The current recommendations from the World Health Organisation are currently at 10% of your total diet (but they are considering lowering this to 5% – but there is no confirmation on this yet)
10% of an average person’s daily calories is 8700kJ (2,000 calories) which equates to a recommended amount of 54 grams of sugar. If your calorie intake was 6300KJ (1,500 calories) then the recommended amount of sugar would be approximately 39g.
But if all this talk about sugar makes you worried that you need to give up your favourite fruits in your healthy eating plan, think again.
The sugar in fruit is delivered to your body very differently to the sugar found in a chocolate bar for instance.
Fruit contains natural sugars, yes, but it also contains vitamins, minerals and fibre which are all essential for good health.
Please also watch this video which shows new research on how sugar and fructose from fruit is processed in the body.
There are some fruits that can be considered a better choice if you are trying to lose pregnancy weight and reduce your sugar intake.
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Check out our table below, which outlines the percentage of natural sugar in some popular fruits.
Some fruits are lower in sugar including strawberries (3.7% sugar), grapefruit (5.4% sugar), rockmelon (5.7% sugar) and passionfruit (5.8 sugar).
We love serving these fruits with some natural or Greek yoghurt for a healthy snack or dessert.
You will see that dried fruits such as sultanas (73% sugar) and dates (60% sugar) have a very high percentage of sugar but they are still packed with nutrients and fibre which is excellent for your health so enjoy them but just don’t eat huge amounts in one sitting.
For some of our favourite fruit recipes, see below:
- Rhubarb and Apple Crumble
- Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats
- Banana and Orange Delight
- Passionfruit and Kiwi Breakfast Sundae
- Cherries Melon and Yoghurt Snack
- Mint, Lime and Watermelon Slushie
It’s also important to note that as well as including fruit as part of your healthy eating plan, we do encourage you to use other food sources for your snacks rather than just fruit.
Think veggie sticks and hummus, boiled eggs, nuts, yoghurt, and healthy baked snacks.
The key is to focus on a balanced diet and reduce the processed sugar in your diet at every chance.
Fruit is nature’s healthy sweet treat and is a delicious and nutritious way to get a hit of nutrients too – and makes for great lunch box food for the kids!
If you struggle with your sugar intake, why not look into our Sugar Detox for Mums? You can sign up now and join thousands of other Mum’s on your journey to weight loss.
Need to stock up on Healthy Mummy Smoothies? Then see our shop here
And join our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges here
