Go to fruit - No to sugar

On Wednesday night I was in Wagga for a special screening of the movie That Sugar Film. It's out on DVD and I encourage everyone who's not seen it yet to hire it for an evening - especially if you have kids. It's a big budget, highly entertaining film and I promise you'll enjoy it despite the subject. More importantly the shock value should get you to consider how much sugar is in the food we eat. It prompted me to look at the amount of sugar in a breakfast pack in our hotel called: Breakfast on the Go. Marketed as "a healthy breakfast for people on the run", it contained a pack of Nutrigrain cereal, a small carton of whole milk, a carton of sliced fruit and a small muffin - similar to something one might get on a plane. By my calculations the whole breakfast contained over 12 tsp of sugar (4 g is approximately 1 tsp). I doubt any parents would spoon 12 tsp of sugar directly into their child's mouth but with the help of clever advertising and normalising packaged food that's what many of us are inadvertently doing.

Ironically, while sugar is big business, so is quitting sugar as authors and bloggers like Sarah Wilson, David Gillespie and actor Damon Gameau from That Sugar Film can testify. The message to quit sugar is very simple and easy to grasp although it has led to some confusion about whether it's OK to eat fruit.

Fruit contains the fruit sugar fructose, the considered energy of the anti-sugar brigade, so should we eat fruit or not?

I asked dietitian, nutritionist and highly respected media commentator Dr Joanna McMillan what she thought about eating fruit and this is what she had to say.

"The scientific evidence for eating fruit is unequivocal. Fruit comes in one complete nutritious package. The sugar from fruit is bound up in the whole food within the plant cell walls and is accompanied with fibre, and phytochemicals and numerous nutrients. Most whole fresh fruit has a low GI, it breaks down slowly into the bloodstream and people are encouraged to eat 2 - 3 serves of fresh fruit a day".

After the movie a very healthy but concerned Dad approached me to ask whether it was OK that his child eats as many as 5 small apples a day! I asked Joanna what she thought about this - a problem I'm willing to bet many parents dream about having - and she agreed with this advice.
Provided your child is a healthy weight and is eating fruit to meet his/her energy needs, it doesn't matter how much they have. It's a good idea however to vary the fruit a bit more to ensure they get a wider range of nutrients.
So there it is straight from the mouths of experts. Sugar is empty calories and it's a great idea for good health and a healthy weight to minimise your intake.

In the US the guide is 9 tsp a day for men and 6 tsp for women. There is currently no guide in Australia. Fruit provides a wealth of nutritional calories and should be included in the diet so you can enjoy it knowing you're doing your body nothing but good.

If you would like to campaign about empty calories please consider signing a petition to
Tax Soft Drinks in Australia
To sign, click on the link above and share it with your family and friends.

Comments