How much sugar am I actually consuming? Good information here to help you find out
Posted by Eamonn Brady on
Our sugar intake
How much sugar am I “allowed” daily?
The maximum recommended intake of added sugar is 6 teaspoons a day (24g). If you are adding sugar to your tea and coffee, try an artificial sweetener as it does not affect your blood sugar levels in the same way as refined sugar and has zero calories.
Familiarise yourself with sugar content of foods
Look at the food label relating to 100g of the product and anything under 5g of sugar per 100g is a low sugar product. To see how much sugar the actual product contains i.e. cereal bar – look at the details relating to the bar and it will give you an amount of carbohydrate in grams and just below it will state ‘of which is sugars’ in grams also. Each teaspoon of sugar weighs 4g so if it states 8g per bar you know that the bar contains 2 teaspoons of sugar.
There is a lot of hidden sugars in processed food so look at what you are consuming. A lot of food we consume has obvious sugar – a can of coke contains over 8 teaspoons and an average portion of most cakes contains between 7 and 10 teaspoons. Sugar contains empty calories as it provides the body with zero nutrition. The sugar in fruit is natural and does not affect the blood sugar levels in the same way as refined sugar.
You should choose to snack on foods that contain protein and carbohydrates in preference to sugary snacks to keep blood sugar levels stable. If we constantly snack on sugary foods there will always be an elevated level of insulin in the blood which can cause many problems. Exercise naturally brings down your blood sugar levels so exercise regularly.
What is BPro Cardio Screen Service?
BPro Cardio Screen measures artery stiffness to identify risk of blockages and cardiovascular and circulatory disease. BPRo is placed like a watch on your wrist and is pain free. A pulse wave reads and calculates a wave signal that indicates the elasticity of large, small, and peripheral artery walls as well as tests for stress, central blood pressure, heart rate, and more. It is now €35 (was €50); it only takes about 15 minutes. The next clinic is Saturday August 27th (from 9am to 5pm) at Whelehans Pearse St. Book online on the Whelehans Website or by calling Whelehans at 04493 34591.
For comprehensive and free health advice and information call in to Whelehans, log on to www.whelehans.ie or dial 04493 34591 (Pearse St) or 04493 10266 (Clonmore). You can also e-mail queries to info@whelehans.ie.