Sugar can be a demon to your beautiful body in so many ways.
In fact, sugar loves to play havoc with your skin, your hormones, your insulin and your perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
Plus it can impact your mental and gut health in negative ways. AND it impedes your ability to burn fat.
So, all in all, it’s a bad guy to have on your food/drinks list. Especially if you’re in perimenopause / menopause.
Why? Because it can trigger things like hot flushes and mood swings and make you feel pretty grim.
But it can look so blinkin’ delectable and let’s not forget, it’s addictive. Experts say it can be harder to give up than cocaine (according to a study in mice).
Did you know? The average person eats around 37 teaspoons of sugar per day!
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood @pexels
I mean that’s frightening. Particularly in light of the fact that the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend 5-10 teaspoons maximum per day.
Do you know if you nixed sugar?
You’ve been working on your diet and doing well.
You’re working towards a healthy diet and clean eating.
As a result, you’re probably feeling more motivated and energetic, your clothes are probably looser and your skin is glowing.
Three cheers to you!
The problem is, your sugar levels may still not be in a good range.
Even though you’ve removed soft drinks, processed sugars, and sweets.
Consequently, you’re left wondering where the sugar is coming from.
Never fear. We’re here to show you four hidden sources of sugar that may be catching you unawares!
1. Speciality Coffees
While you might not think about coffee as sugar-laden if you only have a taste of sweetness, the truth is, your dash of sugar can add up during the day. What’s more, you can end up ingesting quite a large amount of sugar if you drink several cups of coffee a day. On top of that, fancy-schmancy specialty coffees contain much larger amounts of sugar. They’re kind of like milkshakes.
And although you can request nutrition facts, there may be artificial flavours that don’t list sugar separately.
2. Pre-Made Juices
You could be forgiven for assuming you’re being healthy by choosing juice instead of a soft drink. However, pre-made juices don’t contain ‘real’ juice. Most of them contain a small percentage of juice combined with a large number of sweeteners and sugars. This is something that many people don’t consider. Instead, they feel they’re drinking a vibrant ‘healthy’ fruit juice. To avoid this issue, consider choosing juice that’s organic and ‘true’ juice and check the grams of sugar on the nutrition facts before you buy.
3. Frozen Dinners
Pre-packaged, frozen dinners rarely come to mind as a hiding spot for sugars. Yes, indeed. Sugars can be found in most frozen dinners even savoury ones. For example, frozen lasagna, cannelloni or Indian curries have sugars in them to help sweeten sauces and gravy. To avoid this, make your own frozen meals. That way you know exactly what’s going into them.
4. Pre-Made Health Drinks
Health drinks like smoothies are like pre-made juices. They may seem like a healthy choice and a good idea but they’re not necessarily a good choice. Some smoothies contain sweetened milk as well as sugar-based yoghurts or fruits with very high natural sugar content. Instead, make your own health drinks such as protein-based drinks as well as smoothies at home. As with your frozen meals, you’ll then be aware of what’s going into your drinks. Moreover, you can control the fruits and natural sugars.
Conclusion
There’s always a healthy alternative to sugar. But please avoid chemical sugar substitutes – they’ve been linked with all manner of conditions. At a pinch choose dates, date syrup, brown rice syrup or even maple syrup but bear in mind they’re still sugars so it’s best not to go overboard.
And nothing beats God’s garden, fresh fruits and berries are delectable.
The good news is that they’re a healthier variety. And delicious!
