I began writing this blog 12 months ago on a flight to my cousins wedding but life happened and I’ve never hit the edit and upload button.. So here goes
I’m not an expert on sugar, I’m just a mum aware of the outcomes when my son has consumed too much, it’s like his brain cannot process it and he can’t keep his emotions intact. So sad really and I can’t bear to watch it happen. So as of Easter we have been on a chocolate ban (with a few slip ups ;)) I wanted to compile a list of sugars people use and add to cooking to get the picture of how much sugar is actually added to our foods (homemade).
World Health Organisation suggests 4tsp added sugar per day for a child and 6tsp for an adult
Of course there are different types of sugars; refined, unrefined, artificial, different nutritional value and different reactions within your body. I just wanted to bring attention to the quantity of sugar we are adding into our food.
| Ingredient | Per serve | Per 100g |
| Honey | 12.4g | 82.5g |
| Maple Syrup (100% pure) | 29.9g | 85.5g |
| Golden syrup | 5g | 74g |
| Rice malt syrup | 5.5g | 55g |
| Agave Syrup | 7.6g | 76g |
| Stevia | 0 | 0 |
| Xylitol | 0 | 0 |
| Medjool Dates | 39g | 66g |
| Dried dates | 16.5g | 65.9g |
| Sultanas | 20.8g | 69.3g |
| Raisins | 22g | 73.2g |
| White sugar (including castor sugar, icing sugar) | 4g | 100g |
| Raw sugar | 4g | 99.8g |
| Coconut sugar | 4.6g | 88.3g |
| Brown sugar | 4g | 98g |
| Condensed milk | 55.9g | 55.9g |
| Milk Chocolate cooking | 22.9g | 61.8g |
*based on reading labels of supermarket brands I have personally purchased/used in the past
I’ve just broken down the sugar content on 4 recipes from a simple google search
Here are the results…
| Recipe | Total sugar | Total sugar per serve | Per tsp |
| Basic Chocolate Cake | 340g | 34g/serve | 8.5 |
| Anzac Biscuits | 178g | 7.41g/serve | 1.85 |
| Bliss Balls (Dates) | 288g | 11.87/serve | 2.97 |
| Caramel Slice | 431.35g | 28.75g/serve | 7.1 |
Simple Tips
- Being mindful of the amount of sugar you are consuming
- Try a sugar alternative (eg. Coconut sugar instead of white sugar)
- When cooking start slowly and gradually reduce the amount of sugar/recipe (If the recipe says 100g sugar, try 80g, then 60g)
If you haven’t already check out “That Sugar Movement” or better still watch “That Sugar Film” life changing!!!
Here is a blog on hidden sugars in packets
