It’s ‘great’ going sugar-free for 30 days
Many people thought they wouldn’t be able to live without sugar, the biggest misconception. When people experience the benefits, it will become a habit.” David Raetz, CEO of MED-EL
dubai — Can you go a month without sugar? That was the challenge put before the public by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in the beginning of the year.
The Dubai Heath Authority (DHA) adopted the minister’s challenge after the UAE residents reacted to his tweet that encouraged people to go sugar-free for one month.
Backing the #30DaysWithoutSugar that launched in line with the New Year, the DHA doctors urged people to eliminate their refined sugar intake found in cereals, sweets and soft drinks- and search for alternative natural sugar sources such as fruits and nuts especially after the holiday feasts and celebrations that saw high sugar intake from cakes and dessert.
Now that the challenge is coming to an end, did it prove effective? When Dubai residents were asked about their progress with the challenge on the third day, a DHA Twitter poll taken by 70 participants found that 43 per cent said it was great, 43 per cent said it was not challenging and only 8 per cent said they had already stopped.
“Many people thought they wouldn’t be able to live without sugar, which was the biggest misconception,” said Dr Wafaa Ayesh, director of clinical nutrition at the DHA. “The refined sugar does not have any nutritional value that helps the body, it only adds calories.”
While the American Heart Association recommends that people don’t consume more than 6 small spoons of sugar a day, studies revealed that based on a 2,000 calorie diet, the average person consumes 260 calories worth of just added sugars a day (without counting natural sugars).
According to Ayesh,100 calories deduction per day reduces 8kg of fat per year. She noted that it takes 20 days to reprogram taste buds not to like sugar, and the extra 10 days of the challenge is to help participants maintain the habit. Afterwards, the body will not go back to the same amount of sugar it was used to consuming, at least for a period of time.
Ayesh said the challenge aimed at increasing people’s awareness towards their daily sugar intake. “We wanted people to start looking at the food label before purchasing a product. People asked what if the food label said there is sugar inside? The key is to see if there’s ‘additional or artificial sugar’ since most of the food has natural sugar. Molasses and palm sugar for example were a big no,” she said.
Natural sugar sources include raisins, dates, nuts, fruits, few vegetables, yogurt and dairy products, but residents are asked to be wary of the sugars removed from their original sources to be added to food. “We even encouraged people to make sugar-free dessert from fruits and nuts without adding sweeteners or external sugar,” said Ayesh.
She highlighted the importance of balancing daily sugar intake, even when it comes to natural sugar. “Big amounts of fructose, mainly found in fruits-, can give negative outputs.”
She said while 25-40 grams is the recommended fructose intake per day, people tend to consume triple of that. “It’s us who is doing harm through our misuse,” Ayesh said.
According to her, the no sugar challenge helped in spreading the word. “It helped people to challenge themselves and encourage others to do it through word of mouth. When people experience and see the benefits of living a sugar-free life, it will hopefully become a habit,” she said.