Introduction: Eating sweets is a favorite for most women, but hidden in the sweetness of sugar are threats to human health. So, how can you eat snacks healthily? Here are ten key points to note for those who love sweets.
1. Learn to choose the types of sweets
First, when you crave sweets, you can prioritize natural sweetness, such as fruits like pomegranates and apples. Not only will they satisfy your craving for sweets, but sugars like fructooligosaccharides can also promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the body and inhibit the reproduction of pathogenic and spoilage bacteria in the intestines.
Second, you can appropriately choose foods processed with sugar alcohol-based sweeteners, such as xylitol gum. They have lower energy content and cause a lower post-meal blood sugar response. But be careful not to overconsume, as it can lead to diarrhea.
Third, less processed sugars are better; for example, brown sugar is more nutritious than white sugar.
2. Don't eat sweets on an empty stomach
When your stomach is empty, sugar is absorbed almost immediately without being digested, causing a rapid, short-term spike in blood sugar levels. Temporary hyperglycemia can react with proteins in many important tissues in the body, damaging them and increasing the risk of chronic diseases.
The best times to eat sweets are before exercise, when vomiting or having diarrhea, or when diabetic patients have hypoglycemia.
3. The best time to eat sweets
Nutritionists say that around 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. are the best times to eat desserts. Having a little sweet during these periods can help eliminate fatigue, improve mood, and reduce stress. But you should only have a "taste" and not overindulge.
4. Times to avoid eating sweets
It's really dangerous to eat sweets before going to bed at night. The sugar in the sweets we eat needs to be metabolized through exercise, so if you go to sleep right after eating sweets, the sugar is not burned off and will be converted into fat around your belly.
5. Eat high-calorie desserts after meals
It's better to eat high-calorie desserts like cheesecake after a meal. Because they are digested along with the dietary fiber from the meal, less heat is absorbed, and it's harder to overeat.
6. Check the ingredients list of sweets
When you get a sweet treat, do you know how much sugar it contains? You might say that sweets must have a lot of sugar, but in fact, that's not always the case.
Some foods have stevia or sodium saccharin listed in their ingredients, with no other high-fat ingredients. It would be a shame to give up on such desserts. Some foods list glucose or fructose, which are also good choices. Those listing sucrose can be eaten selectively and in moderation. Those listing high-fructose corn syrup are less filling, and their sweetness is highly appealing, making it easy to overeat.
On the ingredients list, most foods are measured per 100 grams, indicating the sugar content per 100 grams. This can be misleading, making you think the entire package has that much sugar. So, if you finish the whole package, you could be consuming several to ten times the amount of sugar listed.
7. Choose your sweet partners
In daily life, we can eat lower-calorie snacks like jelly, yogurt, fruit, or soda crackers. More importantly, we must learn to pair our sweets wisely to truly enjoy them without gaining weight.
For example, eating whole wheat bread with fruit is a good choice. The fiber from whole wheat and fruit helps maintain a good figure, and a small amount of sugar won't cause weight gain. Besides, drinking water after eating bread affects stomach digestion and helps prevent fat buildup. You could also pair it with Pu'er tea or mint water. Pu'er tea itself has fat-reducing properties, as does mint water, or sparkling soda water, which can increase your sense of fullness and help you eat less.
When eating cookies, you can pair them with vegetables or sour fruits. These can reduce the sweetness and decrease the amount you eat. No matter how you pair them, it's best to keep your daily total sugar intake below 50 grams to maintain a good figure.
8. If you eat more, exercise more
When you are less active, you should eat fewer sweets. However, holidays often become a peak time for many people to indulge. At home during a holiday, because you're relaxed, it's easy to overeat on sweets, and if you don't want to exercise, obesity will naturally follow.
If your daily total sugar intake exceeds 50 grams, for every extra 50 grams, you can try to exercise for an additional 45 minutes. By this logic, if you accidentally eat half of a 9-inch cake, you would need to play a tennis match or hike for over 2 hours. This doesn't mean you can eat more just because you exercise; exercise is just a remedy. The key to a good figure is to start by watching what you eat.
9. Excessive sugar consumption can lead to malnutrition and anemia
Every 1 gram of sugar produces 16.5 kilojoules of heat when oxidized in the body, so it can replace part of a meal, reducing food intake. While this may satisfy the body's total calorie needs, other essential nutrients like protein, fat, minerals, vitamins, and fiber are insufficient. This can lead to nutritional imbalances, and over time, result in malnutrition and anemia.
10. Frequent sugar consumption provides a good environment for oral bacteria to grow and multiply
These bacteria, along with residual sugar, can increase the acidity in the teeth, gums, and mouth. When teeth are frequently exposed to acid, it can easily lead to cavities and mouth ulcers.
Three recommended healthy desserts
1. Warm pastries
Choosing warm pastries can increase body temperature and promote metabolism. By adding ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potato, or pepper to the pastries and mixing them with milk, you can warm your body and speed up your metabolism.
2. Whole wheat bread
Compared to pastries made with white flour and white sugar, whole wheat pastries are rich in dietary fiber. This fiber inhibits the conversion of starch into sugar in the body, controls blood sugar spikes, and creates a feeling of fullness to control food intake.
3. Japanese pastries
Japanese pastries are very small, delicate, and portion-controlled. Most contain red bean paste, which is easy to digest. Compared to Western pastries that are high in oil, they are lower in calories.