What Is Sugar?

Sugar is not just the refined white stuff that you add to tea and cakes, it’s even found in carbohydrates that turn to sugar as soon as you’ve eaten them. It’s also added into a lot of food, so make sure to always read the label: in short, 5g per 100g of carbohydrates is OK. More than that is too much.

Here’s a long list of sugar for you:

Most commonly known
– white / brown / icing sugar
– agave nectar – contains a lot of fructose
– high fructose corn syrup
– honey
– syrup
– bread
– cakes
– cereals
– grains eg.: wheat, barley, rye etc.
– pasta
– rice – including white, brown and wild rice

Fructose
– all types of fruit and fruit juices
– agave nectar

Starchy (root) vegetables
– beetroot
– brussels sprouts
– cooked carrots, raw is OK
– celeriac
– Jerusalem artichoke
– parsnips
– potatoes
– pumpkin
– squash
– swede
– sweet potatoes
– sweetcorn

Legumes
– beans
– lentils
– peas

Dairy
The lactose in dairy is milk sugar, and if you want to go all out you should reduce your dairy intake too. It’s just not that healthy for us. If you want to go with an alternative, try eating ewes (sheep) or goats cheese and yoghurt instead. They’re really tasty and better for us than cow products.

Alcohol
Personally I only drink vodka and soda (when I’m going out! I drink at least 2 litres of water a day 🙂 ), but there is more alcohol that you can drink. Here’s a great article from Sarah Wilson on drinking alcohol whilst quitting sugar.

Soft drinks
There is loads of sugar in many of our popular soft drinks. Stay away from:
– Coke / Fanta / Sprite / Orangina etc.
– Fruit juices
– Energy drinks eg.: Red Bull, Lucozade
– Ribena

If you want more information on being sugar free, check out this fab website: http://freeofsugar.com/

Judith xoxo