Jennifer Tyler Lee - Half the Sugar, All the Love: 100 Easy, Low-Sugar Recipes for Every Meal of the Day

HALF THE SUGAR, ALL THE LOVE

a family cookbook

100 Easy, Low-Sugar Recipes for Every Meal of the Day

Jennifer Tyler Lee and Anisha I. Patel, MD, MSPH

Workman Publishing

New York

For Catherine, James, and Anthony:
You make my life sweeter.

JTL

To Iyla, Kasmira, and Sam.

AIP

Contents

Busy Morning Breakfasts

Lazy Weekend Breakfasts

Muffins and Breads

Lunch Box Favorites

Salads

Chicken

Pork and Beef

Fish and Seafood

Pasta and Pizza

Cookies and Bars

Pies and Crisps

Cakes and Cupcakes

Puddings and Frozen Treats

Big Batch Sauces

Condiments and Dressings

Toppings and Doughs

Introduction

Food is at the heart of our families. It brings us around the table to strengthen our relationships, helps our children live healthier lives, and leads to better performance at school. But lurking in our meals is an ingredient that is undermining the health of our families: added sugar.

Kids are consuming their weight in added sugar, about 64 pounds each year. By adulthood, theyll have ingested more than 130,000 sugar cubesenough to stretch over a mile, more than twice the height of the tallest building in the world. Half of it comes from sugary drinks. The other half is in the foods they eat. Added sugar is everywhere, in places we see and places we cant see, and its putting the health of our children at risk. Scientific studies increasingly point to the health harms of added sugar. It is imperative to change our diets so we can reverse these trends.

Intake of added sugar, particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) like sodas, sports drinks, and fruit-flavored beverages, is associated with cardiovascular disease and the conditions that lead to it including obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and abnormal cholesterol levels. Added sugar can also cause fatty liver disease, which can lead to liver failure. The dramatic rise in these diseases tracks directly with the rise of added sugar consumption. Excess added sugar intake is a major risk factor for preventable diseases that are the leading causes of death in the United States. This trend is particularly problematic among our youngest children, ages two to five years, with obesity rates in this age group increasing at an alarming rate. Consuming too much added sugar is of course also linked to cavities, the leading common chronic health condition among children.

All of us are eating too much added sugar, but children are particularly at risk. Women and children consume more than three times the recommended daily limit of added sugar. And its not just because they are drinking too many sodas. Added sugar lurks everywhere in our foodin yogurts and bottled salad dressings, in jarred tomato sauce and oatmeal packets, and on and on. Dietary patterns set when kids are young will influence behavior when they are older. Thats why it is important to train the palate early to prefer less-sweet foods.

Although consuming too much added sugar can lead to health consequences, people with unhealthy weight and metabolic conditions like high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, elevated blood sugar, and fatty liver disease may be able to reverse these conditions by eating a low-sugar diet. Most added sugars are consumed at home, which means that we can take control of our familys health by changing what we eat and how we cook.

But how do we make the change? We cant just cut the sugar and leave kids with bland-tasting food, or worse, add salt and fat to mask whats missing. Instead, we need to give our families their favorite foodsdrastically reducing added sugar without sacrificing the flavors they love. The key is to sweeten naturally with fruits and vegetables. Thats what this book delivers.

Added sugar is just what it sounds likesugar that is added to foods and beverages during cooking or right before eating. Naturally occurring sugar is present in food in its unadulterated state and is accompanied by nutrients and fiber that help the body process sugar in a healthier way. Natural sugar in fruits, vegetables, and milk is different from added sugar like honey and agave because sources of natural sugar contain nutrients and fiber along with calories. Added sugar is the problem.

For example, if you buy a strawberry yogurt tube at the store, the yogurt contains both added sugar (sucrose from sugar) and naturally occurring sugar (fructose, glucose, and sucrose from strawberries and lactose from yogurt). Similarly, if you make a pitcher of homemade lemonade with honey, water, and lemon juice, the lemonade contains both naturally occurring sugar (fructose, glucose, and sucrose from lemons) and added sugar (primarily fructose and glucose in honey, with traces of other monosaccharides including galactose, sucrose, and maltose). What is most important is to reduce added sugar, and thats what this book will help you do.

So where do fruit juices or fruit juice concentrates fit in? While the American Heart Association does not consider fruit juice added sugar, it does classify fruit juice concentrates as such. And the World Health Organization counts both fruit juice and fruit juice concentrate as added sugar. In this book, you will notice that our recipes use whole or pureed fruits or vegetables to sweeten foods naturally with the additional benefits of fiber. This is a healthier way to sweeten. Fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates do not contain much fiber, so weve kept their use to a minimum.

Added SUGAR ADDS UP

On an average day, we eat three times the daily limit of added sugar. The daily limit of added sugar for kids aged 2 through 18 years is 6 cubes, which equals 6 teaspoons. Heres how the sugar can stack up in a typical day.

Breakfast: Granola = 2 teaspoons

Snack: Flavored yogurt = 3 teaspoons

Lunch: PB&J sandwich with chocolate milk = 5 teaspoons

Dinner: Chicken teriyaki with rice = 1 teaspoons

Dessert: Chocolate cake = 8 teaspoons

Total = 21 teaspoons

To understand the process, lets take a simplistic look at what happens when you drink a can of soda. Soda primarily contains two types of sugar: fructose and glucose. When you drink the soda, these sugars enter your mouth, where they nourish sugar-loving mouth bacteria. These bacteria produce acid that dissolves tooth enamel, which can lead to tooth decay. When sugar enters your mouth, it also activates sweet receptors that send a signal to the reward system in your brain to take a second sip of that soda. Sugar travels through your stomach to your intestines, where its digestive process begins. An enzyme in your liver processes the sugar and stores it in the organ as fat. As fat in your liver builds up over time, some of it passes into your bloodstream, where it gets deposited in the blood vessels and raises triglyceride and cholesterol levels. In addition, consuming excess calories from added sugar can lead to weight gain, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes.