Читать книгу Safe Food: What to eat and drink in pregnancy - Rosie Dodds - Страница 35

There are two main types of sugar:

sugar added to foods during processing or cooking, and

basic sugars that are a natural part of nutritious foods like fruit, vegetables and milk.

The main problem with added sugar is that, although it gives us an energy boost, it contains no other nutrients at all. In fact, because our bodies need to work to digest sugar, nutrients from other foods eaten at the same time are wasted. Too much added sugar actually drains nutrients from our bodies.

Eating sugary foods fills us up – so we can’t eat other, healthier foods. Too much added sugar contributes to tooth decay and to an unhealthy weight gain. Sugary foods don’t satisfy us for long – so we soon feel hungry again. Finally, sugary foods – cakes, chocolates and sweets – tend to be expensive. So, bad food value all round!

The problem is that many of us really like the taste of sugar. Some women find that they want to eat more sugary foods at certain times of their menstrual cycle – or at different stages of pregnancy. It can be very hard saying ‘no’ to a tube of sweets or bar of chocolate at times like this. Try to think instead about the other type of sugar – the natural sugar found in fruit or in milk. Foods containing this kind of sugar are rich in many nutrients. When you crave a sugary snack, reach for things like kiwi fruit, bananas and cherries, dried fruit, a slice of fresh bread, a couple of digestive biscuits or some unsalted nuts.

We talk more about cutting down on sugar and sugary foods in Chapter 8.