Sugar School Lesson 1: How To Be A Sugar Sleuth

IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL SEASON.
So we are going back to school…

SUGAR SCHOOL
🍭🍭🍭

Sugar School Syllabus 
4-week series….
Lesson 1: How To Be A Sugar Sleuth
Lesson 2: How To Break Up With Sugar
Lesson 3: How To Swap Sweet Treats
Lesson 4: How To Bust Sweet Cravings

Lesson 1:
How To Be A Sugar Sleuth

In today’s class I’ll teach you how to FIND added sugar, but first a vocab lesson…

ADDED VS NATURAL
What’s the difference?
ADDED SUGAR
Is the stuff that’s added to food. It’s not naturally found in a food. Added sugar has little to NO nutritional benefit.

A diet high in added sugar (aka “empty calories”) may contribute to: weight gain, low energy, bad mood, increased anxiety and stress, decreased memory and focus, skin problems like acne and wrinkles.

Note: While some sugars like honey, pure maple syrup, agave, and coconut sugar may seem better than white sugar, they are all still considered added sugar.
Goal: Limit foods w/ added sugar.

NATURAL SUGAR
Is naturally found in foods such as whole fruit, unsweetened dried & frozen fruit, 100% fruit juice, and unsweetened plain yogurt. Yes, these foods have natural sugar, but they also have important nutrients for good health.
Goal: Enjoy foods w/ natural sugar.

ADDED SUGAR IS HIDING!
Added sugar is HIDING in 74% of packaged foods, even in foods we think are healthy! 😱

Added sugar can be found in obvious places like sugar or flavored syrup added to coffee, soft drinks, candy, and dessert foods like cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream.

But here are some SHOCKING PLACES even the most health-savvy forget about:
Plant-Based Milks, Protein Bars, Jerky, Bacon, Dried Fruit, BBQ Sauce, Sriracha, Kombucha, Wine, Sushi Rice, Bread, Tonic, Nut Butter, Flavored Oatmeal, Ketchup, Salad Dressing, Granola, Pasta Sauce, Flavored Yogurt.

HOW TO BE A SUGAR SLEUTH
Look at the food label….
1. Read ingredients first! 
If you see sugar (or synonyms of sugar*) in the ingredient list – that’s added sugar!
*Below is the CHEAT SHEET of sugar synonyms.

2. Then look at grams of added sugar.
The good news is the FDA recently updated the nutrition label so companies are required to include “added sugar” on the label, making it easier to detect.

HOMEWORK
Find products and recipes you use this week that have added sugar & keep a list of them.

Don’t worry about cutting down on sugar just yet. We’ll do that in the coming weeks. This week is just about FINDING where it’s coming from. Sugar Sleuth!

Get excited for next week’s lesson. It’s all about how to BREAK UP with sugar! 👋

✨SUGAR SYNONYM CHEAT SHEET✨

Agave nectar, Barbados sugar, Barley malt, Beet sugar, Blackstrap molasses, Brown sugar, Buttered syrup, Cane juice crystals, Cane sugar, Caramel, Carob syrup, Castor sugar, Coconut sugar, Confectioners sugar, Corn syrup, Corn syrup solids, Crystalline fructose, Date sugar, Dehydrated cane juice, Demerara sugar, Dextran, Dextrose, Diastatic malt, Diastase, Ethyl maltol, Evaporated cane juice, Florida crystals, Fructose, Fruit juice, Fruit juice concentrate, Galactose, Glucose, Glucose solids, Golden sugar, Golden syrup, Grape sugar, High fructose corn syrup, Honey, Icing sugar, Invert sugar, Lactose, Malt syrup, Maltodextrin, Maltose, Maple syrup, Molasses, Muscovado, Organic raw sugar, Panocha, Powdered sugar, Raw sugar, Refiner’s syrup, Rice syrup, Sorghum syrup, Sucrose, Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Treacle, Turbinado sugar, Yellow sugar