Your predilection for sugar begins in infancy. Breast milk is sweet, and some of the first foods you eat---mashed bananas and pureed applesauce---are sweet. At your first birthday, you eat frosting by the handful. So begins a lifelong affair with sugar until a doctor or nutritionist warns you about diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Breaking up with sugar is hard to do, but it's a healthy choice.
Sugar Substitutes
One option for restricting sugar in your diet is to use substitutes. Dr. Cindy Pan, author and newspaper columnist, says both artificial and natural sweeteners are useful for people who need to control their weight or blood sugar levels. She says chemical sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose and saccharine---sold under product names such as Equal, Splenda and Sugarine---are good choices. She also recommends natural sweeteners, such as the sugar alcohols xylitol and erythritol, and steviol, which is derived from a type of chrysanthemum and used for centuries in South America.
Adjust Recipes
Another option, one that works for home bakers, is to gradually reduce the amount of sugar you use. Ellen Frazier, a Los Angeles area chef who caters to people on special diets, says you can cut half of the sugar in any recipe except cakes without changing texture or palatability. She says cakes, which require a delicate chemical balance, are trickier. "But for pies, cookies, cobblers and puddings, I never use more than half of what the recipe calls for, even for clients without health problems. And if you're baking a cookie that contains a sweet fruit like raisins, you can cut out 75 percent of the sugar in a recipe and still get your sweet fix," Frazier says.
Glycemic Index
But if you need to do more than simply cut back on sugar, you may need to follow a diet that eliminates both sugar and refined carbohydrates, both of which can cause spikes in blood sugar. Lesilie Beck, a registered dietitian, says you can choose foods that are low on the Glycemic Index---proteins, fats, low-fat dairy and complex carbohydrates that enter your bloodstream slowly. Complex carbohydrates include whole grain breads, brown rice, fruits and vegetables.
Glycemic Load
You can also protect yourself from blood sugar fluctuations, which are difficult to control if you have diabetes, by eating foods in balanced combinations, also known as a Glycemic Load diet. This means that if you eat a refined carbohydrate, you can offset its effect on your blood sugar by pairing it with foods with little glycemic value. White bread topped with strawberry jam doubly stresses your Glycemic Load, but a turkey sandwich on white bread is less problematic. But Beck says it's healthier to stick to complex carbohydrates, which you can enjoy without straining your Glycemic Load or math skills.
Hidden Sugar
If you are on a sugar-restricted diet, be careful reading labels on foods at your grocery stores. Sugar comes in assorted forms, including fructose and glucose. Honey and maple syrup are also primarily sugar and no better for you, according to Antje Gahl, of the German Nutrition Society. Choosing raw sugar over granulated sugar or fructose over corn syrup may be a philosophical choice but is not a nutritional one, she says. If you include artificial sweeteners in your diet, Gahl says to use them in moderation. Studies about the safety of artificial sweeteners remain inconclusive.
References
- "China Daily"; Sugar Not so Sweet; (NO BYLINE) Dec. 31 2009
- Ellen Frazier; caterer; I Can't Eat Anything!; Los Angeles, California; Sept. 23 2010
- "The Globe and Mail"; Low-GI Diet Combats Heart-Disease Risk; Leslie Beck; Dec. 17 2008
- "Sunday Telegraph"; Are Artificial Sweeteners Better?; Dr. Cindy Pan, Leah Hechtman; Aug. 15 2010
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