Low-fat diet not working?

Why isn't my low-fat diet working?

• By Kerry Torrens - Nutritional therapist Kerry Torrens explains why some low-fat diets are high in sugar, and how the white stuff may be scuppering your weight-loss goals...

  

  Although we think of sugar as the stuff in our sugar bowl, that's not the full picture. Many foods, such as white bread, pasta and rice, are made up of sugars, and that's what we break them down to when we digest them.

  These foods, like sugar, can cause blood sugar swings and cravings, and if you eat too many your body converts the excess into fat for storage. Some low-fat diets are high in these types of foods, so take another look at your diet and focus on making these simple changes:
   

  Swap...

  ...white bread, rice and pasta with wholegrain versions, like oats, granary or wholemeal breads, brown rice and wholewheat pasta.

  Avoid...

  ...low-fat diet foods, which tend to be high in sugars, and have smaller portions of the regular versions.

  Be wary...

  ...of 'sugar-free' foods, which contain synthetic sweeteners such as sucralose, saccharin and aspartame. As they're sweet, they don't help to curb your sweet tooth and send confusing messages to your brain, which can lead to overeating.

  
  Balance...

  ...your carb intake with lean protein such as fish, chicken and turkey, as protein slows down your digestion, which helps to manage cravings.

  Stick to...

  ...one glass of fruit juice a day (or dilute it) and keep sweet soft drinks and alcohol for weekends. Instead, enjoy herbal teas or water with slices of lime or orange.

   

  For a pick-me-up...

  ...have a piece of whole fruit with a handful of nuts or a small tub of plain yogurt, both of which contain protein that slows digestion.

  Or, if you really need a sweet fix, try a natural sugar substitute like stevia. It's sweeter than normal sugar but doesn't cause the same kind of rise in blood sugar levels.

Obesity epidemic caused by sugar or fat in our diets?

The truth about sugar

• By Kerry Torrens - Nutritional therapist
• • Some experts believe it's the sugar rather than the fat in our diets that's contributing to our obesity epidemic. Nutritional therapist Kerry Torrens explains how to spot the 'hidden' sugar you may not know you're eating.
    
    
    

    What's my daily allowance?

    There are two types of sugar - naturally occurring sugar like lactose in milk and added sugar, which includes table sugar (sucrose) as well as concentrated sources like fruit juice.

    The new recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UK's offical nutrition advisors are that only 5% of your daily calorie intake should consist of added, or 'free' sugars. This equates to approximately five-six teaspoons (25g) for women and seven-eight teaspoons (35g) for men.
    

    The devil's in the detail

    The instant 'lift' we get from sugar is one of the reasons we turn to it at times of celebration or when we crave comfort and reward. However, even those of us without a sweet tooth may be eating more than we realise because so many everyday, processed foods, from cereals and bread to pasta sauce and soups contain sugar.

    But it's not all bad news - sugar is a carbohydrate found naturally in a host of different foods from lactose in milk to the fructose in fruit and honey. In fact, we need some sugar in our diets to supply ready energy to fuel our muscles and keep our brains active. The problem is that many processed foods have added sugar which supplies energy in the form of calories - and very little else. This means our body has to draw on the nutrients from the rest of our diet to process it and this can affect our health, including our immunity - leaving us more prone to bugs and colds. A high intake of sugar causes our blood sugar levels to shoot up, giving us that feel-good 'high' followed by a crashing slump which leaves us tired, irritable and craving more sugary foods. It's a vicious cycle that may be contributing to our weight problems as well as health concerns like diabetes and heart disease.
    

    Spot the hidden sugar

    • Low-fat and 'diet' foods often contain extra sugar to help improve their taste and palatability and to add bulk and texture in the place of fat.
       
    • Even savoury foods, like ready-made soups and sauces may contain added sugar.
       
    • A can of soft drink, on average, contains the equivalent of seven teaspoons of sugar.
       
    • The natural sugar in some fruit, including apples, has increased as new varieties (including Pink Lady, Fuji and Jazz) are bred to satisfy our desire for greater sweetness.

    
    

    Look on the label

    Discover how much sugar is in your food by doing these simple checks:

    • Look at the 'carbs as sugars' on the nutrition panel - this includes both natural and added sugars; less than 5g per 100g is low, more than 15g per 100g is high.
       
    • Check the ingredients list for anything ending in 'ose' (glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose, maltose) - these are all forms of sugar, as are honey, agave, molasses and syrups like corn and rice syrup. The higher up the ingredients list, the more sugar the product contains.
       
