Sugar and restocking

Rowden January 2015

After you give up sugar, there are whole aisles in the supermarket which you need no longer bother with and others you need to focus on.

Whole Fruits - Although containing fructose (and in some cases large amounts) the fruit section is safe for two reasons. Most fruits contain a fairly large amount of fibre. If you give people a high-fibre diet good things happen around their blood sugar and insulin control. What is clearly evident is that fibre intake reduces the damage done by the fructose. Secondly fruit contains a lot of water which gives it bulk. That bulk significantly affects how much fructose you can take in from the fruit. The downside of eating too much fruit is that you eliminate some of the other more starchy sources of carbohydrate and reduce the overall beneficial effect of the fibre. Basically no more than two pieces of fruit per adult and one per child per day are recommended.

Vegetables - There is no such thing as a bad vegetable. The small level of fructose in vegetables is insignificant and vastly overwhelmed by the fibre content. The same warning applies to vegetable juices as fruit juices. Juicing the vegetable extracts all the sugar and concentrates it.

Nuts - Like vegetables there's no such thing as a bad nut and nuts have huge amounts of fibre.

Meat - The meat section is fructose-free. The only word of caution can be with some of the fancy pre-packaged marinated meats which can be high in sugar.

Eggs - Buy eggs at will, once your appetite control system is in working order any fats they contain will be properly regulated by your body.

Yoghurts - Only natural or the tartest of yoghurts.

Milk and cream - Unflavoured milk and cream labels will tell you they contain 4.7% sugar. This sugar is all lactose and can be safely ignored. Whole milk and unflavoured creams are fine on your new diet. Of course ignore all reduced fat products and any flavoured items.

Butter and margarine - The products to avoid in this section are the low-fat spreads and margarine. There is nothing wrong with full-fat butter as long as your appetite control is functioning properly.

Cheeses and cured meats – There’s not much danger in this section. Meat is sugar-free and any sugar in cheese is all lactose. Just avoid flavoured versions.

Bread - All breads contain sugar, white bread the most. Brown and whole-meal are low sugar and have twice the fibre. If you want white with no sugar then sourdough is the way to go. There is no good reason to eat any type of fruit loaf.

Spreads - There is almost nothing worth buying in this section. Honey, jams, low-sugar conserves are all to be avoided. Marmite, meat pastes and organic peanut butter are fine. Cream cheese spread is also an option as the 3% sugar is all lactose.

Condiments - Many sauces and flavourings are dangerous territory. Barbecue sauce contains 55% sugar, more than chocolate topping (43%), ketchup varies from 18 - 27%. Tabasco and Soy sauce are just about the only sugar-free alternatives. Mustards, vinegar and olive oil are mostly okay with salads or meats etc.

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