Sugar Free September 2020

By Claire McDonnell Liu, Nutritionist at Leafie.org

Australia’s sweet habit

Kicking sugar into touch can be the perfect start to your low carb health journey. That’s why Low Carb Down Under are on board with Sugar-free September 2020.

The average person eats and drinks around 14 teaspoons of sugar each day, that’s 22kg of free sugars every year, according to the Australian health survey.  This is on top of the naturally occurring sugars we consume, in fruits, grains and milk.

Our nation’s sugar excess is contributing to a quiet public health crisis in Australia.  Obesity is one of the greatest health challenges facing Australia, with more than 2/3rds of Australians overweight or obese, whilst sadly 1 in 3 Aussie kids will be overweight or obese by 2025.  Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight can significantly reduce our risk of serious health conditions, including risk of cancers, stroke, coronary heart disease and diabetes type 2.

The good news is that we can reduce our sugar load and change our longterm eating habits.  Sugars are added to so many of our regular foods and drinks, so it can take a focused effort to step away from the stuff. It’s added to our yoghurts, ‘healthy’ cereals, snack bars, salad dressings, take-away meals, soups and sauces.

Participating in Sugar Free September together gives us a chance to change our food habits and our health as part of a community, supporting each other.  We can join our family, colleagues and friends in banishing that sweet tooth, finding new flavours to appreciate, while beginning to stabilise mood and energy levels.

The top things to ditch this September to reduce your sugar load are firstly the highly-processed, obvious sugary stuff:

• Soft drinks, cordials, juices, smoothies, fizzy drinks;
• Sugar added to cooking, tea or coffee;
• Cereals (often sky high with sugar);
• Jams and spreads;
• Biscuits, cakes and bakes;
• Ice-cream, chocolate, desserts and sweets.
  
  Next focus on the savoury foods that have added sugar: breads; soups; dressings; sauces; take-away meals. Opt for sugar free options, avoid dressings and sauces when eating out and cooking more simple foods at home are ways to drastically cut the sugar from our main meals.

Help to get started cutting sugar

Check out these resources, available to help you and your family switch up your foods and your health.

• Leafie.org’s Sugar-free online course and recipes are FREE.  They include tips from many of our favourite LCDU expert presenters, as well as simple swaps and tips to get you well on your way to a sugar free life. 
  Join here: Leafie.org
  
• The Sugar By Half team have been very busy developing and rolling out sugar-free school lessons in step with the national curriculum.  Get your school involved in these fun interactive classroom activities: Sugar By Half
  
• Ready to take the next step?  Join the LCDU Low Carb Course Our team have prepared different evidence based online courses for you to work through at your own pace. 
  
  Let us know how you are getting on on Social and in our LCDU Facebook Community #LCDUkicksugar