levels on the labels. Many simply do not realise that after you digest any food containing carbohydrate it will produce glucose, which is the highest-ranked sugar for raising blood-sugar levels.

And believe me, carbs are omnipresent in all our lives; and apart from meat, fish,
seafood and most nuts and seeds, most other foods contain some carbohydrates.

And foods that contain the most include fruit, vegetables, bread, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, milk, yoghurt and sugar. The Glycaemic Load, or GL, principle allows us to compare how different types of food affect our blood-sugar levels – this is highly relevant in our world where diabetes looms large.

Let's take a look at a few examples of the amount of sugar before digestion and what happens after food is digested:

A bowl of Cornflakes (50 g) has less than a teaspoon of sugar. It is 80% processed carbohydrate and using the GL method will make the equivalent of 5 teaspoons of sugar.

Sushi has very little or no added sugar and the carbohydrate in the rice portion of say 4 rolls will make the equivalent of 8 teaspoons of sugar. A Panini filled with chicken and brie with cranberry sauce will only contain small amounts of sugar. Because of the high quantity of white flour, the 100 g Panini itself will make the equivalent of 5 teaspoons of sugar. A ripe banana will make the equivalent of up to 2 teaspoons of sugar.

A small, 120 g muffin may have one or 2 teaspoons of sugar, after the white flour is digested, it will produce up to 8 teaspoons.

A medium serving of mashed potato – 180 g. No sugar before, up to 6 after digestion.

180 g serving of pasta will produce the equivalent of about 5 teaspoons after it is eaten.

Although this exercise only serves as a guide, nonetheless, it does illustrate why taking this narrow vision of focusing on sugar, only provides a small part of the overall picture.

Focus on total carbohydrate as your first guide, and learn the basics on simple versus complex carbs. At the same time, added sugar in any food or drink product is obviously also a key part of the equation.

Contact – Leigh Elder 027 294 1980, leigh@eatforkeeps.com