Our view: Why I try to eat less sugar
For the last few years I have been trying to eat less sugar. I’m not sugar free, I still love some ice cream and chocolate every now and again, but wherever I can I choose the reduced sugar option, and this is for a few reasons.
Firstly there’s my health to consider. Having too much sugar can be bad for you, especially for your teeth, and I don’t want dentures before I’m 30.
But that isn’t the main reason or why I started eating less sugar. That happened when my brothers became diabetic.
I have an older brother who is 22 and a younger brother who is 16. They both developed type 1 diabetes when they were in secondary school.
My brothers and I on a family holiday.
Before I explain more I want to clarify what type 1 diabetes is and how it is different to type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high. Type 1 diabetes is where the pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin (the hormone responsible for controlling the amount of glucose in the blood). Whereas type 2 diabetes is where the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin or the body’s cells don’t react to insulin.
They are both caused by different things as well. Type 1 is where the immune system, attacks healthy pancreas cells by mistake. The damaged pancreas is then unable to produce insulin. Type 1 is often inherited, but what triggers the change is as of yet unknown, but some researchers have suggested it may be caused by a viral infection.
Type 1 is treated through insulin injections every time the individual eats.
Type 2 diabetes on the other hand as previously stated is where the body becomes resistant to insulin and linked to being overweight or inactive. There are different ways this type can be treated, from tablets to a lifestyle change.
My brothers have type 1 diabetes, meaning that their pancreases have stopped producing insulin and the have to inject it whenever they eat, and also closely monitor their blood sugar levels.
When they were diagnosed, my mum did everything she could to help them make their lives easier, because becoming a diabetic is a massive life change.
My mum sitting in between my two brothers.
Suddenly you have to learn to add up how much insulin you have to take for the food you’re eating, you have to lean your own symptoms for having high or low blood sugar so you can recognise it and treat it. Doing exercise, having snack, going drinking, are no longer things you can do without thinking.
So we made the switch and wherever possible cut down on our sugar intake. They still have to carb count, and they still eat sugar, but by reducing it where we can makes it easier for them.
Eating less sugar has become a habit for me, but I would recommend others to try it. Reducing your sugar consumption doesn’t have to be hard, for example select the ‘no added sugar option’ when buying products, many of these don’t taste any different to their sugar counter-parts.
If you fancy trying to eat less sugar, have a read of our top tips to help you start.
