Sugar- Free Diet
Intolerance or sensitivity to refined sugar is common, affecting perhaps 30% of the population, though a true allergy to sugar is more rare. Refined sugar has no nutritional value other than calories and is not a necessary part of one’s diet.
There are various ways in which sugar can be harmful to health, including:
-
Disturbance of blood sugar levels
- A rapid rise, which the pancreas reacts to by secreting more insulin, followed by a ‘reactive hypoglycaemia’ (low blood sugar)
-
Depletion of vitamins and minerals
- The metabolism of sugar uses up various vitamins and minerals
- Sugar increases loss of minerals (e.g. magnesium, calcium) in the urine
- Sugar therefore acts as an ‘anti-nutrient’ - Impairment of normal immune function
- Increase in blood fat (triglyceride) levels
- Increase in uric acid levels
- Consumption of excessive calories
- Encouraging the growth of yeasts, such as Candida albicans
Many health problems are linked to excessive consumption of refined sugar, including:
- Diabetes
- Atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, heart attack stroke
- Hyperactivity, anxiety, depression
- Gout
- Gallstones
- ‘Candida’, thrush
- Hypoglycaemia
- Fatigue
- Obesity
- Some cancers
- Premature Ageing
- Recurrent infections
FOODS TO AVOID
No list can be comprehensive and it is important to read the ingredients list on labels of packaged foods. Approximately 75% of the sugar we eat is hidden, added to processed and packaged foods.
Any foods containing the following should be avoided:
- White sugar, brown sugar, Demerara sugar, muscovado sugar, ‘raw sugar’, etc.
- Sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose (refined fruit sugar), maltose, etc
- Caramel, golden syrup, treacle, molasses, maple syrup, corn syrup, rice syrup, honey, wheat syrup.
Sugar may occur in the following foods:
- Bakery products - cakes, buns, biscuits, cookies, pies, pastries, some breads, etc.
-
Drinks - Ovaltine, drinking chocolate, malted milk, milk shakes, alcoholic drinks, soft drinks,
(a can of cola typically contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar!), mixers,
fruit drinks, fruit squashes, cordials, etc. - Breakfast cereals - Cornflakes, Rice Crispies, Weetabix, muesli, etc.
- Processed and convenience foods
- Dairy products - condensed milk, evaporated milk, ice cream, fruit yoghurt, etc.
- Deserts and puddings
- Frozen foods
- Jams and marmalades
-
Sauces - tomato sauce, ketchup, brown sauce, Worcester sauce, sweet and sour sauce,
many soya and other oriental sauces, mayonnaise, etc. - Sweets - sweets, candies, lollies, chocolate, chewing gum, bubble gum, liquorice, etc.
- Tinned foods - tinned vegetables, fruits, soups, deserts, baked beans, etc
ALTERNATIVES
- A sugar-free diet is very simple providing you cook all your food from whole, unprocessed ingredients. This is both nutritious and immensely satisfying
- Complex carbohydrates (when broken down) and unrefined sugars in fruit, vegetables, grain, etc, provide all the sugar one’s body needs to maintain blood sugar levels.
- After you have cut out refined sugars you will find that your taste buds will grow more sensitive and items previously consumed will seem over-sweet. Enjoy the natural sweetness of fruit, vegetables and other whole foods!
- Apple juice, fruit juice, fruit concentrate, dates and raisins can be used (in moderation) as sweeteners (though these should be avoided if you are on an anti-candida diet).
- Sugar-free breakfast cereals include unsweetened muesli, sugar-free cornflakes, puffed wheat, puffed rice (health foods stores), puffed multi-grain cereals, shredded wheat, and porridge oats.
- Sugar-free tomato ketchup (Life & Health), baked beans, (Whole Earth) soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, etc. are readily available in health food stores.
- Fruit jams and sweets made with no added sugar are available in supermarkets and health food stores: St Dalfour, Meridian, and Whole Earth. (Although jams should be avoided if you are following an anti-candida diet)
- Drink filtered or mineral water instead of sugary soft drinks.
- Appletizer and Grapetizer don’t contain sugar or artificial sweeteners.
- Make your own wholesome soft drinks with sparkling mineral water, and a little unsweetened fruit juice, a squeeze or lime, or cool lemon grass tea with a touch of apple juice
- We do not recommend the consumption of artificial sweeteners. Aspartame (‘Nutrasweet’) can imbalance levels of amino acids and neurotransmitters in the brain, and is neurotoxic (i.e. poisonous to nerve cells); it has been linked with mood and sleep disturbances, hyperactivity, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer ’s disease. Saccharine has been linked with bladder cancer.
Artificial sweeteners also give the body a false message that the blood sugar levels are raised, therefore, the pancreas releases insulin to reduce the sugar levels. As artificial sweeteners do not increase blood sugar levels, the insulin reduces normal sugar store levels and this can lead to hypoglycaemic attacks.
Please note that any diets and dietary advice in the Patient Guidance section of our website are only intended for the patients attending our own clinics in Southampton and London. These diets are based on a recommendation made by one of the Centre doctors after an appropriate consultation. Our advice relating to use of a particular restricted diet is really only appropriate for individual patients who have consulted us and have been individually assessed by one of the doctors from the Centre and advised that they should follow a particular dietary regime. We do not recommend that people use restricted diets without proper medical supervision. We also recommend to our patients that they should not use a restricted diet for more than 6 weeks in the first instance without further consultation with us, as it may result in nutritional deficiencies. Sometimes food exclusion diets may be clinically effective in the long term, but their management will require a balanced nutritional approach.
We hope that visitors to our website who are not our patients will find much to interest them in this website; we aim to present useful, practical, considered and authoritative information on Complementary and Integrated Medicine. We strongly advise that you should not follow a restricted diet without proper medical supervision by a qualified practitioner.
