Do you know your sugars?

Last week I delivered a Nutrition and Wellbeing Workshop which included an interactive exercise on sugars. Within groups the attendees got into healthy debates about how much sugar was in various foods that I had given them. Very quickly it became apparent that quite a few knew which foods are high in sugar, but it was interesting to see what they thought ‘high in sugar’ translated into in terms of actual sugar. What was also revealing was their lack of knowledge about the ‘different’ types of sugars within food and the role these play within the body.

Sugar is a carbohydrate. The body needs carbohydrates for its main source of energy. Carbs also help fuel your brain (approximately 130g of glucose are needed per day to cover the energy needs of the brain) and have an important role in the structure and function of cells, tissues and organs. Carbohydrates come in simple forms such as sugars and in complex forms such as starches and fiber. The body breaks down most sugars and starches into glucose, a simple sugar that the body can use to feed its cells.

For a healthy balanced diet its important to choose food which include sugars in their more complex form (starchy carbs). These take longer to digest, making you feel fuller for longer and are better for controlling blood sugar levels and avoiding sugar spikes.

In my workshop exercise I used foods whose composition included predominantly simple sugars.