Eat less SUGAR - the NEW lifestyle

We all have heard of the effects sugar has, if you are determined to make your life sugar-less keep reading.

Some people choose to cut out sugar entirely but be aware that because sugar is addictive, eliminating it all in one fell swoop can stress you out and drive you back into it. 

I believe more in moderation than limitation, so if you don't want to go that far, a low-sugar lifestyle may be a more manageable option that still improves your health.

Eat whole foods.

Whenever possible, stick to meats, fruits and vegetables in their original forms, which do not contain any added sugar. If it’s not easy to get them fresh, choose frozen ones without added ingredients.

Get your cookbook out.

You'll be far less likely to consume sugar if you prepare most of your meals. You will also find new flavors that can replace sweetness in your food.

Read and compare labels.

Some foods — like yogurt or cereal — come in a vast array of brands and options. If you're going to eat foods that contain sugar, pick those with the lowest amounts and that use nutritious ingredients like nuts or dried fruit.

The soda and juice.

The vast majority of these beverages are little more than sugar water. But if you like to drink them try diluting them progressively: start with one third of water and two thirds of soda/juice and try to get to 50/50.

Don't skip meals.

Eat regularly throughout the day, not more than 4 hours between meals. Skipping lunch makes you more likely to turn to sugar for a quick fix later on. Have some healthy snacks at hand in case you need them.

Stay hydrated.

Thirst frequently manifests as a craving for sugar or other food so keep a bottle by your desk. If you like flavor in your water try putting a tea bag inside your bottle or slices of fruit.

Find natural substitutes.

If you need to use a sweetener in a recipe, replace white sugar with options like honey or molasses whenever possible. If you want to reduce it even more, try a natural sweetener like stevia.

Spice it up.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and other spices are a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth without adding sugar.

Select dark chocolate.

When you need to feed a chocolate craving, the darker stuff — like, 85 to 90 percent cocoa — contains less sugar and its healthier.

Give black coffee a trial run.

If you've grown accustomed to sweetening your coffee, give yourself a 7-day trial of drinking it black. Coffee is shown to reduce risk of diabetes and some types of cancer, and it's a proven metabolism booster. Take the time to savor the taste, smell, and warmth of your coffee — the experience itself is sweet enough, no sugar necessary!

See you next week.

Nutritional labels fast and easy... SODIUM (Salt)

Unfortunately, as most processed foods contain Sodium as a conserving element, it is difficult to find one that is free of this element.

Try to choose food with less than 140mg per serving. If you have blood pressure problems, kidney problems or fluid retention, I suggest that you avoid instant food.

As always, the best food is fresh; no matter how wonderful and magical food is presented by the food industry, it can never compete with natural and homemade options.

See you next week.

Nutritional labels fast and easy... FAT

The dreaded and awful fat (formally called lipids) ... 

Unfortunately we have been misinformed about the power of this nutrient in our lives.  It is a fact that we suffer more illnesses because of sugar than fat.

Did you know that they are essential for the proper functioning of the brain, hormone production and energy reserves? Many vitamins are dissolved in fat, thus by eliminating them completely you will also miss antioxidants and immune protection.

Be careful of foods that say "fat free" because in most cases the fat is replaced with corn starch, fructose or sugar cane, making the food even more damaging.

Nutritional fact labels describe several types of fat: total, saturated, trans and cholesterol. 

In order to find the healthiest option, choose food with less than 20g of fat and less than 20mg cholesterol per serving.

See you next week!

Nutritional labels fast and easy... PROTEIN

How did you do last week? Aren’t you impressed with the amount of sugar we often consume in instant food?

Fortunately there are new natural options that are as sweet but harmless to your body ...

We continue with proteins:

 

Few industrialized food contains enough of this nutrient and even less offer a good quality protein such as soy, cheese, eggs or meat.

To give you a reference, an average adult should eat about 60g of protein per day, which is 100-200g of meat, egg or cheese (much less than what we usually consume). 

Desserts don’t contain enough protein, but if you are used to buying one or more meals per day, choose those options that give you about 20-25g of protein per serving.

See you next week!

