Most of us know that, alongside with carbs and fat, sugar is one
of nutrition's big baddies, but we still struggle to resist those
tempting sweet treats.
With obesity on the rise, sugar has been labelled as "toxic" with
some weight loss experts recommending cutting it from your diet
altogether.
But is ditching every trace of sweet from your diet taking it too far?
Breakfast asked Healthy Food Guide nutritionist Claire Turnbull whether we need to cut sugar out completely.
Turnbull disagrees with the toxic label and says that sugar isn't good for us, "but it's not necessarily toxic."
"We're trying to encourage people to take a more balanced approach to it which is not quite so extreme," she says.
Turnbull encourages cutting down on processed sugars like white
table sugar, high sugar breakfast cereals, sugary snacks and drinks
but says there are natural sugars that you should continue to have
as part of a healthy diet.
"We don't want people to strip out fruit and low fat dairy
products from their diet because they've got a bit of sugar in
them, that's just going to far."
But if you're grabbing a bowlful of fruit for your 5+ fruit
and vege a day, Turnbull says, think again.
"Some people may have four, five, six pieces of fruit and drinking
fruit juice," she says. "It's too much."
To combat the sugar cravings, Turnbull recommends changing
your habits and getting used to healthier snacks.
But if you give in to a piece of chocolate now and then, don't
stress.
"A little bit of chocolate is absolutely fine but if people are
using it to control emotions and eating it all the time instead of
proper food, that's not particularly good."