    • Know your substitutes - for example xylitol, sorbitol and mannitol. These occur naturally in small amounts in plants and fruits and are often used in low-calorie products to provide sweetness but with fewer calories. Xylitol can be used in home-baking as a replacement for regular sugar (ratio 1:1) although it won't brown as much and it can't be used where yeast is the raising agent.
      
       

    Ways to cut down on your sugar

    Making a few adjustments to your diet can help you cut down on unnecessary sugar consumption:

    • Reduce the sugar you add to hot drinks. Do this gradually to give your taste buds time to adjust. Try adding a sprinkle of cinnamon to cappuccino or hot chocolate, cinnamon helps stabilise blood sugar levels and adds flavour without the sweetness.
       
    • Avoid low-fat 'diet' foods which tend to be high in sugars. Instead have smaller portions of the regular versions.
       
    • Be wary of 'sugar-free' foods. These often contain synthetic sweeteners like sucralose, saccharin and aspartame. Although these taste sweet, they don't help curb a sweet tooth so they tend to send confusing messages to the brain, which can lead to over-eating.
       
    • Balance your carb intake with lean protein like fish, chicken and turkey - protein foods slow stomach emptying, which helps manage cravings.
       
    • Swap white bread, rice and pasta for wholegrain versions like oats, granary and wholemeal breads, brown rice and pasta.
       
    • Reduce the sugar in recipes and add spices to boost flavour and taste.
       
    • Stick to one glass of fruit juice a day (or dilute it) and keep sweet soft drinks and alcohol for the weekends. Enjoy herbal teas or water with slices of citrus fruits.
       
    • For a pick me up, have a piece of whole fruit with a handful of nuts or a small tub of plain yogurt. Both contain protein which helps balance blood sugar and energy levels.

    
    

Does Sugar Make You Old?

Will sugar make you old?

• By Roxanne Fisher - Health editor

UK's leading nutritionist, Dr Marilyn Glenville answers all the questions you really want answered when it comes to sugar...

Sugar isn't just causing us to overeat, it's also doing untold damage to our immune systems and skin says Dr Marilyn Glenville. She explains how we can turn back the clock, stay healthy and cut back on sugar...
 

Does sugar age you?
Yes, it is aging. It reacts with protein, creating advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). These substances cause skin to be wrinkled and cell structures to harden. If you think of the way arteries harden to cause coronary heart disease a similar process takes place in the cells of the skin. 
 

Are some sugars worse for you than others?
When sugar is contained naturally within food you’re also usually taking in a lot of fibre, which slows the digestion of the sugar and causes less of an impact on blood sugar. Refined sugars are where the problems are.
 

Is it ever too late to save your skin?
I would always say it’s never too late for lifestyle changes. While sugar speeds up aging, adopting healthier habits will in turn start to slow this process – whatever your age. Our bodies are really adaptable in that way.
 

Are there any foods that help to counteract the effects of excess sugar?
Yes, the thinking now is that we should eat a rainbow. It’s the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables that protect us from free radical damage, which causes us to age faster and can increases the risk of things like heart disease and cancer.

Our bodies are oxidising all the time – it’s like we’re rusting! In different colours of fruit and vegetables you'll find different antioxidants. For example, beta-carotene in carrots, lycopene in tomatoes - the more variety we have across both fruit and veg the more protection we provide our bodies.
 

How does sugar impact the immune system?
We have to think of sugar as being empty calories with no nutritional value. As well as the increased risk of things like type 2 diabetes, eating too much refined sugar creates more inflammation in the body, which can increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Another big concern is that when blood sugar levels drop, stress hormones are released and so it’s common to feel a lot more anxious and tense as a result. That in turn can affect the immune system, thyroid function, energy levels and digestion. The increased release of these hormones from eating too much sugar can also cause the body to hold on to fat, particularly around the stomach area.
 

What is your opinion of substitutes such as stevia, xylitol etc?
Fructose (found in many natural sweeteners) tends to have a greater impact on the liver and, instead of causing an insulin spike, sits in the liver and may lead to other health issues such as high cholesterol.

Artificial sweeteners are often used to cut calories and won’t cause an insulin spike. However, research has shown that they can actually increase appetite and therefore lead to weight gain. This is because when the body receives a sweet hit we are expecting calories, so when they aren’t delivered we seek out more food to satisfy our energy needs.

With natural sweeteners like xylitol, stevia etc, you have to be careful as they can be heavily processed with added ingredients. For example, stevia may contain added fructose (fruit sugar) so it’s very important to read the labels.

