less sugar, more well-being!

Consuming less sugar on a daily basis greatly improves well-being. But while sugar is everywhere, how can you rethink your diet and move towards a healthier lifestyle? Discover the advice of Magali Le Mardeley, dietician.

Sugar, friend or foe?

A balanced diet is made up of several food groups: proteins, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, grains and starches, etc. But if these foods are essential, this is not the case at all for sugar! “Sweet products are not essential for the body. These are fun products, but we can do without”, Explains Magali Le Mardeley. However, as the dietician observes, the offer around sweet products is immense. Sugar is found in pastries, cookies, pastries, sugary drinks, chocolate bars, jams, but also in processed products. It is also hidden in sauces, industrial sandwich bread, ready meals. We are obviously talking here about added sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, etc.) and not carbohydrates naturally present in fruit or milk for example.
Sugar is associated with comfort (the famous square of chocolate in case of depression or the pot of ice cream after a breakup are not a legend!), But its consumption is also very anchored in our culture. From the galette des rois to the Yule log and the birthday cake, it’s hard to do without the little sweet touch that is so good! And yet… “According to WHO recommendations, an individual should not consume more than 25g of sugar per day, not including the sugar present in milk.”, Recalls the dietician. The latter insists on the need to question its relationship to sugar and its daily consumption. Consuming too much sugar is indeed not without consequences and many scientific studies have shown it in recent years. “Excessive consumption of sugar can lead to an imbalance in blood sugar levels, weight gain, but also contribute to the development of diabetes”, Specifies Magali Le Mardeley. And we’re not even talking about the inevitable cavities! Because of its addictive nature, sugar acts on the brain like nicotine can. It therefore creates a very real dependence and this, the food industry has understood.

How to reduce sugar on a daily basis to feel better?

We only realize this when we reduce the quantities, but excessive sugar consumption has a real impact on daily well-being. Consuming less sugar means avoiding spikes in glucose and insulin which have a deleterious effect on the body and on health. We say goodbye to pump strokes, the appearance of the skin is improved, the teeth are healthier, the immune system is strengthened. Because reducing sugar intake is also putting a stop to many processed foods which are also often too fatty and too salty.
The dietician recommends to favor home-made as much as possible, in order to control the intake of sugar. “You can easily reduce the quantities by 25 to 50% when you cook yourself.”, She observes. The ideal is to choose the rawest food possible, to which you add sugar as you wish, and while remaining reasonable of course. What about sugar substitutes in all of this? White sugar has been demonized a lot in favor of cane sugar, for example. In reality, sugar is still sugar. “There is a difference in taste, cane sugar contains slightly more fiber, but this is not significant and above all it does not lower the glycemic index.”, Recalls the dietician. The latter specifies that it is preferable to favor agave syrup, stevia, xylitol or coconut blossom sugar, which have a greater sweetening power, but a lower glycemic index. As for sweeteners, Magali Le Mardeley calls for vigilance. “Sweeteners don’t have the calories of sugar, but they taste like sugar and are therefore addictiveDiet sodas or diet yogurts contain high amounts of sweetener and are absolutely not recommended as part of a balanced diet, or if you are aiming to lose weight. .

What dessert after a meal?

Fancy a yogurt for dessert? So we choose a natural yogurt (5 g of milk sugar) to which we add pieces of fruit or a little stevia for example. “For comparison, we find the equivalent of 3 to 4 sugar cubes in a fruit yogurt, and up to 7 in a chocolate dessert cream.”, Observes Magali Le Mardeley. Very enlightening to realize that we eat too sweet, and that without any benefit for our health! There is also a lot to do in the cake department. Rather than rushing for a packet of store-bought cookies stuffed with sugar, there’s nothing like baking your own cakes, making sure to observe certain changes. Instead of white flour, we prefer a whole or semi-complete flour, but also flours with a lower glycemic index such as buckwheat, spelled, chestnut and even chickpea flour. Sugar can easily be replaced by the substitutes we have mentioned, but also by mashed bananas or applesauce without added sugar. Nothing like developing your own recipe, to adapt according to your desires, to rethink your diet. Eating a less sweet diet is not difficult, and the benefits are real.

To read also on aufeminin:
Recipes: 7 desserts without any added sugar (no sweetener)
Carbohydrates and glycemic index, our advice for choosing the right carbohydrates
Low carb diet: how to eat less sugar?
How to calculate calories without making a mistake?

What breakfast without sugar to fill up with energy?

Fruit juice, spread, jam, cereals, pastries. Not to mention the snack, breakfast is probably the meal of the day with the most sugars. The body is on an empty stomach and then overreacts to this excessive sugar intake. Result? At 10 o’clock, the helm is guaranteed. These foods are often poorly nourishing and nutritionally poor. Add to this that eating too much sugar for breakfast encourages the body to crave sugar throughout the day. So to feel more fit and regain energy, we forget everything and completely rewrite the breakfast shopping list to incorporate healthier foods. The dietitian recommends eating a grain product + a dairy product + a serving of fruit. Say goodbye to fruit yogurt, which is replaced by real fruit or “pure juice”. Instead of the croissant, you can eat wholemeal bread, rusks or sandwich bread without added sugar (look at the labels!). Cereals give way to oatmeal or wheat flakes for a good nourishing porridge to which we can add sesame seeds, squash, flax and fresh fruit.

Low-carb and ketogenic diet: what about sugar-free diets?

In recent years, sugar-free diets have been on the rise. They are often presented as an effective alternative to restrictive diets to lose weight quickly. The diet without sugar, low carb or low in carbohydrates (starches, sugary foods, fruits, etc.) consists of significantly reducing the amount of carbohydrates and emphasizing fat and protein. This diet is intended to lose weight and, according to some studies, it would allow better control of blood sugar in people suffering from type 1 diabetes. The ketogenic diet, or Keto diet, meanwhile offers to reduce the level. of carbohydrate at such a low level that the body then goes into a state of “ketosis”, which means that the ketones produced by the liver will provide energy instead of carbohydrates. However, these diets remain controversial and should not be started without the supervision of a professional qualified in dietetics.

The list of foods to avoid on a sugar-free diet

It is important not to deprive yourself excessively overnight, at the risk of becoming frustrated. Sweet foods are comforting and pleasurable, so they can be eaten sensibly. The dietician recalls that the sweet touch has less impact at the end of the meal. When mixed with the food bolus, the sugar will diffuse more slowly and will have less effect on the blood sugar level. If you want to embark on a sugar-free diet with the goal of losing weight, or if you just want to reduce your intake, here are the foods loaded with sugars and calories to avoid: fruit juices, juice concentrates of fruits and fruit nectars, smoothies, chocolate bars, dry cookies, ketchup, barbecue sauce, ready meals, fruit yogurts, cream desserts, candies and sweets, spread, sweet cereals, energy drinks, sodas.

Thanks to Magali Le Mardeley, dietician, her site www.magalilemardeley-dieteticienne.com

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