KOJA Blog
Cut your sugar consumption by over 10kg per year with this simple swap!
Sugar! The word itself either makes you clench your teeth or salivate at the thought of your favourite sweets. Regardless of where you stand, most of us are likely aware of the effect that sugars can have on our overall health and wellbeing.
Back To Basics
To refresh your memory, sugars are a type of carbohydrate that occur naturally in foods such as fruit, bread, rice, wholegrains, starchy vegetables, dairy products and lentils & legumes. They can however, also be added as an ingredient to processed foods such as baked goods, sweets, lollies, chocolate, soft drinks and proclaimed ‘healthy’ snack bars.
Sugar in its naturally occurring varieties are an essential part of a healthy and balanced diet, after-all - broken down varieties of sugar (also called glucose) are our body and brain's preferred energy source. The problem with sugar lies in the overconsumption from added forms in the processed foods mentioned above.
Simple Swaps to reduce your Sugar intake
Here at KOJA, we pride ourselves on keeping the sugar content in our bars to a minimum, which is what makes our products the perfect between meal snack. KOJA bars are also full of whole-food ingredients that are rich in gut-loving fibre, satiating protein and heart healthy fats, positioning them as a nutritious replacement to traditional sugar-laden style snacks.
So what actually happens if you swap two ‘normal, sugary snacks’ for two KOJA bars every day?
Read on to find out…
Sugar Consumption
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends Australian Adults aim to consume no more than 25g of *free sugars per day for optimal health outcomes, surpassing no more than a maximum of 50g per day if necessary.
Unfortunately but not surprisingly, Australian adults consume 60g of free sugar per day on average. Sure, we have an abundance of sugar-filled food and beverages so readily available to us, but often we consume additional sugars in foods that are ‘perceived’ to be healthy due to sneaky marketing claims and brands trying to disguise the sugar content in their products through gaps in labelling laws.
*free sugars: include all sugars defined as added sugars plus the sugar component of honey, fruit juice and fruit juice concentrates
For example, a snack bar that claims to have ‘no added sugar’ may still contain large quantities of sugar from dried fruit such as dates or cranberries. Sugar in dried fruit is metabolised in a similar way to traditional table or cane sugar, making these products only a slightly healthier option to a typical chocolate bar.
Health Effects of Sugar
Excessive sugar consumption overtime can lead to an increased risk of certain chronic diseases and dental caries. Consuming large amounts of sugar on any given day can cause sporadic spikes and dips in your blood sugar levels which may leave you feeling lethargic, deprived of energy, hungry and moody, and probably craving even more sugar….not an ideal combination in our opinion.
So what can you do about it?
A simple swap is to choose our less sugar KOJA bars and avoid high-sugar snacks on most occasions.
The KOJA Health Impact Report
- Two sugar-filled snacks may contain up to 46.2g of sugar = 16.8kg of sugar per year
- Two KOJA bars contain less than 17g of sugar = 6.2kg of sugar per year
- Swapping two sugar-filled snacks with two KOJA bars every day can reduce your sugar consumption by 10.6kg per year, that’s a reduction of 63.1% of sugar per year.
Next time you’re searching for a snack, make the right choice. It’s that simple!
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