Sugar Guide 2025

Introduction

Purpose & Scope

Understanding Sugar

List of Common Names for Sugar

Sugar & Nutritional Basics

Sugar & Health Impacts

Modern Sugar Alternatives (from Agave to Stevia)

Artificial Sugar & Sugar Alcohols

More Nutrient-Dense Sugar Alternatives (from Apples to Tiger Nuts)

Comparison of Sugar Products & Alternatives

Best Practices & Tips

Mindset

Conclusion

Sugar in its pure form is a naturally occurring substance. It’s a byproduct of photosynthesis, can be found in fruits and is produced by bees. In its purest form, sugar can be part of a balanced diet. However, in today’s modern world, sugar is chemically refined, highly purified and added to over 75% of prepackaged products.

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Sugar is categorized as a carbohydrate and often referred to as “simple sugar”. This distinction between simple and complex carbohydrates depends on their chemical structure and how quickly the body breaks them down.

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Simple carbohydrates include:

• Monosaccharides

• Disaccharides

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Complex carbohydrates consist of longer chains:

• Oligosaccharides (three to ten monosaccharides)

• Polysaccharides (ten and more monosaccharides)

 

A monosaccharide is considered the individual building block of carbohydrates, and the number of those building blocks determines if it is simple or complex....

Everyone is striving for health, weight loss and fitness. However, hidden sugars in nearly every product along with our cravings for sweetness, make achieving these goals challenging. Striking a balance between these conflicting desires can be tough. While it is important to reduce sugar and processed products to maintain health and lose weight, imposing strict rules and restrictions can lead to obsessive thoughts and rigid behaviour, ultimately harming our mental and emotional well-being. This is why I have written this Sugar Guide: to offer insights and understanding about sugar and its impact. By exploring where sugar and its alternatives come from, how it is produced and the reason it is added to common products, I hope to inspire you to make meaningful changes – starting with just one small step.... 

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High amounts of sugar have negative health effects. Unfortunately, due to hidden sugar in many products daily sugar intake accumulates quickly, leading to unknowingly high sugar consumption.

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According to Statista, 2001, countries like Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, Russia, and France consumed over 400 calories daily just from sugar. That equals roughly 103.49g of sugar or more per person every day.*

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In the United States, this number peaks at 179g of daily sugar intake per person. Canada is not far behind with an average daily intake of 136g....

 

*Considering 100g sugar = 386.5