Are there any buzz words people should look for on the labels?
Yes, look out for any kind of extra sugars, so for example fructose or maltodextrin are common additives. If you’re buying something like stevia that’s all you want to see in the ingredients list.

I’m more inclined to use syrups, brown rice syrup or maple syrup for example, which are just the natural food itself. I think, if eaten in moderation, they’re generally better than a lot of the substitutes.

Sugar -- the different types-- and are they good for you?

Sugar explained

• By Jo Lewin - Associate nutritionist

You've probably heard the terms fructose, glucose, lactose and sucrose before. You may even know that they're all types of sugar. But do you know how they differ from one another, or whether some are better for you than others?

A lesson in carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are classified into two basic groups, complex and simple.

Complex carbohydrates are composed of multiple simple sugars, joined together by chemical bonds. The more chains and branches of simple sugars, the more complex a carbohydrate is and in turn, the longer it takes to be broken down by the body and the less impact it has on blood sugar levels. 

Simple carbohydrates are either monosaccharides (one sugar molecule) or disaccharides (two sugar molecules). The two main monosaccharides are glucose and fructose. The two major disaccharides are sucrose (composed of glucose and fructose) and lactose (which is made up of galactose and glucose).

Glucose

About glucose
Glucose is the primary source of energy your body uses and every cell relies on it to function. When we talk about blood sugar we are referring to glucose in the blood. When we eat carbohydrates, our body breaks them down into units of glucose. When blood glucose levels rise, cells in the pancreas release insulin, signalling cells to take up glucose from the blood. As the cells absorb sugar from the blood, levels start to drop.

The nutritional profile
The glycemic index is a ranking of how quickly foods make your blood sugar levels rise after eating them. High GI foods are very easily broken down into glucose. Glucose is the defining standard and has a GI value of 100.  Glucose alone does not taste particularly sweet compared to fructose and sucrose. 

Health claims
Research suggests that, as glucose stimulates insulin release from the pancreas, it also results in the release of two other hormones, leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is known as the appetite suppressor and ghrelin the appetite increaser. It is thought that lower GI foods (such as wholegrains, proteins and those lower in glucose) suppress ghrelin, therefore regulating satiety.

Fructose

About fructose
Fructose or fruit sugar, is a simple sugar naturally occurring in fruit, honey, sucrose and high fructose corn syrup. Fructose is very sweet, roughly one and a half times sweeter than sucrose (white sugar).  Because of the worldwide increase in the consumption of sweeteners, soft drinks and foods containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), fructose intake has quadrupled since the early 1900s. 

The nutritional profile
Fructose is absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion and has no impact on insulin production or blood glucose levels. Consequently, its GI value is much lower, on average around 19. It was once thought this made it a good substitute for table sugar, but there is now a growing body of research to question this. 

Sweeteners such as HFCS have a higher GI value due to the presence of glucose. It has been suggested that it is the glucose content of these sweeteners that may have contributed to the increase in cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. 

Health claims
Fructose is handled by the body in a different way to glucose as it is metabolised in the liver. As a result, blood sugar (glucose) levels do not rise as rapidly after fructose consumption compared to other simple sugars. When you eat too much fructose the liver cannot process it fast enough and instead, starts to make fats, which are carried in the blood and stored as triglycerides - the bodies main form of fat. Studies have shown that the consumption of large amounts of fructose may lead to increased appetite by impairing the bodies ability to use insulin and to suppress circulating ghrelin (the appetite-stimulating hormone).

While most diabetics cannot tolerate sucrose, most can tolerate moderate amounts of fruit and fructose without loss of blood sugar control. Research is yet to show any detrimental health effects of moderate consumption of fructose as part of a balanced diet. However, it's worth keeping in mind that the excessive consumption of HFCS and other sweeteners may contribute to elevated blood sugar levels, blood fats and subsequent weight gain.

Sucrose

About sucrose
Sucrose is crystallised white sugar produced by the sugarcane plant and can be found in households and foods worldwide. Sucrose is a disaccharide made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose and is broken down rapidly into its constituent parts.

The nutritional profile
Due to its glucose content, sucrose has a GI value of 65. As it is made up of glucose and fructose, the latter is metabolised in the liver and holds the same issues as those mentioned for fructose above. Due to its glucose content, sucrose does lead to an elevation in blood glucose. Diabetics should therefore be mindful of foods containing sucrose. 

