A Sugar Free Update

Since the start of this year we have been focused on a sugar free diet.  We still eat fresh fruit but try an avoid added sugar and concentrated sugars such as juices and dried fruits.  We also avoid processed food and when I bake I try and use dextrose instead of sugar.

After nearly four months we have learnt a few things about ourselves and about adapting to a world that is just full of sugar.

• If you avoid sugar as much a possible your perception of sweetness changes and you find many foods too sweet to enjoy
• You will often find it difficult to find foods without added sugar
• It is not the end of the world if you decide to have something sweet as a treat
• We often share what would be considered a small sweet treat for one person and are satisfied
• Once you start looking to avoid sugar you see it being consumed in vast quantities all around you
• Some baking does not work with dextrose
• Once you are in the habit of having less sugar in your diet you rarely miss it, but sometimes do

We have decided to keep avoiding sugar but we are also not going to run our lives by it.  We will have the odd icecream in summer and eat good dark bitter chocolate when it takes our fancy.
And if I get so crazy pregnancy craving for jam and pickle sandwiches hey I might even give that a go too.
Sometimes we feel that we are depriving ourselves or making our lives harder but these thoughts are normally short lived and we see the bigger picture of our health.

We feel that if we keep going how we are we will not end up giving up on the low sugar life style because we are not going down the all or nothing path.  But at the same time we are aware that it would be an easy habit to fall back into so we are mindful of what we eat.

What Is Wrong With Sugar (Fructose) and What About Other Sweeteners?

Since we have stopped eating sugar we have been asked by a few people "why what's wrong with sugar and what about other sweeteners and sugar substitutes?"

The "why" part we explain like this. Sugar is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Glucose is used by every cell in your body as energy while fructose is primarily processed by the liver. High levels of consumption can also lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (one of the fastest growing diseases in western society) and fructose is highly addictive so the more you eat the more you want to eat and the less sensitive to sweetness.

The "What about other sweeteners" we stick to a couple of basic rules: 

• We use dextrose for baking
• We use Rice Malt Syrup (a complex carbohydrate that is fructose free) instead of golden syrup, maple syrup and honey
• We use stevia sometimes too
• We eat whole pieces of fresh fruit but no more than 1 piece per day - and while yes fruit contains fructose you can never really eat that much because of all the fiber (think of eating 7 whole oranges instead drinking 500ml of orange juice)

As far as other sweeteners goes:

• Brown sugar contains molasses which means it has a tiny fraction more mineral, but it’s still 50 per cent fructose like white sugar. 
• Honey and maple syrup are about 40% fructose and contain vitamins and minerals. 
• Dates contain about 30 per cent fructose and some vitamins and minerals, but some recipes use cups and cups of blended dates and at 1 teaspoon of sugar per date that is a lot of sugar.
• Agave syrup is up to 90% fructose and expensive so not something I would buy.

We also assure people we are not militant about it.  Our aim is to reduce the sugar in our diets as much as possible not to be poster children for the sugar free movement.  Overall we like to keep our sugar intake from all sources to less than 5 teaspoons per day.

The World Health Organization recommends that we limit our intake of added sugars to no more than 10% of total calories. That comes to about 50 grams of sugar, or the equivalent of 4 tablespoons of granulated sugar for a person eating 2000 calories a day. One tablespoon of granulated sugar is equal to about 12 grams so we are aiming for less than that.

When it comes down to it, if we really want to treat ourselves to an ice-cream at the beach we will, which probably happens about twice a year for us.

If a recipe for 8 serves includes 1 table spoon of sugar at this stage I would probably just use it as I still have sugar in the pantry to use up and on hand in case other want it in their tea or coffee.  We still eat chocolate (75% cocoa and above only) on occasion.  If I wanted to have honey on toast once a month I would.  If we were at a dinner party (not that we go to many of these) and the host had made dessert I would just ask for a small portion so as not to offend and to acknowledge the effort they put in.

For us this is about our health and by avoiding sugar we all of a sudden avoid a lot of overly processed foods and beverages that are not good for us either so it seems like a win win situation.

Do you avoid sugar?

Do you have rules about what sugars you will and will not use?

Sugar Free Cinnamon Tea Cake

This was a really easy cake to make and it was very buttery so lovely and moist. I am not a huge fan of cinnamon and I think if I made this cake again I would use cardamon instead but if you like cinnamon then this is for you.

Sugar Free Cinnamon Tea Cake

200 g Unsalted Butter - chopped and softened
1 1/2 c Dextrose
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
3 Eggs
1 1/2 c Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 c Sour Cream

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (160 fan forced) then grease and line a 22 cm spring-form cake tin.
In an electric mixer beat the butter, dextrose and vanilla until pale and creamy.  Add the eggs one at a time mixing well between each one. 
Fold in the dry ingredients and sour cream then spoon into the lined cake tin.
Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.  Cool in the tin for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Sugar Free Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Brownies

This was such an easy recipe and just as tasty as other brownies I have made in the past although no where near as sweet.  It is something I think you could serve to sugar lovers and they would never know the difference unless you told them.  This brownie is more cakey than gooey but still hits the spot.

Sugar Free Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Brownies

2 c Dextrose
4 Eggs
250 g Unsalted butter - Melted and cooled
1 1/4 c Flour
1/2 c Cocoa
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
100 g Macadamia - Chopped and toasted

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (160 fan forced), grease and line a 22 cm square cake tin.
Beat the eggs and dextrose together until light and fluffy.  Gently mix in your melted butter then sift in your flour, cocoa and baking powder and stir to combine.  Finally fold in your macadamias and pout the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until cooked in the middle.  Cool completly in the tin before removing and cutting into squares.

Serve with another dusting of cocoa and whipped cream.

