Sensationally Sugar Free: Delicious sugar-free recipes for healthier eating every day - Susanna Booth (2016)

Simple Steps to Sugar-free Eating

LIVING WITHOUT SUGAR

Despite the popularity of ‘paleo’ diets that avoid grains, these kinds of complex carbohydrates have been the staple food of humans for thousands of years. For instance, the Romans, Ancient Greeks and Ancient Egyptians all ate wheat-based bread every day and the Ancient Chinese ate rice, while early South American peoples such as the Olmec ate maize. Whole grains are a great energy source and they also make us feel full.

What wasn’t eaten in bulk throughout the year in ancient times was masses of sugary foods made of simple carbohydrates - be it cakes and biscuits or even honey or fruit. In excess, such foods are bad news for our bodies and our teeth. Indeed, some experts believe that high-sugar diets are the biggest health problem facing mankind today.

The World Heath Organization’s current guidelines recommend no more than 50g (2oz/10 teaspoons) of added sugar (including that from honey, maple syrup, juice and fruit concentrates but not whole fruit and vegetables) per adult per day - you could reach this amount after just a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. The WHO suggests that lowering that figure to a mere 25g (1oz/5 teaspoons) would be even more beneficial. It makes sense to choose your sweet foods carefully.

TOP TIPS FOR MINIMIZING SUGAR INTAKE

✵ Avoid sweet drinks. A can of full sugar cola contains 30-40g (around 6-8

teaspoons) of sugar, so this is a really easy place to start cutting back.

Incredibly, a 300ml (½ pint) glass of fruit juice can often contain similar amounts - or even more! This is because it will be the juice of many fruits.

Instead of drinking apple juice, for instance, eat an apple. It will taste just as sweet, but your total sugar consumption will be much lower and you’ll have the benefit of the fibre as well.

✵ Avoid sweetened sauces or dressings. Salad cream, ketchup, sweet chilli sauce, pickle and even mustard can all contain sugar - these ‘hidden’ sugars can soon add up. Try vinaigrette or real mayonnaise as an alternative.

✵ Be careful about breakfast choices. Many cereals contain high levels of sugar. Instead opt for foods like porridge, eggs, natural yogurt or wholemeal bread with cheese.

✵ Minimize alcohol consumption. Alcohol is created when yeasts break down sugar. If that process isn’t completed, sugar can remain, as in the case of sweet white wines, cider or beer. Spirits are a better choice, sugar-wise; use an unsweetened mixer like soda water.

✵ Go raw and fresh where you can. Many fruits taste sweeter raw than cooked, and food at room temperature will taste sweeter than the same food when frozen.

✵ Sprinkle with powdered sweetener. If you like adding sweetener to fruit or cereal, for example, a light dusting of a powdered product can often be just as effective taste-wise as a heavy sprinkling of granulated sugar or a drizzling of syrup.

COOKING WITHOUT SUGAR

As well as acting as a sweetener, sugar also plays a role in the texture of foods. For instance, it is sugar’s ability to melt into a hard glass-like caramel that helps give the strength to a finished meringue or the

‘snap’ in certain kinds of biscuit. The fudgy texture of sugar heated with butter is what makes chewy cookies or brownies so moreish. And the presence of sugar is also an integral part of smooth ice creams and sorbets because it acts like antifreeze, preventing the growth of large ice crystals.

This means that successful cooking without sugar is not always just a matter of leaving it out or replacing it with another kind of sweetener because many of the alternatives don’t behave in the same way.

Careful thought is often required in order to achieve good results. I’ve tried to create healthy versions of favourite recipes - using whole foods where possible - that emulate the textures normally associated with those dishes. For instance, I use butternut squash to make my

brownies chewy, and for my squidgy cookies I use banana. I’ve even managed to create silky ice creams with the help of agar powder, whose large molecular structure helps keep ice crystals to a minimum.

TOP TIPS FOR CREATING SUGAR-FREE RECIPES

✵ Mix stevia powder with liquid before use. Stevia is so super-sweet that its granules can taste unpleasant, while its bitter flavours can be noticeable when used in large amounts. I’ve found I get the best results when I dissolve it in liquid before adding it to my recipe. Add it gradually - it’s surprising how little you need.

✵ Stick to ‘nuggets’ of sweetness. Sometimes this is all that’s necessary to make something tasty. If your cake has small pieces of sweet foods, such as raisins, chopped apricots and pieces of fruit, you can reduce the sweetness of the cake mixture without really noticing.

✵ Try to exploit naturally sweet foods. Rice milk, evaporated milk, cashew nuts, fresh fruit, dried fruit and vegetables like carrots are among the foods that are naturally sweet. If you add them to recipes you can cut back on added sweeteners.

✵ Opt for the freshest, best-quality apple juice or orange juice. Cloudy apple juices and the type of orange juice that still has bits both have more micronutrients than the juices that have been filtered and concentrated.

✵ Be creative with toppings. One of the drawbacks of going sugar free is that most cake toppings (be it icing sugar, frosting or sugar sprinkles) involve sugar in some form. Try decorating cakes with whipped cream, cream cheese, whole nuts or fresh or dried fruit instead. Wafer shapes, cocoa powder, edible glitter and edible flowers are great for achieving that final wow factor.

✵ Use whole foods where possible. This can include seeds, whole nuts, whole grains, whole fruit and vegetables (try to keep the skin on if you can).

You might only include a small amount, but that doesn’t matter - some is always better than none.

✵ Eat smart. Using sugar alternatives is not a licence to eat large amounts of sweet foods. Keeping portion sizes small and infrequent means that you can still enjoy cakes and desserts, but overall sugar consumption will be lower.