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

TZU CHI 127 57 Ng Hui Ling A nutritionist with a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and a Master’s degree in Sports Science, who served at the Singapore Heart Foundation before becoming self-employed, providing dietary consultations to vegetarians and writing a nutrition column for a health magazine. sugar you would have to add to get it to the same level of sweetness as before. From a health standpoint of view, we should be drinking plain water to quench our thirst. In order to reduce our intake of added sugar, sugary beverages should only be consumed occasionally. Furthermore, we should check the nutrition facts labels before purchasing beverages. Pay attention to the sugar content and calories. After comparing different brands, try to pick the one with lower sugar content and calories. Beverages with high sugar content are often associated with high calories. Many people are unaware that they are overconsuming calories from the sugary drinks they had. In fact, some people find their body weight dropping after changing their diet habit by replacing sugary drinks with plain water. Sugary drinks typically contain a minimal amount of nutrients. There is no harm in not drinking it. Thus, children and teenagers are encouraged to substitute sugary drinks with high calcium soymilk or milk, which have higher nutritional values, and to quench their thirst with plain water instead. Whenever I make this proposal to the youths, they always say it would be hard to make the change. Yet, change is always possible with every little effort. For example, try reducing the number of sugary drinks in a day, then try choosing brands with lower sugar content. Finally, try drinking sugarless drinks, like sugarless tea or soymilk. After all, making effort to move forward with every little step is far better than just staying put. Blackcurrant drinks (330 ml) 7 tsp of added sugar Sports drinks (325 ml) Lemon tea (500 ml) Cola (320 ml) Green tea (300 ml) 4 tsp of added sugar 10 tsp of added sugar 7 tsp of added sugar 4 tsp of added sugar Sugar content of different types of beverages