Sugar is far from a healthy dietary component. In fact, it’s nothing more than empty calories that trigger an unhealthy blood sugar spike. Plus, many foods with added sugar are devoid of nutrition. Who needs more of the sweet stuff?
By now you’re familiar with the risks of a high-sugar diet. Diets high in sugar are linked with obesity, diabetes, and other health complications. Plus, eating too much sugar can expand your waistline because it increases visceral fat, a deep type of belly fat associated with inflammation and health problems such as insulin resistance.
Unfortunately, kicking the sugar habit isn’t easy. The longer you’ve been eating sugary foods and sipping sugary beverages and the more of them you consume, the harder it can be to remove sugar from your diet – but it’s not impossible! Going cold turkey might be challenging, but there are some painful ways to reduce the amount of sugar you take in. Let’s look at some you can put into practice right away.
Stop Drinking Your Sugar
The first place to look when reducing sugar is the beverages you drink. Sodas are sweetened carbonated water with sugar, soda, and added chemicals and colorings. Nothing healthy about that! No wonder health experts recommend cutting them out of your diet.
The sugar content in soda comes largely from high fructose corn syrup, a cheap sweetener that does not provide any nutrition but encourages your liver to store more fat. Plus, drinking fructose-sweetened sodas affects appetite hormones in a way that increases hunger.
Opt for healthier beverage choices, like unsweetened green tea or water with fruit slices. Green tea is rich in antioxidant compounds called catechins that give your metabolism a subtle boost too. If you like carbonation, switch to seltzer water sweetened with a little fruit juice to reduce the sugar content.
Action Steps:
- Switch soft drinks for unsweetened tea or water.
- Eat whole fruit rather than fruit juice.
- Make sure packaged items don’t contain high-fructose corn syrup.
Look for Simple Ways to Reduce Sugar
If you enjoy an occasional cookie, don’t remove it from your diet. Instead, look for easier ways to cut back on sugar. Look at the sugar content of packaged products you already use. Examples are salad dressings, marinara sauce, breakfast cereals, and yogurt. Some brands of these products can be quite high in sugar and there’s likely a lower sugar substitute you could use instead.
Switch the morning bowl of sugary cereal for steel-cut oatmeal and you can drop your sugar intake at breakfast by a lot. Look for unsweetened versions of foods you already use, such as applesauce. By making these small changes, you can still enjoy an occasional sugary treat.
Action Steps:
- Read labels of all the products you buy.
- Note the number of sugar grams and try to find a product with fewer grams of sugar.
- Choose unsweetened versions of the products you enjoy and more whole foods.
Switch to a Natural Sugar-Free Sweetener
The goal, of course, should be to satisfy your taste buds with less sugar. Until you reach this point, sweeten your coffee or tea with a natural sweetener alternative like Stevia. It won’t cause a spike in your blood sugar and has no calories.
Each week, gradually reduce the amount you add to your beverages and allow your taste buds to adapt to less sweetener. If you’re patient, this approach will work over weeks to months. Your taste buds will begin to perceive foods that contain sugar as overly sweet, as you cut back. After a while, you won’t crave sugar anymore.
Action Steps:
- Explore the sweeteners available that are based on Stevia.
- If Stevia isn’t to your liking, a monk fruit-based sweetener is another option.
- Slowly cut back on all sweeteners over weeks to months.
Choose Healthier “Sweets”
If you enjoy something sweet after a meal, switch the cookie or brownie for something naturally sweet that also contains fiber and lots of nutrients. How about a bowl of blueberries with a touch of whipped cream instead of that cookie packed with processed sugar?
Blueberries satisfy a sweet tooth but supply your body with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. In fact, blueberries are one of the most nutrient-dense foods and are linked with heart and brain health. Over time, you will come to appreciate the natural sweetness of berries.
Action Steps:
- Switch sugary desserts for fruit.
- A square of dark chocolate with less than 6 grams of sugar is another dessert option.
Cut Portion Sizes on Foods High in Sugar
Until you can tame your desire to eat sugar, cut the portion sizes of the sugary foods you already eat. Cut the size by 30 to 50%. Another option is to cut the size and add something low in sugar to make up the difference. For example, eat a half cookie with a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts. You’ll reduce the amount of sugar you’re getting while still getting an enjoyable snack.
Action Steps:
Don’t snack out of bags and boxes. Set aside a small portion to enjoy.
Reduce portion sizes for items that contain sugar.
The Bottom Line
Be patient and slowly scale back the amount of sugar you eat every day. The American Heart Association says men should reduce sugar intake to no more than 9 teaspoons per day while women should get no more than 6 teaspoons. Hopefully, these tips will help you shop and eat a little smarter and avoid sugar overload.
References:
- “Added Sugars | American Heart Association.” .heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sugar/added-sugars.
- “Sugar 101 | American Heart Association.” 17 Apr. 2018, heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sugar/sugar-101.
- Wölnerhanssen BK, Meyer-Gerspach AC. Effekte von Zuckerkonsum auf die Gesundheit und mögliche Alternativen [Health effects of sugar consumption and possible alternatives]. Ther Umsch. 2019 Sep;76(3):111-116. German. doi: 10.1024/0040-5930/a001070. PMID: 31498044.
- “Get the Facts: Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Consumption ….” 11 Mar. 2021, cdc.gov/nutrition/data-statistics/sugar-sweetened-beverages-intake.html.
- Rietveld A, Wiseman S. Antioxidant effects of tea: evidence from human clinical trials. J Nutr. 2003 Oct;133(10):3285S-3292S. doi: 10.1093/jn/133.10.3285S. PMID: 14519827.
- Jakubczyk K, Kałduńska J, Kochman J, Janda K. Chemical Profile and Antioxidant Activity of the Kombucha Beverage Derived from White, Green, Black and Red Tea. Antioxidants (Basel). 2020;9(5):447. Published 2020 May 22. doi:10.3390/antiox9050447.
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