The standard of living for modern people is constantly improving, and many people suffer from the "three highs" (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol). Consequently, many people now choose to eat sugar-free foods! Do you know what sugar-free foods are, and what kinds are there? In fact, many foods in our daily lives are sugar-free. Today, let's give you a detailed introduction!
What are sugar-free foods?
The key to sugar-free foods lies in the definition of "sugar." Sugar can specifically refer to white sugar, or it can refer to various sweet food ingredients that can be converted into glucose in the human body, such as maltose, glucose, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, etc. Even broadly speaking, even without a sweet taste, any substance that can be digested and absorbed by the body and converted into glucose can be called a "sugar substance."
According to the common concept in European countries, sugar-free foods cannot contain sucrose or sugars derived from starch hydrolysis, including glucose, maltose, fructose, starch syrup, glucose syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, etc. However, they must contain sugar substitutes, typically using sweeteners that do not raise blood sugar, such as sugar alcohols or oligosaccharides.
According to China's national standard "General Principles for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods for Special Dietary Uses," the requirement for "sugar-free" means that the sugar content in solid or liquid food does not exceed 0.5% (i.e., 0.5 grams) per 100 grams or 100 milliliters.
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The benefits are low calories and a slow increase in blood sugar. However, as long as there are dextrins or refined starches from rice and white flour, there will be calories, and blood sugar will rise. Because they, like white sugar, can quickly raise blood sugar and, like white sugar, can easily cause weight gain, they are a major problem for diabetics and people trying to lose weight.
Not adding sucrose does not mean a food is beneficial to people. Even for highly efficient sweeteners that neither raise blood sugar nor become calories, research has found that they may stimulate appetite and promote obesity. They have no nutritional value themselves, and when used in food, they can even bring additional trouble. For example, foreign reports have stated that some consumers are sensitive to aspartame, which may cause up to 80 different adverse reactions. Even sugar alcohols, which are favored by many, are not all good, because most sugar alcohols can cause diarrhea if consumed in excess. A few sugar alcohols have a smaller laxative effect, but after being absorbed and excreted in urine, they can also burden the kidneys.
Sugar-free fruits are fruits with relatively low sugar content, also known as low-sugar fruits. There are no absolutely sugar-free fruits. So, what are sugar-free fruits?
1. Guava
A tropical fruit tree, originally from the Americas, it is one of the famous and high-quality fruit varieties in subtropical regions. The ripe fruit is light green, fragrant, and delicious. The guava peel is thin and yellow-green, the flesh is thick, sweet, crisp, and refreshing, with a small core and few seeds. The fruit is rich in nutrients, containing high levels of vitamins A and C, fiber, and trace elements such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Additionally, the fruit is rich in protein and lipids. Regular consumption can anti-aging, expel toxins from the body, promote metabolism, regulate physiological functions, and maintain health, making it the best fruit for diabetics.
2. Papaya
Papaya is known as the "king of a hundred benefits" and is the most nutritious fruit. It is rich in papain, chymosin, carotene, and more than seventeen amino acids and various nutrients. It has the effects of preventing hypertension, nephritis, constipation, aiding digestion, and treating stomach diseases. It promotes metabolism and anti-aging in the human body. The papain it contains can promote skin metabolism, help dissolve sebum and aging keratin accumulated in pores, making the skin appear bright and fresh. The odd-numbered diterpene components it contains are a type of chemical snow lotus fruit that has the effects of protecting the liver and lowering enzymes, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial, and lowering blood lipids.
3. Yacon
Produced in Yunnan, it is a pure natural green food. The flesh is crystal clear, crisp, sweet, and refreshing, rich in various essential amino acids, vitamins, proteins, and trace elements such as calcium, zinc, and magnesium. The fructo-oligosaccharide content of yacon is the highest among all plants, with a high fructo-oligosaccharide alcohol content and low calories. It is rich in water-soluble fiber, and its carbohydrates are not absorbed by the human body, so it is very suitable for diabetics and people losing weight. It also has the effects of regulating the stomach, promoting digestion, moisturizing the intestines to relieve constipation, protecting and improving gastrointestinal function, regulating blood, clearing high blood lipids, lowering blood sugar and blood lipids, and effectively inhibiting cholesterol and diabetes.
