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How to cut down sugar in your diet and read food labels

20.03.2024

Did you know, there are 400 different names for sugar out there? Would you know if they were hiding in your food? In this article, we look at the added sugars hiding in most processed foods, how to identify them, how they impact our health and the benefits of avoiding them.

Quitting sugar is not an easy task. But once you have knowledge and the support to make changes and those changes become habits, in the long term, you’ll feel better, have more energy and better health. That’s what making these changes is all about.

Sugar is a super common ingredient in the modern diet, even though too much of it has been linked to various health issues. So, it’s important to understand how sugar affects our body. You’ve probably heard that all sugar is bad for you, and you should avoid it like we avoid smoking, right?

But how can we avoid it in a world with so many different names for sugar? Do we even have to?

Let’s backtrack a little and find out exactly what sugar is, why it’s part of our diet, how much we need, and how much is too much. We’ll also dive into different type of sugars that are sometimes called out as ‘healthier options’, like maple syrup and coconut sugar… are they really better for us than table sugar?

So…what is sugar?

The main focus of this article is to help you reduce added sugar in your diet, but before we do that, let’s look at what sugar is.

Sugar is a type of carbohydrate, which our body breaks down into ‘simple sugars’ (glucose, fructose, and galactose) to use as a source of energy. Sugars can occur naturally in some foods or be added into our foods and drinks – mostly during the manufacture of processed products. Sugar is also added in cooking or at the table – think of your coffee or tea, morning oats, syrup on your pancakes and so on.

Naturally occurring sugars are the sugar we can find in fruits, vegetables, honey, milk products, wheat, and barley. Respectively, these are known as fructose and glucose, lactose, and maltose.

Carbohydrates and sugar

Carbohydrates are normally classified as either simple and complex, which mainly refers to how easily our body ‘breaks down’ their chains in our gut.

Simple carbs

Simple carbohydrates are easier for our gut to digest and are found naturally in foods like:

fruits
vegetables
milk.

But often, people get their simple carbs from added sugars (not naturally occurring). According to Healthdirect, these foods are high in added sugars:

muffins, scones, cakes, and biscuits
soft drinks and cordials
sports or energy drinks
ice cream, lollies, desserts
sauces such as bbq, tomato sauce, pasta sauce, and stir-fry sauces
some breakfast cereals and bars
low-fat foods, like yoghurt
salad dressing, pickles, chutneys
flour products like white pasta, white bread, croissants.

Complex carbs

Complex carbohydrates are made from long, complex chains. This means that it takes longer for our gut to digest them, and they don’t impact our blood sugar levels as drastically.

When it comes to complex carbs, some choices are still better than others. Aim for less processed or refined ones, like beans, legumes, starchy and non-starchy veggies, and wholegrains. For example:

brown rice
wild rice
quinoa
buckwheat
potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn
lentils
kidney beans and black beans
apples and bananas
chickpeas
asparagus and zucchini

A great plus to these nutritious foods is that they’re also high in fibre, which helps aid their digestion and regulate blood sugar levels. You might have noticed that fruits and vegetables fall under both categories, and that’s because they contain both simple and complex carbohydrates.

Refined vs unrefined – blood sugar

There’s often talk of less refined sugars being better for us, but are they really?

“Coconut sugar, cane sugar, maple syrup, honey, rice malt, agave. All contain simple sugars, leading to rapid digestion, and blood sugar spikes.” – CBHS nutritionist, Chantal.

Some people claim to consume coconut sugar as a better alternative to cane sugar because of the ‘higher mineral’ content. But let me tell you something: most sugars available to us nowadays are not high in minerals, and not where you want to get your mineral intake from anyway. So, you can save your money and skip the coconut sugar for now. In fact, you get slightly more minerals from brown cane sugar which is about a third of the price.

As Chantal said, even the ‘healthier’ sugars give us energy fluctuations (blood sugar spikes) and have a similar physiological response to table sugar. In simple words, our body will digest a carb as a carb, if we don’t add any other nutrients or fibre to it - like the complex carbs we spoke about before.

