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Sugar Awareness Week 2021 What you need to know about sugar….

January 15, 2021 by 121dietitian

It is Sugar awareness week 18th – 24th January 2021 so I thought I would take a look at this in more detail for you as it is one of the biggest concerns my patients have when I see them at my clinics.

What is sugar?
The term ‘sugar’ usually refers to what we know as table or granulated sugar – the type of sugar that we add to our tea or coffee. We also are familiar to the different variations which include caster sugar, icing sugar, brown sugar, demerara sugar, these are types mostly used in baking.
These, you may already know, are not the only sugars around. Sugar occurs naturally in all foods that contain carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables, grains, and dairy.
All ‘sugars’ are carbohydrates and along with starch they one of our body’s main source of energy. Carbohydrates are required for our brains, bodies and nervous system. In fact it has been part of our diets for thousands of years. Sugar is found naturally in most foods like fruits, vegetables and milk as well as being an ingredient used in a wide range of foods and drinks.

Great, so what is all the fuss about?
Consuming whole foods that contain natural sugar is acceptable as part of a healthy intake when you have a healthy metabolism. Plant foods have high amounts of fibre, essential minerals, and antioxidants alongside smaller amounts of carbs, and dairy foods contain protein, fats and calcium which are important for the body.
Because of these extra components your body digests these foods slowly allowing the sugar in them to provide a steady supply of energy to your cells. A sufficient intake of fruits, vegetables, and fibre rich foods have been shown to reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

So what’s the problem?
Increasing technology has brought many changes to our food production. More and more convenience foods are available that taste good, are very addictive and can be eaten 24/7.
Problems occur when regularly eating these processed foods leads you to consume too much “added sugar”. The food manufacturers add this to enhance the flavour or extend shelf life and this can often be hidden in foods you would never imagine.
In the modern diet, the top sources of sugar are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavoured yogurts, cereals, biscuits, cakes, sweets and most processed foods. But added sugar is also present in items that you may not think of as sweetened, like soups, bread, processed meats, and condiments like ketchup.

How much sugar are we allowed?
Our recommended dietary intake of sugar per day:

Adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, (roughly equivalent to 7 tsps/sugar cubes).

Children aged 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day (6 tsps/sugar cubes).

Children aged 4 to 6 should have no more than 19g of free sugars a day (5 tsps/sugar cubes).

What we consume
Adults in the UK take in 3 times the recommended amount at an average of 22 teaspoons/cubes of added sugar per day, according to the NHS website.
Four to 10-year-olds are eating more than twice as much sugar as they should per day, equivalent to 13 tsps/sugar cubes (PHE 2018).

“Excess sugar’s impact on obesity, Blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, fatty liver and diabetes and this is well documented, but one area that may surprise many is how their taste for sugar can have a serious impact on their heart health and increase risk of stroke,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Impact on your heart
In a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Hu and his colleagues found an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease. Over the course of the 15-year study, people who are 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8% of their calories as added sugar.

“Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease,” says Dr. Hu.

Sugar has several indirect connections to affecting heart health:
1) high amounts of sugar overload the liver. “Your liver metabolizes sugar the same way as alcohol, and converts dietary carbohydrates to fat,” says Dr. Hu. Over time, this can lead to a greater accumulation of fat, which may turn into fatty liver disease, a contributor to diabetes, which raises your risk for heart disease.
2) Consuming too much added sugar can raise blood pressure and increase chronic inflammation, both of which are pathological pathways to heart disease.
3) Excess consumption of sugar, especially sugary drinks, also contributes to weight gain by tricking your body into turning off its appetite-control system because liquid calories are not as satisfying as calories from solid foods. This is why it is easier for people to add more calories to their regular diet when consuming sugary drinks.

What can you do??
Reading food labels is one of the best ways to monitor your intake of added sugar. Look for the following names for added sugar and try to either avoid, or cut back on the amount or frequency of the foods where they are found:

• brown sugar
• corn sweetener
• corn syrup
• fruit juice concentrates
• high-fructose corn syrup
• honey
• invert sugar
• malt sugar
• molasses

Also syrup sugar molecules ending in “ose” (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose).

Check the total sugar of the product, which includes added sugar, this is usually listed in grams.
If it says 5 grams of sugar per serving, but the normal amount you would eat is three or four servings, you will easily consume 20 grams of sugar which is way too much.
Also, watch the amount of sugar or syrups you add to your food or drinks. About half of added sugar comes from adding it to coffee and tea. A study in the May 2017 Public Health found that about two-thirds of coffee drinkers and one-third of tea drinkers put sugar or sugary flavourings in their drinks. The researchers also noted that more than 60% of the calories in their beverages came from added sugar.

Planning to make sugar cuts?????
Be careful when cutting back on added sugar as you may find yourself filling up on other foods to satisfy your sweet cravings. Foods like white bread, white rice and pasta can also increase glucose levels in addition to providing more sodium than you need so not ideal.

Really work at making healthy swaps:

If you take sugar in your hot drinks cut down little by little to allow your taste buds to adjust.
Don’t add jam ever day to your toast – if you are at increased health risk then think about choices that won’t spike your blood glucose, eggs are a good alternative and ditch the toast too.

If you are not sure how to make safe and healthy swaps, please do get in touch, we are experts in all areas of nutrition and health and we would love to help you.

