“New York Times” signed bloggers to answer your tips on “quit sugar”.
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Editor’s note: The third of 2020 is about to pass. Did you achieve the goal of “quit sugar” set at the beginning of the year? In fact, quitting sugar is not just a simple “refusal of sugar intake”. It requires us to systematically change our diet. In fact, the “unsweetened” foods in traditional impressions may actually have excessive sugar content. In addition, in order to hide their eyes, some businesses also add sugar to processed foods to take the name of the mouth, such as “barley syrup” and so on. These confusing audiovisual terms further increase the difficulty for consumers to quit sugar. Today, “New York Times” signed blogger Tara Parker-Pope compiled the answers to several questions that readers are most concerned about, and pointed out some major misunderstandings about quitting sugar. This article is translated from The New York Times, author Tara Parker-Pope, and the original title is “‘ Dried fruit, oats and coffee: answers to your sugar questions. ”
Question 1: “I’ve always been confused, why is it always said that adding sugar is more harmful than natural sugar?”
Answer: Natural sugar exists in fruit in the form of fructose. This sugar coexists with fiber and other nutrients, and can be slowly absorbed by the body after ingestion. Added sugar is different. The added sugar in processed foods or beverages will be quickly absorbed by the body and eventually cause a burden on the liver. If you want to absorb fructose, you should choose to eat fruit instead of juice or processed products. There are three reasons for this:
(1) Fiber: Fruit is rich in fiber. These fibers can delay the body’s absorption of sugar. In other words, it slows down the flow of sugar in the blood, so the liver has more time to metabolize sugar.
(2) Satiety: Sugars in processed foods will be absorbed as soon as they enter the stomach, and foods rich in fiber (such as a whole fruit) will stay in the digestive system for a longer time and stimulate the intestine The release of satiety hormones prevents you from eating more in quantity, thus preventing you from consuming more sugar.
(3) Gut health: In addition to delaying the absorption of fructose by the intestine, fiber can also promote the absorption of probiotics by the intestine, thereby promoting the microecological balance of the intestinal flora.
Question 2: “Why avoid eating bananas and grapes for people who quit sugar?”
Answer: Although most fruits are rich in fiber, you canDelay the absorption of fructose in the intestine, but banana and grape are an exception: these two kinds of fruits have low fiber content and fructose content are abnormally high, so they belong to the “mine area” of sugar abstinence. That’s why Dr. Robert Lustig of the University of California likens grapes to “sugar packets.” So we can eat bananas and grapes, but be sure to eat them in moderation.
Question 3: “If I want to quit sugar, can I still eat dried fruit?”
Answer: Dried fruits are also rich in fiber, so they are healthier than processed foods or fruit juices. However, the dried fruit loses a lot of water during the drying process, so the sugar content of the dried fruit is not low. The sugar content of raisins and dried dates is 60% -65%, the sugar content of figs and dried apricots is about 50%, and the sugar content of plums is about 38%. Of course, as long as you can control the amount, dried fruit is a healthy snack.
In addition to sugar content, another indicator of dried fruit is its blood sugar load. This concept is used to measure how quickly a food can be converted into sugar by the body. Ideally, the index of glycemic load should not exceed 10, and when this index exceeds 20, it will be considered as overload. For example, the plum blood sugar load is 10 and the raisin blood sugar load is 28. The index of strawberry, apricot, grapefruit, lemon, cantaloupe, nectarine, orange, apple, etc. is only 6.
Question 4: “I like to add milk to my coffee. Is this an extra sugar intake?”
Answer: Every quarter cup of milk contains 3 grams of pure natural lactose. But these lactose are not the so-called “sugar additions” and they do not place an extra burden on our liver. Therefore, there is no need to add any burden when adding milk or cream to coffee.
However, if you are accustomed to drinking soy milk or nut-containing milk, you need to pay special attention because these drinks tend to have high sugar content. If you like to add some sugar to your breakfast drink, try reducing the amount of sugar and adding some milk at the same time. Gradually, we can quit the sugar habit and add all milk.
Question 5: “Can you provide more information about sugar-free breakfast? Is bacon a sugar-free breakfast? Eggs?”
