Attention: hidden sugar and salt! Many products contain sugar and salt without you noticing, which means you might consume more of it than the recommended amounts. With these tips, you can prevent that.
DO WE NEED SUGAR AND SALT
Sugar, like starch and fibre, is a carbohydrate. We receive from 40% to 70% of our energy from carbs. But what we do not need at all are added sugars such as those in soft drinks or coffee. Our body does not need salt but does need sodium, a mineral that is found in salt. But careful, as too much sodium causes high blood pressure.
HOW TO CUT DOWN?
Cutting down is merely a matter of getting used to less sugar and salt. If you start eating less salty foods for a while and skip the sugar in your coffee, you will be surprised how quickly your taste buds get used to it. You can, therefore, train your taste buds, which will take a few weeks until they have adjusted.
SUGAR EVERYWHERE
It is not always easy to read the label to see how much added sugar a particular product contains. That is because there are dozens of different names for different types of sugar. You can unmask most of them by looking for words that end with -ose, -syrup, -honey, or -nectar. These are the most common sugars: corn syrup, fructose, galactose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, agave nectar.
SUGAR SECRETS
Many drinks contain a lot more sugar than you might think at first glance.
FRESH OFF THE PRESS
It is said a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice is healthy, but unfortunately, it is not quite the case. Yes, it indeed contains a lot of vitamin C, but on the other hand, one glass (250 ml) contains about 30 grams of sugar (about seven sugar cubes). Furthermore, orange juice, as well as other fruit juices, contains acids that can affect the teeth. It is better to eat an entire orange, as it also includes fibres that are lost during squeezing.
ALL ABOUT SALT
6 GRAMS
That is the maximum amount of salt recommended per day. Unfortunately, 85% of people are far above that.
SALT = SALT
Himalayan salt, sea salt or Celtic salt. No matter how special and healthy it sounds, salt is salt. Different types of salt may contain besides sodium, minerals such as magnesium and calcium, but the amount is so small that it does not make any difference to our health.
FINE SALT
The finer the salt, the better you taste it, and the less you have to use it to bring something to taste.
SALT SECRETS
You will be surprised how much salt there is in your daily groceries.
- 80% of the salt we eat comes from foods that contain salt naturally or where manufacturers add it.
- We add 20% of the salt we eat during cooking or at the table to flavor the dish.
SODIUM VS. SALT
Since December 2016, manufacturers are required to state on each label how much salt the product contains. Previously, not salt, but often the amount of sodium was mentioned. This is the mineral in salt that affects our blood pressure. To know how many grams of salt there was in a product, you had to multiply the sodium content by 212. The new legislation makes it easier to calculate whether you stick to the daily recommended amount of salt or not.