Gillian x

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Email: info@121dietitian.com

Make October The Month Of Your New Year Resolution

September 24, 2018 by 121dietitian

When it comes to diet and lifestyle changes, there is now better time than right NOW to put your well intended plans in place. If you still haven’t made progress with your New Year Resolution, you’re not alone.

A client came to me for help with her New Year’s resolutions IN AUGUST!

She was disappointed she had not yet achieved her personal goal of “being as healthy as possible.” Despite her good intentions, she had made disappointing progress and it was 8 months into the “new year”! Her weight was going up, not down.

Many of us can relate to this. We have expectations for great changes and we feel motivated at the start, but events and responsibilities seem to work against us and we are left feeling frustrated and sometimes discouraged that the changes we want to see will never be accomplished.

With this client, and many others, I’ve found a few simple strategies help to make significant changes in order to promote health, fitness, and control without the stress.

I advised this client that October would be the perfect time to make her changes. The kids are back in school, the home routine is in place, and it is a long time until the Christmas rush.

My client is now focused for October – she is prepared to make the time and energy to commit to her new plan.

The following are a few of the goals we decided to focus on:

Step 1: Start small

In the case of my client, instead of her usual pattern of becoming a slave to the gym with no rewards, she has already started with two 30-minute walks per week. Over the past three weeks, these have lengthened and she now looks forward to her evening walks most nights of the week. This simple change should add years to her life and assist her food focus.

Step 2: Be ‘SMART’

Identify specific, measurable goals. They must be realistic and linked to a period of time so you can assess your achievements. These goals are “SMART” goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.)

My client’s goals were, I think, what we would all like to achieve; ‘eat better and be more active’, but how do we measure success with a goal like this?

As a starting point, we broke down her goals into some straightforward, but significant, changes: Below are 2 examples:

1) Begin to eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking, five out of seven days per week.

2) Keep records of your food intake and exercise for five days to promote self-awareness of your eating and activity patterns.

Step 3: Get support

Do ask for support from a friend, spouse or family member. In this case of this client, her husband has been a great supporter. He reminds her to sit down and eat breakfast with him instead of running around after the kids and he provides the motivation for her to be fit by walking with her in the evenings. He and the kids are enjoying the health changes too. They are eating better and their mum is happier and healthier. The walk also has the added benefit of keeping away from tempting snacks.

In addition to her family support, my client has benefited from professional support. In working with a dietitian it has helped her make appropriate goals, identify obstacles and help overcome challenges.

My client laughs now when she recalls her fears of attending to see me. She expected I would stop her eating normal foods and she would be miserable, but instead she admits she enjoys the one-to-one online consultations when she can’t get to my clinic and the programme she is following. She is already feeling much healthier and fitter (see our google reviews).

Step 4: Get accurate information

As a Dietitian, I spend a lot of time correcting people’s myths. Most of my clients come in expecting they will be told to only eat salads and slave away on a treadmill seven days a week. We know from countless studies, that healthy eating does not mean dieting. While there are specific dietary requirements for many conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and IBS, most people do not have to cut anything out – they just need assistance in finding the right balance. Obtaining professional guidance ensures you learn which strategies are appropriate for you.

Accurate nutrition information is easier and more accessible than you may think…

For help with putting your New Year’s Resolution in place this October, contact Gillian today Call: 07717392306 or email: info@121dietitian.com

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Obesity Statistics and associated Health Risks- check yours….

May 16, 2018 by 121dietitian Leave a Comment

While obesity stats might be shocking, the good news is that there is still time to do something about it. Here, we get clear on the statistics and share how 121 Dietitian has been successfully helping patients to lose weight.

A person who is assessed as being clinically obese (BMI – Body Mass Index of 30 and above) is:

6 times more likely to develop high blood pressure
4 times more likely to develop diabetes
2 times more likely to develop arthritis
6 times more likely to suffer gall bladder disease
More likely to be infertile
More likely to suffer from back and joint problems
More likely to have problems with asthma exacerbated
Increased risk of suffering depression
More likely to suffer sleep problems such as sleep apnoea
Increased risk of heart problems and stroke
And have a shortened lifespan (1 in every 11 deaths in the UK is linked to obesity related problems)
More likely to have nutritional deficiencies

This is not a scare tactic message, but rather, we feel, an important message to highlight the negative health implications associated with obesity that we see every day. It may surprise you to know that many of the men and women who come to our clinics are unaware of the risks associated with obesity, and when informed are so grateful they could do something about it before their problems became irreversible.

If you wish to reverse the risks as mentioned above, the good news is something can be done. Losing weight and lowering your BMI (body mass index) to normal or lower levels, or with a 5-10% reduction in weight as a starting point will significantly reduce your likelihood of developing these potentially serious medical conditions, and significant weight loss can resolve many pre-existing conditions associated with obesity.

Of course there are also many, many psychological benefits in losing excess weight; people become more confident, feel less isolated, feel more attractive and feel more assertive as well as the obvious benefits associated with feeling healthy like a new wardrobe!

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT AND ENJOY DOING SO!

Our team are highly skilled weight management Dietitians, providing a unique evidence based programme, tailored to each individual.
Over the years, we have helped many people to successfully lose weight, (read our google reviews) when they have struggled in the past.
You will learn how to enjoy foods and how to manage your diet, weight and health for life.
If you need to lose more weight, then you can safely do so, as you will know exactly how to do it safely for optimizing health for life.

We would love to help you. The 121 Dietitian team are waiting! so please contact us on 07717392306 or email: info@121dietitian.com or click here today.