4. Grapefruit
In daily life, eating an appropriate amount of grapefruit will not only lead to obesity or high blood sugar but also has the effect of lowering blood sugar. Traditional Chinese medicine points out that grapefruit is cold in nature and sweet and sour in taste. Appropriate consumption has the effects of lowering qi to resolve phlegm, strengthening the stomach to aid digestion, and treating edema pain and sore throat caused by various reasons. There are many ways to eat grapefruit, in addition to eating it directly, you can also squeeze it into juice to drink.
Diabetics are especially suitable for eating grapefruit because it contains a large amount of insulin-like components. Appropriate consumption can not only lower blood sugar but also have a good protective effect on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems.
5. Cherry
Cherries are also a type of low-sugar fruit, so people who are afraid of obesity can use cherries to replace other high-sugar fruits in their daily lives. Traditional Chinese medicine points out that cherry is warm in nature and sweet in taste, with very obvious effects of replenishing qi and tonifying deficiency, inducing sweating, expelling wind and measles, detoxifying, and nourishing the skin and beauty. In addition, it has good therapeutic and conditioning effects on symptoms such as spleen and stomach dysfunction. Especially for women, they should eat more cherries in their daily lives, which can be both healthy and beautiful.
Cherries are also rich in pectin, which is beneficial for increasing insulin secretion, thereby allowing blood sugar to decrease steadily and quickly. Therefore, it is recommended that people with high blood sugar and diabetics eat more cherries in their daily lives.
6. Apple
Apples can be said to be a very common and familiar fruit in people's daily lives, but many people don't know that apples are actually one of the low-sugar fruits. Apple is cool in nature and sweet in taste. No matter the variety, appropriate consumption has obvious effects of nourishing the heart and qi, promoting fluid production to stop coughing, strengthening the stomach and spleen, relieving vexation, and relieving summer heat. Especially for people who are often drunk, they should eat more apples because it also has a very effective effect of sobering up.
Because the absorption of sugar in apples is slow and even, it has a good effect of lowering blood sugar, especially postprandial blood sugar. It can be said that eating apples regularly is very beneficial for diabetics.
Sugar-free foods also contain "sugar" and should not be eaten in excess
Today, people's three meals a day are not just about filling up, but most importantly, about being healthy and scientific. Low-fat, low-sugar diets are becoming a new dietary fashion and consumer trend. The emergence of sugar-free foods has brought good news to the elderly, especially diabetics, enriching the variety of diets and solving the problem of dietary nutrition for diabetics.
However, most people do not understand what sugar-free foods are. So-called sugar-free foods are relative to conventional sugary foods; they do not contain refined sugar but use other sweeteners as a substitute. This does not mean they contain no sugar at all.
Sugar is a common term for carbohydrates, which includes many types, not only refined sugars like monosaccharides and disaccharides, but also polysaccharides like starch and glycogen.
According to international practice, sugar-free foods cannot contain sucrose and starch sugars, but must contain substitutes, such as sugar alcohols (including xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, etc.). If consumed in excess by the human body, they can also cause an increase in blood sugar. Moreover, some sugar-free foods are made from grain-based ingredients, such as sugar-free tangyuan and sugar-free pastries, which have a high starch content. Starch is a polysaccharide, which is digested and broken down into glucose in the human body, which can also cause a rise in blood sugar. Therefore, diabetics must eat less of them.
In addition, eating too much of these sugar-free foods leads to excessive energy intake, which is mostly converted into saturated fatty acids in the body, which is also harmful to health. It can be seen that sugar-free foods also contain sugar, and attention should be paid to the amount consumed.