Simple Ways to Cut Down Your Sugar Intake

Just because you're not drinking soft drinks or eating doughnuts, that doesn't mean that your sugar intake is low.

Sugar is everywhere! It's strategically placed at the supermarket checkout to tempt you and your children. It's added to a huge number of food products that are supposed to be healthy. In fact, sugar is not only the main culprit in weight gain, but contributes to a number of health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and tooth decay.

A large percentage of the western population are eating way more sugar than is even recommended by Governmental health authorities. And if you want to lose weight, or just maintain a healthy weight, you want to be cutting down on sugar as much as possible.

However, it can be challenging to slash added sugars from your diet. Here are some simple ways to cut down your sugar intake.

Cut back on sugary drinks

Most added sugars in the average diet come from sugary drinks - soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, bubble teas, and others.

Drinks that many people perceive as healthy, such as smoothies and fruit juices, can still contain astounding amounts of sugar.

Additionally, your body doesn't recognize calories from drinks in the same way as those from food. Calories from drinks are absorbed quickly, resulting in a rapid increase in your blood sugar level.

Some healthier options include water (of course), green tea or herbal teas, coffee and kombucha.

Eat full-fat foods

If you've been told that fat is bad, it may feel natural to reach for these alternatives rather than the full-fat versions especially when you're trying to lose weight.

Low fat varieties of your favourite foods, like peanut butter, yoghurt, and salad dressing, are everywhere. But these low-fat options have been around for the last 50 years and overall the population is getting fatter, so something isn't quite right.

The truth is that these products usually contain added sugar to make them palatable and often have more calories than their full-fat counterparts.

So make sure you check the label before purchasing such a product, for the amount of sugar.

Switch to natural zero-calorie sweeteners

There are several artificial sweeteners on the market that are totally free of sugar and calories, such as sucralose and aspartame.

However, these artificial sweeteners may be linked to imbalances in gut bacteria that can lead to poorer blood sugar control, increased food cravings, and weight gain. For this reason, we don't recommend artificial sweeteners.

However, there are several options for zero-calorie sweeteners that are totally natural. These include stevia, erythritol, monk fruit, and allulose. Many of these are available in your local supermarket, although allulose is a fairly new arrival and may only be available online from the USA.

Xylitol is another option that is a low calorie option and despite it's chemically-sounding name is completely natural.

Limit items with high sugar content in the house

If you keep high sugar foods in the house, you may be more likely to eat them. It takes a lot of willpower to stop yourself if you only have to go as far as the pantry or fridge to get a sugar hit.

But if it's not there, at hand, and you have to travel to get it then you're way less likely to cave in to that craving. Now granted, companies like Uber Eats may make this harder, but it's still some effort to order something and pay for delivery.

Be careful with "healthy" processed snack foods

Some processed snack foods have a "health halo". They seem healthy at first glance, and words like 'wholesome' or 'natural' may be used in their marketing to make them seem healthier than they actually are.

Surprisingly, these snacks (such as granola bars, protein bars, and dried fruit) can contain just as much sugar as chocolate and candy bars. Check the label for sugar content before purchasing the healthy snack.

Dried fruit is a great example. It's full of fibre, nutrients, and antioxidants. However, it also contains concentrated amounts of natural sugar (and some versions have added sugar). Avoid dried fruits.

The Bottom Line

If you want to avoid becoming overweight or even just look after your health, minimise your sugar intake as much as possible. It's impossible to avoid altogether and I'm not saying don't have the occasional dessert, but just minimise your sugar intake and you'll feel better for it!