To understand this a little better, our blood sugar levels are a measure of how much glucose we have in our blood. Our blood sugar goes up and down during the day as we consume foods and drinks. Ideally, we want to avoid massive fluctuations, which we call sugar spikes and crashes. You can see below how our blood sugar levels should ideally look versus how it looks when we consume simple sugars.

Blood sugar level

So, what causes the spikes and crashes? Our body digests the simple sugar very fast, giving us a quick spike of energy. This energy should be used right away, if not, it will be stored in our body as fat. Our body starts producing insulin to be able to transport this sugar to our cells, so we can use it as a source of energy.

But when the energy ‘high’ has passed, we are often left with an imbalance of insulin and glucose in our blood. This causes our blood sugar to quickly go down and ‘crash’. Some common symptoms are shakiness, feeling anxious, feeling irritable or impatient, and lack of energy.

That’s why complex carbs are preferable. They’re usually absorbed slower than simple sugars and give us a more consistent blood sugar level.

Health impacts of sugar on your body

We already know that too much of anything, without balance, in your diet is not good for you. Sugar is no different. Too much sugar can make your diet high in kilojoules or calories. And if we don’t ‘use’ all that energy, our body will store it as fat, which can make you gain weight fast and contribute to other health problems.

Obesity rates in Australians are incredibly high, with 31% of adults living with obesity and one in four children and adolescents living with obesity or overweight. We know that excess weight is a risk factor for many chronic conditions; it can significantly increase risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dental health, gut health, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, mood and cognition.

“Small amounts of sugar can be a part of a balanced diet, the WHO recommends no more than 6tsp day for optimal health.” CBHS nutritionist, Chantal.

Sugar impact on body

How to reduce added sugar in your daily life

The most important and first step to reducing sugar in your diet is knowing your reasons. Once you have your ‘whys’ well defined, they will be your biggest allies in motivating you to stay on track. But think deeply inside you to find this answer. Usually diets and resolutions are broken because they’re being made for the wrong reasons. Ask yourself ‘WHY’? Is this goal genuinely coming from you? Or is it something you think people expect?

Once you know your why, we can show you some practical tips to help you cut down added sugars. Here are six to get you started:

Read the nutritional labels
Look at the ingredients list
Choose whole food options
Make smart swaps, from sugary products to a similar low sugar option
Skip the sugar in your tea or coffee
Swap soft drinks for mineral water or kombucha.

Small changes add up!

If you cut 1 tsp of sugar from your daily coffee, that’s 1.46kg less sugar per year.
Swap high sugar yoghurt each day for no added sugar yoghurt, that’s 3.8kg less sugar per year.
Swap 2 cans of soft drink per week for a no sugar kombucha, that’s 4.5kg less sugar per year.

Food labels and the names of sugars

Nutrition information panels (NIP) on food labels provide information on the average quantity of energy in kilojoules or in kilocalories, and specific nutrients like protein, fat, carbs, sugar and sodium.

Now, let’s understand how to read them, what some terms mean, and how to find the sugar that’s in your food:

Serving size

This is the average serving size from the manufacturer. It’s not necessarily the same thing as the recommended serving size from the Australian dietary guidelines, and often the serving sizes between products are not going to be the same. So, what we recommend is that you use the 100g column instead. This makes it easier to compare products.

Carbohydrate

‘Total carbohydrate’ includes both sugars and starches (simple and complex carbohydrates) as well as fibres. You can use the ‘per serve’ column to work out how many carbs are in the whole product.

Sugars

As explained earlier, sugar is a type of carbohydrate and is part of the carbohydrates in the NIP as well as being listed separately. The number of sugars includes naturally occurring sugars, such as those found in fruit, and added sugar. Ideally, look for products that have 15g or less per 100g.

No added sugar

This means that sugar was not added to the product during production, but this term does not consider whether or not the product is naturally high in sugar. For example, fruit juice, dried fruits, or fruit juice concentrates would be high in sugar but sometimes still have no added sugar.

