Sugar - Take the Sugar Test.

Is It Time To Eliminate All Sugar From Our Diet?

The American Hospitals Association suggests an added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for most women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average Australian consumes 60 grams of free sugars per day – around 14 teaspoons of white sugar. That's well over and above the World Health Organisation's (WHO) recommended healthy level of six teaspoons for women and nine teaspoons of sugar for men each day.
According to a 2016 journal study, ‘ultra-processed’ foods make up more than half of all the calories consumed in the US diet. They also contribute nearly 90 per cent of all added sugar intake.

81 per cent of the free sugars we consume come from the energy-dense, nutrient-poor ‘discretionary’ foods and beverages.
the Australian Bureau Statistics

These are optional foods that aren’t necessary to our diet that don’t fit into the five food groups, like alcohol and other foods/drinks containing high amounts of saturated fat or added sugars.
Eliminating sugar is almost impossible and perhaps even unhealthy. Dramatically reducing sugar through better supermarket, restaurant and meal ingredient choices is much easier.
Just like hide and seek, you will catch some. You will win some. Some will make it home. But taking proactive steps before you begin shopping or ordering will greatly increase the numbers of hiders you catch, before they end up on your plate and in your diet. 

​Try these simple activities to include everyone in the Sweet Game of Hide and Seek. 

1. Collect all the containers, boxes and food wrappers or packets used in a single week by all members of the family. This should include the McDonalds or Thai take away bill and don’t forget all those drinks.

• At the end of the week, gather everyone around the dining table or kitchen bench with a marker pen or highlighter for each person.
• Mark all the known sugars that are listed. Each person should add their pile, then check the packets of the person sitting on their left.
• Add the amounts of sugar, using the percentages or grams (milli grams) listed.
  1. Who has the biggest quantity of sugar?
  2. How much as the whole group consumed?
  3. Which item has the greatest amount of sugar?
  4. Was it the jelly or the biscuits? The Subway meal or the McDonalds burger?
  5. Each person must then look at those things that contained the most sugar in their pile and select one that they could live without.
  6. Everyone shares the ingredient or food they suggest should be eliminated.
  7. The whole group must now agree on 3 items that can be eliminated from the weekly shopping or from eating out.
  8. Calculate the total amount less sugar consumed by the group.
  9. Calculate the amount less sugar consumed by each person.
  10. Make an agreement not to buy those 3 items in the coming week.

1. The Fresh is Best List
   1. Create a list of 10 of your favourite fresh fruits, vegetables or unprocessed foods
   2. Mark those which you eat more than 3 times per week
   3. Trade one of your favourite fresh items for one processed item on the shopping list.
2. Hide and Seek.
   1. When you next go to the supermarket, make sure you have your smartphone’s camera ready.
   2. Photograph any 20 labels in the supermarket.
   3. When you get home, enlarge the photos, and write out any ingredients that may be sugar. If you are not sure, Google the word to find out what it is.
   4. Record the amount of hidden sugars in 3 or more labels.
   5. Hidden Sugar is anything that is not called ‘Sugar’. For example, carbohydrates, starch or lactose are hidden sugars.

The key ingredient to avoiding excess sugar in your diet is educating yourself about the health impacts of sugar.  The second step, is looking for the one place where you or your family eat too much sugar regularly (eg: not a birthday cake or chocolates at Easter) Breakfast cerial with sugar on top is a great example. If you do this once every day with a spoonful of sugar you can eliminate 7 spoonfuls of sugar in a single week.