The world of Tzu Chi October 2020 (Vol.127)

2020 • 10 56 ellness Translated by Woon Xiao Rui O n an unbearably hot day, I ordered a large glass of iced avocado milkshake to go with my meals. The restaurant staff cut the avocado into halves, and put one half into the blender. He then added about one-third cup of fresh milk, followed by some plain water, before turning around and asked me, “Do you want sugar?” I replied, “A little.” So, he added about one teaspoon of syrup. After taking a sip of the milkshake, my daughter, Rui Jia, told me disappointedly, “Mum, did you order sugarless milkshake? Why isn’t it sweet at all?” I explained, “It has a teaspoon of syrup in it. At home, I normally add only fresh milk or high calcium soymilk (without any water) to my avocado milkshake. When blended evenly, the milkshake can be rich in taste, even without a single cube of sugar added to it.” I took the opportunity to explain to Rui Jia that, as long as you use the right amount of fresh ingredients to prepare food, you will not need to use excessive amount of flavouring to enhance the taste. I also grasped the moment to share with her about the wrong perception that most people have about the sugar content in beverages, such as using our tongues (palates) to deduce if a beverage has high or low sugar content. I wonder if anyone has had this experience, that some bottled beverages like lemon tea or chrysanthemum tea do not taste too sweet, yet the nutrition facts label indicates that for every 100 ml of lemon tea, there are close to two teaspoons of sugar. Two teaspoons may sound quite reasonable. However, instead of drinking only 100 ml and saving the remaining 400 ml for another hot day, most people tend to finish the entire bottle in one go. This implies that, after finishing a bottle of 500 ml lemon tea, your body would have consumed up to ten teaspoons of added sugar. Some people dislike sour beverages. Therefore, when making sour beverages, more sugar is added to reduce the sourly taste. Fruit juice or drinks with sour taste such as lime juice, lemon juice, soursop juice or yoghurt drinks usually contain a large quantity of sugar content that the consumers are unaware of. Data that tells the truth The American Heart Association suggests that children from 2 to 18 years old should not consume more than six teaspoons of added sugar per day. Under the scorching sun, it would feel refreshing to drink a bottle of iced lemon tea. But this also means that you may have exceeded your daily sugar quota. Some find this data unbelievable. They ask suspiciously, “Are you trying to frighten me? This brand of lemon tea doesn’t taste sweet at all!” But the data is telling the truth. I remember being questioned by a sharp- witted patient, “I normally make my own coffee at home. If I actually add ten teaspoons of sugar in it, then it would be too sweet to drink. So how could this lemon tea have that much sugar in it?” This doubt is not without reason. I would typically suggest people to do a simple experiment at home. Change the cup that you normally use to make your coffee (around 200 ml) to a larger cup of 500 ml. Then, see how much A Sweet Disguise Fruit juice or drinks with sour taste such as lime juice, lemon juice, soursop juice or yoghurt drinks usually contain a large quantity of sugar content that the consumers are unaware of.