Sugar Free Nutty Chocolate Granola

This is a recipe I have adapted from one of Sarah Wilson's.  I have added rolled oats, poppy seeds and sesame seeds.  Sometimes I use different nuts but mostly I use almonds as they are the cheapest.

Nutty Chocolate Granola

3 Cups Coconut Flakes
2 Cups Activated Nuts (I like to use 1 1/2 cups almonds and the rest any other nut I have on hand)
1/2 Cup Pepitas
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seed
2 Tbs Chia Seeds
2 Tbs Poppy Seeds
2 Tbs Sesame Seeds
1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup Raw Cacao Powder
1/4 Cup Rice Malt Syrup
80 gm Butter or Coconut Oil

Preheat your oven to 120 degrees Celsius.  Melt your butter and add the rice malt syrup to it and mix together.  In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients then pour over the butter and malt syrup. Mix well until the entire mix is looking evenly coated and chocolaty.
Spread evenly on a roasting tray and bake in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes giving the mix a good stir half way through.  Remove from the oven give another good stir and allow to cool.

Serve with unsweetened plain yogurt or soak in milk for 5 minutes before eating.

Goodbye Sugar - Might See You Again, Probably Not

We have never been big sugar consumers and in the past I went sugar free for a period of time as part of a low carb diet, lost a lot of weight and felt great as a result.
However slowly but surely sugar crept back into our lives.  There was more baking of sweet treats, more pudding and more treats.
Then there was Christmas.  We ate more chocolate in a week than we would normally eat in about 3 months.  On top of the chocolate there were rich indulgent puddings and sweet treats on hand and by the time we got back to Australia I was feeling a bit icky.
For me the biggest thing I noticed is that over time as I consumed more sugar I had less appetite control and was feeling like I was often hungry.  If I ate anything that was really sweet afterwards my tongue would feel like it was a bit swollen.  On top of that and I started to crave sweet things as snacks and after meals.

Over the past 12 months or more we have been educating ourselves about the negative impacts of sugar to our health but for some reason it was only this year that we really committed ourselves to ditching sugar for good.
I have read Sally Fallons Nourishing Traditions, David Gillespies book Sweet Poison, read "That Sugar Film" the book and seen the movie and read all of Sarah Wilsons "I Quit Sugar For Life" books.  And the thing that I have taken away from all of this reading is that sugar in 99% of its forms is bad for our health and we are jut not designed to deal with the quantity that most of us consume on a daily basis.



Now when I say we have quit sugar this does not mean we are now living a life devoid of sweetness or that sugar will not pop up in recipes now and then (think 1 TBS sugar in a curry that makes 6 serves), but we are opting for a savoury diet with the occasional sweet treat rather that having sweetness in our every day life.
We are adopting a fructose free life  in line with what both David Gillespie and Sarah Wilson recommend.  This means that lactose in dairy products, rice malt syrup (made from fermented cooked rice and is a complex carbohydrate that releases energy slowly), dextrose (powdered glucose available from some supermarkets and all home brew shops) and stevia will become our acceptable sweeteners. Whole pieces of fruit in their fresh state with all of their fiber are in (no juices or dried fruit) within moderation (up to two serves per day with a focus on those fruits that have the highest ratio of fiber to fructose (see the table below with raspberries and blackberries coming out most favourable)



The World Health Organisation recommends that we aim to consume only between 6 - 9 teaspoons (24-36 gm) per day.  Until I started reading up I had no idea how deceptive companies had gotten at hiding sugar in our foods. Foods that are marketed as being healthy alternatives are not always what they claim to be.

Do you like a smoothie? How much sugar do you think is in one?

According to Live Lighter Gloria Jeans’ 98 per cent fat-free Mango Fruit Fruzie, topped the sugar list with a whopping 31 teaspoons. The strawberry version came in at second place with 25 teaspoons in a large cup.

And Pure Power Fitness provide quick run down of the top 5 650ml sellers at Boost Juice and their sugar content.

All Berry Bang: 65g of Sugar (13 teaspoons)
Strawberry Squeeze: 69.55g of Sugar (14 teaspoons)
Gym Junkie: 66.95g of Sugar
Berry Crush: 68.25g of Sugar
Energiser Juice: 51.35g of Sugar. (10 teaspoons)

If that doesn't astonish you then let me compare it to some foods that are considered unhealthy.

Kit Kat 60g Crunchy: 31g of Sugar
Coca Cola 600ml bottle: 58g of Sugar
Magnum Sandwich 98g: 25g of Sugar
Big Mac: 8g of Sugar
Me Goreng packet Noodles: 7.6g of Sugar

Once you start cutting it out you will find it hidden everywhere.  Did you know there are at least 56 names for sugar?

One group of products most often changed to be "Low Fat" are dairy products. But when the fat (between 3 and 4% for full fat milk so not much really) is removed the flavour is maintained by the addition of sugar.  Dairy products will almost always have sugar listed on the nutritional table on the packaging as lactose is a form of sugar that occurs naturally in milk.  A really easy way to work out how much of the sugar is added sugar is to look at the grams of sugar per 100 grams.  Anything up to 4.7 grams is naturally occurring lactose, anything over that is added sugar of some variety be it fruit juice, honey or good old fashioned sugar.

Since we have been cutting out sugar we have been trying out new recipes and introducing some food into our diet in much greater quantities.
As I try recipes I will share them here if they are things we would be happy to eat again and again or make it into our regular diet.

I have a few recipe books to test recipes from and so far have found a couple that we liked straight away and even passed the taste test of other people who are not sugar free.

If you want to watch a great documentary about Sugar and how it came to be perceived as better than fat check this out.

How do you feel about sugar?
Have you ever tried to give it up completely?