Answer: There are too many sugars in oats, cereals, bread or yogurt, which can be called “desserts”. But for a long time, readers may not have found alternative breakfasts other than those mentioned above. Regarding breakfast, here are some suggestions:
I like to eatHigh-protein breakfast: Eggs are undoubtedly a high-protein, high-cholesterol breakfast, but if eaten in moderation, there is no danger. Bacon is also a high-protein breakfast. Like other processed meats, bacon is not recommended to be eaten daily. (It should be added that most bacon is sugar-free, except brown sugar or maple marinated sweet bacon.) I suggest that you use smoked salmon or chicken salad instead of eggs and bacon, or you can consider vegan salads, such as potatoes, beans or avocado.
Sweet breakfast: Consider eating sugar-free yogurt with berries (strawberries, blueberries, etc.) and nuts, or apple slices, sugar-free peanut butter. Or eat fruit salad.
Like vegetables for breakfast: try avocado with boiled eggs, tacos with purple cabbage leaves, mashed potatoes with cauliflower and potatoes, or baked sweet potatoes with yogurt and nuts.
I like to drink soup: you can try miso soup, pumpkin soup, etc. It is recommended to mix soup with other breakfast in winter morning.
Question 6: “Does oatmeal (hulled oatmeal, regular oatmeal) contain added sugar?”
Answer: The question about whether oats are healthy is actually in doubt. In the “Sugar Challenge” held by our online, most of the friends who participated in the competition will choose to eat oatmeal to quit sugar. However, given that too much sugar has been added to the cereal breakfast, we limit readers to cereal breakfast in the challenge and encourage everyone to explore new products (review question 5). But overall, most readers still believe that oats are healthy. The Harvard Health Journal also rates oatmeal high, saying it is good for heart protection.
If you want to choose oats for breakfast, I suggest you check the ingredients list on the food package to see if there is any added sugar. In contrast, hulled oats is best for the body because it has fewer processing steps and retains more fiber. The instant oats on the market are often semi-cooked and contain more added sugar. Therefore, avoid oatmeal because they are not only high in sugar, but also accelerate the absorption of blood sugar, which is not good for health.
Question 7: “I eat homemade whole wheat bread. I don’t use added sugar, but I usually pour some molasses on the bread. Is that okay?”
Answer: Generally speaking, a tablespoon of molasses contains 15 grams of sugar, so when you eat molasses, you are also adding sugar. But having said that, the reason why we held the “Supreme Challenge” is not to encourage everyone to reject sugar, but to hope that everyone will be aware of the dangers of sugar abuse and be able to control their own intake-Instead of letting food manufacturers make decisions for us without knowing it. You mentioned making bread yourself, which is a very good habit. Making bread is very time and energy consuming, so if we only eat our own bread, we generally eat less. I suggest that when you are looking for a recipe, you can specifically find a recipe with less sugar, or halve the amount of sugar added in the recipe, so that you can maintain your health and not affect the taste of the food.
Question 7: “I bought a kind of bread at the bakery at the bazaar. The other party said that it contained maltose syrup-this is a sweetener. There was no information about the amount or percentage of sugar added on the package. What do you think about this? “
Answer: In response to this question, I consulted the baker’s owner of the bazaar mentioned by the reader. The information I learned is as follows: 1.8 kg of bread contains only 40 g of malt syrup. In general, consumers only buy half or a few slices of bread (1.8 kg of bread can be cut into 35 to 40 slices), and the amount of added sugar is less than half a gram. I personally think that this reader can rest assured to eat this kind of bread without worrying about excessive sugar intake.
Question eight: “If you don’t drink juice for breakfast, do you have any drink recommendations?”
Answer: Juice is a bad choice. Even if the fruit juice is made of fruit, it loses too much fiber and concentrates sugar during the extraction process. If you want to drink juice, drinking once a week is a reasonable choice. Or you can soak orange slices in ice water.
Question 9: Sometimes the nutrition content on food packaging does not indicate how much sugar is in it. How can this be explained?
Answer: According to the relevant laws of the United States, starting from 2020, large food manufacturers must indicate the amount or percentage of added sugar in the nutrient content table on the package, but small food manufacturers can do so by 2021. Follow this rule. Therefore, some of the processed foods you see on the market indicate the added sugar content, while others do not. This is normal.
The new regulations also require a distinction between natural sugar and added sugar to help consumers make more rational choices. For example, the sugar content of a bottle of milk was previously written as “11 grams”, which sounds very high, but the new regulations require that those 11 grams be added with sugar and which are naturally occurring lactose-very likely These 11 grams are all lactose. As another example, another type of chocolate milk may have 11 grams of lactose in itself and an additional 15 grams of added sugar. Either way, the sugar content information is clearer than before.