Reading labels easily... CARBOHYDRATES

The mistakenly called “enemies of your diet” and the reason for your cravings ... "carbohydrates".

This nutrient has been widely criticized in recent decades, however if you stop eating them, your body uses muscle tissue to get energy, so will you lose weight by losing tone and strength. Besides, carbohydrates are the most important fuel for brain function.

As you can see, nutrition fact labels divide the total amount of carbohydrates in two: sugars and fiber. 


Sugars refer to the amount of digestible carbohydrates that convert to glucose in your body. 


Fiber refers to the portion of carbohydrates which is not digestible but that helps the proper function of your bowel.

As I have written before, avoid food that contains fructose or HFCS as they have been increasingly associated with the epidemic of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

It is generally recommended that less than 10% of your diet is sugar, therefore a practical measure is to choose food that contains less than 50g per portion of sugar.

See you next week...

Learning to read Food Labels FAST!...Energy

For those who did not read last week’s blog, we will learn a simple and quick way to read nutrition labels so we can choose the best food for our family.

This week we'll talk about Energy:

As you may have noticed, the amount of energy is listed at the beginning of the nutrition facts label and most of them specify the amount of calories per serving (which in most cases is less than half the package).

An average adult needs to eat 1500-2000kcal per day, so that each meal it is advisable to have 500-700Kcal (considering breakfast, lunch and dinner).

According to the above, you need to choose meals with less than 500Kcal per serving, if you're buying a dessert, avoid options that have more than 200Kcal per serving.

Try applying this on the foodstuff you usually buy and tell me how it went.

See you next week with "Carbohydrates"

Discover the LIAR!! Read food labels in 10 seconds.

Have you wondered lately if the "low calorie" or "slimming" food choices are truthful?

Many times we feel lost when trying to read the nutritional fact labels. In the supermarket we wonder how much is too many or too few calories?, Is 10 grams too many carbohydrates?, Should I choose no sugar or fat free? Are light foods actually healthier? ...

According to the law, every industrial product we buy, must contain a label describing the contents of ingredients, calories and nutrients.

I'll give you 8 tips to choose your food and make it more practical.  In order to make it easy, I have chosen OREO cookies.

First, check that the bag or box has a label that says "Nutrition Facts or Supplement Facts" on the back of the pack.

Find the part where it says "Serving Size". 

For our example, one portion means 4 cookies.  That means the calories and nutrients reported correspond to 4 cookies only, not the whole package.

Normally you will find 6 elements: Energy (Kcal), Fat (g) Cholesterol (g) Sodium (g), Carbohydrate (g) and Protein (g). 

The chart shows the total amount (grams) of each nutrient and compares it to an average 2000kcal diet (for an average adult).

If the food you bought is a dessert, each portion over 150 Kcal is equivalent to a homemade dessert, 3 apples, 2 slices of bread or tortilla.

• In Oreo cookies, 4 pieces provide 170 calories, WOW!

Choose foods with low cholesterol (less than 20 mg per serving).  In the average diet, cholesterol comes naturally from animal products, you shouldn’t add more to your diet.

• According to our label, eating Oreo cookies will not increase our cholesterol intake.

Avoid foods containing more than 140mg of sodium per serving.

• These cookies (and most industrialized products) are high in sodium (150mg).  If you have high blood pressure or water retention problems, these are not recommended.

With carbohydrates, try to choose foods that have at least some fiber (the recommended daily intake is 25-30g) they will make you feel satiated faster than the ones with sugar only. 

Avoid those that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  It has been described as one of the main causes of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in the world.

• Oreos have less fiber and provide 1g of fiber and 15g of sugar per portion, which is equal to 11/2 tablespoon of sugar. I think you should search for another dessert...

Often the amount of protein in this type of food is very low and of poor quality, they will not benefit or harm your health.

• Eating 4 Oreos only gives you 2g of protein.

Apparently our cookies failed the exam...

I hope these tips will be useful in your next visit to the grocery store. In the next few weeks you will learn how to find the true “Low calories” or “Light” products” and I'll explain in more detail so that you become an expert in choosing your food.