Results of our Sugar Audit
Contributed by Dr. Amanda Wiggins, owner of Clean Mixes.
As a diligent Mum of two, owner of Clean Mixes and a person who likes to eat a healthy diet, I thought I was very aware of our household sugar consumption. That is, until I did a sugar audit of our pantry. I was shocked at the results!
Firstly, some background about our household and our eating habits. I have a 13 year old son and an 11 year old daughter. My partner’s son also lives with us on the weekends and he’s about to turn 14.
So there’s a strong teen and pre-teen vibe in our hose at the moment and my main observation about teen eating habits is that they eat a LOT (and grow a lot) and they love junk food.
In terms of dietary preferences – I’m gluten free (and have been for years) and recently cut most dairy out of my life. I focus on eating wholefoods and do my best to incorporate veges three times a day. I avoid all high sugar foods and limit my carb intake to the good carbs (think quiona, brown rice). In my mid-forties, my focus is on consuming nutritionally dense foods as I have found this is the best way to feel good throughout the day.
Our household dietary preferences are a real mishmash! One of our teens is currently vegetarian, whereas the other teen is a massive meat eater. My 11-year-old daughter is a very light eater – more of a grazer really and it’s a challenge to get her to eat a decent portion of food in one sitting.
My partner does intermittent fasting every day – he cuts himself off from eating at 8pm each night and has a huge ‘breakfast’ the next day at 12pm. He has a wicked sweet tooth which is constantly calling his name.
We are all moderately active. Between us we do running, gym workouts, football, sailing, dancing – but we could and should do more to move our bodies in the interests of a healthier lifestyle.
Our main meals are usually pretty darn tasty and healthy, with a few exceptions of course! We eat too much pizza for starters! But generally, I’m happy with the nutritional profile of our main meals.
It’s the snacking between meals where I’m looking to make improvements, so I decided it was time for a reality check on our sugar consumption. I took all the snack foods out of the pantry and looked at the sugar content of these items – also known as a sugar audit. It only took 10 minutes and was so worth it to get a real handle on what we’re snacking on.
This was not a full audit of everything in our pantry/fridge/freezer, it was just the snack foods. Some foods like chocolate chips, maple syrup and jam which are very high in sugar, were not included in the audit because they’re not things we snack on - rather, they are ingredients that are incorporated into other meals or baking.
The results or our sugar audit were both shocking and motivating!
Sugar audit of snack items in our pantry.
Snack Item |
Sugar Content Per Serve* |
Sugar Content Per 100g |
OSM Bars |
30g |
17.4g |
Pams Muesli Bars |
9.3g |
29.9g |
Milo |
9.2g |
46g |
Tasti Mega Nuts Double Choc Bars |
8.8g |
22.1g |
Griffins Choc Chip Biscuits |
8.3g |
41.6g |
No Grainola |
4.9g |
9.9g |
Girl Guide Biscuits |
4.4g |
22g |
Dark Choc Peanut Butter |
1.5g |
10.3g |
Clean Mixes Choc Raspberry Bliss Balls |
1.2g |
4.8g |
Penati NUDE Seed & Nut Crackers |
1g |
4g |
Brazil Nuts |
0.6g |
2.1g |
* sugar content per serve ranked highest to lowest.
Although I’ve long known that muesli bars are a category of snack that appear healthy but are actually loaded with sugar, I was shocked to find out that we have three varieties of muesli bars in our pantry!
On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised at all to discover that muesli bars make up three out of four of the highest sugar snack foods in our pantry. Milo surprised me, coming in at 9.2g sugar per serve.
If you look down the list, you can see that snacks with less sugar tend to have higher nut content. Not only are they lower in sugar, but these snacks are also higher in the ‘good’ macros - higher in ‘good’ fats, fibre and protein for example, which are all good things when it comes to nutrition.
The motivation for me is about ditching the muesli bars and making sure they are not purchased again. Sure, they’re convenient but there are so many alternatives that provide much better nutrition – like a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts or a Clean Mixes bliss ball.
If you’re reading this blog you’re probably interested in improving your eating habits or simply cutting down on your sugar consumption. I would encourage you to take 10 minutes out of your day to take a reality check on your sugar consumption in the form of a quick sugar audit of your pantry.
The results might shock you (or not!) and you may find that there are some items to ditch in favour of healthier snack alternatives.
Happy auditing, by Dr. Amanda Wiggins - Owner of Clean Mixes