Lactose

About lactose
Lactose is a sugar found in milk. It is a disaccharide made up of glucose and galactose units. It is broken down into the two parts by an enzyme called lactase. Once broken down, the simple sugars can be absorbed into the bloodstream. 

The nutritional profile
Whole milk has a GI value of 41 and is considered to be a low GI food. It is broken down slowly and helps to increase the absorption of minerals such as calcium, magnesium and zinc. Some people experience lactose intolerance – an inability to produce the lactase enzyme that breaks down milk. Lactose intolerance can lead to diarrheoa, bloating and other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Sugar - the bottom line

There are two types of sugar - naturally occurring sugar like lactose in milk and added sugar, which includes table sugar (sucrose) as well as concentrated sources like fruit juice.

The new recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) are that only 5% of your daily calorie intake should consist of added, or 'free' sugars. This equates to approximately five-six teaspoons (25g) for women and seven-eight teaspoons (35g) for men.  One can of fizzy drink contains around 9 teaspoons - so it is easy to reach the recommended daily amount, especially when you consider the sugar added to food that you don't see. 

Virtually all the fibre, phytochemical, vitamin and mineral content have been removed from white sugar (sucrose). Eating too many carbohydrates, particularly simple sugars, can be harmful to blood control, especially if you are insulin resistant, experience reactive hypoglycaemia or are diabetic. Carbohydrate excess, especially consuming too many refined carbohydrates, has also been associated with an increased risk of obesity, heart disease and some forms of cancer. 

How much sugar should you consume?

How much sugar should I eat?

• By Roxanne Fisher - Health editor

What's the difference between added sugar and the sugar we find in fruits and vegetables? How much can we eat a day and what are the symptoms if we overdo it? If you've found the latest advice around sugar consumption confusing, you're not alone...

Recommendations advocating added sugar should make up no more than 5% of our daily calorie intake are causing a stir - we asked nutritionist Marilyn Glenville to shed some light on the sugar debate...

Q: How many pieces of fruit is it advisable to have a day?

A: Vegetables have more nutritional value as they don’t affect blood sugar levels as much as fruit. However, for someone trying to cut back on refined sugars, fruit is great for weaning yourself off sugary snacks.

Fruit juice is different, all the fibre has been thrown away. 2-3 pieces of fruit a day is fine, though try to have some nuts and seeds alongside your fruit. The protein slows down the absorption of sugar into the blood stream and provides longer lasting energy.

In terms of blood sugar, certain fruits like apples and berries are much better than the tropical ones, like mangos and pineapple. The fruit sugar content is naturally higher. Dried fruit is also one to watch as the sugar content is more concentrated because of the absence of water.

Q: Is there an ideal number vegetables you’d recommend we eat each day?

A: In certain countries the amount is actually split out into five veg and two fruit – that would be the ideal ratio – though the more vegetables the better!

Q: How much sugar a day is a safe amount and are all sugars equal?

A: The new World Health Organisation guidelines are actually concerned about added sugar – now recommending just 5-6 teaspoons a day. A single teaspoon of sugar is basically 4g, so you can see how easy it is to reach that amount.

Food packaging doesn’t make it easy to determine how much refined sugar is in something, so it’s tricky for the consumer to calculate how much they’re eating. Make sure you check the ingredient list and look out for sugar in all its different ‘ose’ guises. An investigation a few years back actually found some cereals contained as much sugar as a doughnut, so it really is worth paying attention to the different brands we buy.

Q: Are there any short-term signs that you’ve been eating too much sugar?

A: If you’ve been eating too much saturated fat you might find small yellow lumps under the eye or back of the arms. If you see this you should get your cholesterol checked by your GP as you may not be metabolising fat properly.

If you’ve been eating too much sugar there are a few things to look out for. Low blood sugar is when you’ll experience withdrawal-like symptoms and you may experience dizziness, irritability, light-headedness, tension and anxiety. This is how the sugar cycle is perpetuated, as you’ll then crave something sweet to help you feel better.

The way to avoid this is to eat little and often. Avoid sugary quick fixes and opt for low-GI foods. Try to keep blood sugar steady all day by topping it up every three hours or so. 

Q: What would be your top three tips for sugar and diet?

A: My three top tips would be...

1) Read the ingredient part of labels and look for anything in any form of sugar.

2) Make sure you eat good quality food little and often – breakfast, lunch and dinner with a mid-morning and afternoon snack.

3) Where possible, eat starchy carbohydrates with a protein because it will lower the GI of that food, plus sustain energy and stop cravings.