Getting to know your Easter Eggs!

Unless you’ve had your head and ears buried under the pile of your renovating neighbours rubble, you will know by now that sugar is the new evil in the world of health!

Being touted as a major risk factor in developing type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

Sugar is also the reason why you go through a roller coaster in terms of your energy during the day. You eat something sweet or with refined carbs and it causes your blood sugar to spike and gives you a burst of energy. Insulin is released to pull your blood sugar back down, only it dips it down too far and your energy crashes. You then start craving for food again, often reaching for the quickest food you can (more sweet, more refined carbs) and away you go again on your roller coaster…

First up though, what is the World Health Organisation recommendation for ADDED sugar per day? For an adult, it’s 8-10 teaspoons. For children, it’s 3-4 teaspoons. If you are looking on the label on the back of a packet, have a look at the grams per serving. 4 grams of sugar equals 1 teaspoon of sugar.

So with that in mind, if you are going to indulge in the Easter tradition, let’s get to know a few of the eggs that are out there at the moment…

Cadbury Caramello.
Serving Size: 1 egg.
Sugar: 1 1/4 tsp.

Cadbury marshmellow egg.
Serving size: 1 egg.
Sugar: 3 3/4 tsp.

Cadbury dairy milk eggs.
Serving size: 4 eggs.
Sugar: 3 1/2 tsp.

Large Countdown egg.
Serving size: 4 per egg.
Sugar: 3 1/2 tsp.

Cadbury Creme egg.
Serving size: 1 egg.
Sugar: 6 1/2 tsp.

What about some of our other favourites?

Hazelnut Lindt rabbit, serving size per rabbit: 4. Sugar per serving: 2 1/2 tsp.

Dark Lindt rabbit, serving size per rabbit: 2.5. (Hmmm, interesting as it’s the same size as Hazelnut!). Sugar per serving: 3 1/2 tsp.

White Lindt rabbit, serving size: 2.5. (Again, same size!). Sugar per serving: 5 1/2 tsp.

Kimmerton (From Countdown) Dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free (that’s a bit ironic!) Luxury Dark Choc Easter Egg, serving size: 5. Sugar per serving: 2 1/4 tsp.

So take a look at the label on the back of a Cadbury Dairy Milk egg with Buttons.

The servings per package is 5.4. Sugar per SERVING is 14.5g (3 1/2 tsp). So the TOTAL sugar for the egg is a whopping 19.5 teaspoons!

Moving forward for Easter?

  • Read labels.
  • Decide how much sugar you feel comfortable eating.
  • Decide how much sugar you feel comfortable giving your kids to eat.

What am I doing? I’m not going to touch it this year for the first year ever! What about my kids? They will be getting some of the ones you see above, but last year I learnt something. They enjoyed the Easter egg HUNT more than the chocolate itself. So, I’m going to paint Easter egg rocks and hide (and re-hide!) these instead of buying a tonne of chocolate.
My kids will not be ‘missing out’ but nor will they be overloaded with sugar.

Easter is not ALL about the chocolate, but about having time off, spending time with loved ones, kicking back.

Go forth and enjoy the time off!