Those with a sweet tooth can’t get enough of sweets! The temptations are just too great: golden-yellow honey for breakfast, a piece of cake in the afternoon, and in between candies, chocolate and the like make you weak. But this permanent consumption of sugar is not healthy. It is better if the dessert is eaten immediately after lunch and frequent snacking is avoided.
A dessert after lunch
A candy here, a piece of chocolate there, and brightly colored rubber toys are also attractive. But frequent snacking has its pitfalls: the sugar bombs ensure that the insulin level keeps shooting up – and just as quickly falls again. This causes ravenous hunger and, with a corresponding predisposition, increases the risk of developing diabetes.
If you want to avoid a constant load of sugar, you should limit yourself to a light dessert – preferably after lunch. After the big meal, the sugar is not absorbed by the blood as quickly, as Silke Schwartau, a nutrition expert at the Hamburg Consumer Center, explains. Of course, you should also make sure that the dessert itself is not too sugary.
Sugar Consumption Guidelines
The World Health Organization (WHO) updated the guidelines for sugar consumption in March 2015. These now recommend consuming just 5 percent of your daily calories in the form of sugar – the equivalent of about six teaspoons a day.
This includes not only conventional household sugar and products made from it but also foods that naturally contain fructose, such as honey, syrup, or fruit juices.
