8 Simple Ways to Reduce Sugar Intake

Have you ever thought that you may consume more sugar than is good for you? You are not alone. According to recent research, the average American eats 17 teaspoons of sugar daily. Over the course of one year, the amount gets to 57 pounds, and that is a lot. Yet, another study proves that you can significantly cut your consumption without making significant sacrifices. If you’d like to learn practical ways to decrease your daily sugar consumption and improve your physical and mental state, this article is for you.

Why should you take sugar intake reduction seriously?

Before we proceed with the most effective tips on how you can cut down on that sugar intake, you need to be fully aware of why this is so important. First things first, sugar is an excellent source of unwanted calories. If you are trying to lose weight at the moment, this information will surely serve you well and may answer the question as to why your attempts aren't as successful as you would like them to be.

Aside from that, increased sugar intake can lead to the following health conditions:

• heart disease;
• diabetes;
• obesity;
• high blood pressure;
• dental issues;
• high cholesterol;
• chronic inflammation.

To make matters worse, there are even more health problems that can arise from the mentioned list.

8 effective ways to reduce sugar consumption

Are you ready to keep that sugar intake at bay? Here's how you can do that.

1. Don't rush it

No matter how fast you want to succeed with the task, it takes quite a while to retrain your palate. Besides, if you eliminate all potential sources of sugar in one day, the chances of relapsing are high. Thus, industry experts suggest that you take one step at a time. Start by getting rid of all the candies, cakes, and cookies in your house. However, there is always room for a cheat meal every now and then. Once you adapt to life without cakes and chocolate, you can decrease the number of sugary beverages you drink throughout the day. After that, cut back the cream and sugar you add to your coffee and so on.

2. Pay attention to the labels

The chances that you read the labels of every product you add to the menu are slim, which is one of the primary reasons why so many people abuse sugar without noticing it. The minute you eliminate all the obvious sources of sugar, you should revise the products that have added sugar. You will be surprised at how many foods that you consume throughout the day have sugar on their ingredients list. Those products range from salad dressings to milk and breakfast cereal. The trick here is to recognize sugar since it can be hiding under different names:

• Brown sugar
• Beet sugar
• Cane sugar
• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Rice syrup
• Demerara
• Sucrose
• Fructose
• Glucose
• Lactose

Once you learn how to spot sugar, you can better control your intake.

3. Stay away from simple carbs

A surprising scientific fact—simple carbs break down into sugar. In case you don't know which foods belong to simple carbohydrates, these would be white rice, pasta, and flour. The best way to reduce your sugar intake levels would be to switch to whole grains instead of all the mentioned products. You will barely notice the difference in taste, but the positive effect on your body will be tremendous.

4. Cross artificial sugars off your diet list

Wait a minute—aren't artificial sugars suggested as zero-calorie substitutes for actual sugars? Yes, they are. However, the trick here lies in the fact that your organism can't tell the difference between natural sugar and its substitute. Thus, your sugar cravings will only increase.

Here's the list of artificial sugars to watch out for:

• Stevia;
• Splenda;
• NutraSweet.

A word of advice, you can find those in most low-sugar and diet products.

5. Drink as little sugar as you can

The first thing that pops in your head when you think about sugary drinks are surely soda-like beverages. However, most specialty coffees, fruit juices, and sweetened teas also contain high levels of sugar. Swapping those drinks for homemade herbal tea, coffee, or sparkling water may be one of the greatest decisions in your life.

6. Decrease processed food consumption

Processed foods that many people can't imagine living without are packed with added sugars to the brim. That is why, the moment you start caring about your sugar intake, you have to refuse as many processed products as you can. Yet again, you don't have to give up on your favs in one day, but decreasing the number of those on your to-buy list will help you achieve the goal.

7. Plan your menu

We know – you are not a trained chef or a dietician, but you can still come up with a healthy and low-in-sugar menu. The critical part here is to plan your meals. If you know what you will eat throughout the day, the chances of overeating and spiking those sugar levels are slim. Sometimes, it is enough to spend a day a week planning your weekly menu, snacks included. Such an approach ensures that you don't reach out for a bar of chocolate whenever it is lunch or snack time, but eat your healthy meal or snack.

8. Plant a changeling on the menu

One of the main reasons why it is so challenging to refuse sugar is that your palate has no other flavor to substitute it with. Yet, you can trick your palate by enhancing the menu with different herbs and spices. For instance, you can start adding vanilla, cinnamon, or nutmeg to your tea or coffee to replicate the sugar-like sensations.

Final words

Sugar is bad for you. In most cases, it is utterly unnecessary and even dangerous to pump yourself up with the product, especially when you don't even realize it. Fortunately, there’s no need to switch to tasteless food since there are always loopholes and cheat meals to satisfy your hunger. Hopefully, the tips from this article will help you find a way to eat more healthily while still enjoying your meals to the core.