Ingredient list

The ingredients in your product are listed by weight, from the highest quantities to the least. So, the ingredient that comes first in the list is one of the main ingredients in your food.

Names of sugars

Firstly, let’s get familiar with the most common types of sugar you might see in a product: sugar, syrup, honey, or fruit juice concentrate are all different types of sugar. Anything ending with ‘ose’ like sucrose, dextrose, fructose, maltose is also a sugar. Names ending in ‘ol’ like maltitol, means it’s a sugar alcohol (a lower calorie sugar).

Reading the back of the packet and looking to see how many of these names you can find will give you an indication of how much sugar is in the food before you buy it.

A lady eating donuts

How much sugar is too much?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed an evidence-based recommendation for our sugar consumption. This recommendation is intended to help reduce the risk of diseases caused by excessive sugar intake, prevent weight gain, and dental cavities.

WHO recommends reducing our sugar intake to 10% of your total calories, which equates to 10 teaspoons (tsp) in an 1,800 calorie (per day) diet. So, if you generally eat less calories than that in a day, then your sugar intake should also be less. WHO further recommends that it would be even better to reduce our sugar intake to 5% of our total calories (6 tsp for an 1,800 calorie diet) for optimal health.

Although we don’t have a dedicated recommendation for Australians, one thing is clear. There is no nutritional benefit from consuming extra sugar from ultra processed foods. And our health would benefit from reducing these energy-dense, nutrient poor foods.

Alternatives

So, if you’re wanting to skip sugar what can you have instead? CBHS nutritionist Chantal says that there’s plenty of alternatives out there, but these are the main ones:

Sucralose

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that is often used in diet sodas and other low-calorie products. It’s very low in calories and generally considered safe for consumption.

Stevia

A natural sweetener derived from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant. It is low in calories and has been shown to have some health benefits, like helping to lower blood sugar levels.

Monk fruit

Monk fruit extract is a natural sweetener derived from monk fruit. It’s low in calories and has been shown to help lower blood sugar levels.

Sugar-free toolkit

Now that you have the knowledge you need to embark on a lower sugar journey, here are some top ‘takeaways’ and tips to stay on course.

Eat regular meals – sugar cravings often come from a lack of energy, eating regular meals will help keep your cravings away.
Have a protein-rich breakfast each day – protein helps keep you full and can reduce cravings during the day.
Take a 10-minute walk outside after meals – it will help with insulin sensitivity, aid your digestion, and may reduce cravings.
Have an afternoon snack with fat, fibre, protein – we like to call these the ‘hunger buster trio’ they’ll keep your cravings at bay and keep you fuller for longer.
Get 7-8 hours of sleep – lack of sleep can increase your hunger hormones and leave you feeling peckish for sweets when what you really need is rest.
Drink 2L water each day – dehydration can cause fatigue, headaches and most people confuse thirst with hunger.

So, how addicted to sugar are you?

Now you know more about what sugar is, its effects on your body, and how to live a low sugar lifestyle. Let’s do a quick test on your perception of sweetness. Do the test again after following our tips for four weeks and see if anything changes for you!

Download the ‘Sweetness taste test’.

Reducing sugar and re-inventing your habits can be more of a mental challenge than a physical one, and this is when your ‘whys’ matter. Be kind to yourself, set realistic goals to start with, and develop a sugar-free life slowly. But always come back to why you’ve decided to make this choice for your health and wellbeing.

All information contained in this article is intended for general information purposes only. The information provided should not be relied upon as medical advice and does not supersede or replace a consultation with a suitably qualified healthcare professional.

Sources:

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/sugar

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/4/889

https://www.verywellhealth.com/simple-and-complex-carbohydrates-1087570

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/testing

https://www.verywellhealth.com/sugar-crash-5176637

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/sugar#carbohydrates-and-glucose

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/type-2-diabetes

https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/bundles/for-professionals/key-stats-cardiovascular-disease

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/dental-care

https://www.cbhs.com.au/mind-and-body/gut-health

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20354567