How Do I Stop Eating Sugar

How To Stop The Sugary Drinks

Dont get fooled into thinking switching to juice from soda is a healthy idea. Some juices are just as bad, and theres nothing at Jamba Juice that should be replacing a soda, milkshake, or Starbucks-sweetened drinks. I know this because I tried. Also, do a little research on what kind of sweeteners youre comfortable eating. Ordering, or making, the sugar-free version of drinks you love but then loading them up with Sweet n Low can have other negative effects on your health. Make sure whatever sweetener alternatives youre using arent terrible for you in other ways.

Replace Soda With Healthier Alternatives

Clean Out Your Fridge And Pantry

Im sure that if youre someone who has a sweet tooth, your kitchen is full of products with sugar. Well, that just makes it super easy for you to give in to those cravings.

Just throw out all of those unhealthy products. I know, it may seem like a waste of money. But what money can be more important than your health and happiness?

And once youve thrown out those unhealthy products, it will be easier to begin your sugar cleanse and not to give in to those cravings because they wont be within the reach of your hand!

Read Also: Does Lowering Blood Sugar Help You Lose Weight

Things That Happen When You Stop Eating Sugar

The sugar statistics in the U.S. are pretty dreary. They say the typical American eats 6 cups of sugar every week. Thats 152 pounds of sugar in a year! Why are we eating so much sugar?

First of all, its everywhere. As the most popular food additive in processed foods added sugar is hard to avoid. Secondly, its highly addictive. Most of us are addicted to sugar, whether we realize it or not. Here are just a few high-sugar foods to avoid:

• High fructose corn syrup
• Soft drinks and energy drinks
• Some brands of cereal and granola bars
• Barbecue sauce and other popular store-bought sauces
• Pre-packaged cookies, crackers, and snack cakes

Eliminating sugar in your diet is a difficult task, but it can be done, and the rewards are many! Lets take a look at 12 things that happen when you stop eating sugar.

Stock Up On Healthy Fats

Don’t Miss: How Much Sugar In Wine

Sugar Detox Withdrawal Symptoms

Numerous studies have found that added sugars can produce changes in neurochemistry and behavior similar to those of other addictive drugs. When initially cutting out sugar after long-term use, one may experience withdrawal symptoms. Sugar detox symptoms should resolve within a few days, but may include:

My 6 Strategies To Stop Eating Sugar

Im not saying I managed to avoid added sugar completely through the holiday season. But I did come up with a few ways to not relive the Halloween binge.

I checked in with UVA nutritionist Katherine Basbaum, RD, to get her feedback on the choices Ive been making. Because, you know Valentines Day is coming. And Easter Mother-in-law or not, theres a lot of opportunities for me to shove too much chocolate in my mouth coming up.

A lot of the things youre doing are right on the money, Basbaum says. Lowering or limiting added sugars is a hard thing to do. Foods with added sugars might have good things in them. Or foods without added sugars might have things that will derail your diet in other ways. She underscores, for instance, that cutting out added sugar doesnt equal weight loss.

Still, Basbaum applauds my effort. Added sugars are one of the number one things I work with patients on, Basbaum says. Heart disease, diabetes, inflammation sugar is a detriment to all chronic diseases. If you have cancer or an autoimmune condition like rheumatoid arthritis, its like adding fuel to the fire.

Recommended Reading: What Sugar Level Is High

Youll Feel Lighter Brighter And Happier

Sure, eating your favorite cake or ice cream may make you feel better in the short term, but over the long haul, your mental health can take a beating. Did you know that overeating sugar is linked to depression? The underlying chronic inflammation that happens when we eat a high-sugar diet negatively impacts our brain function one of the reasons we get blue with too many sweets.

A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who ate sugary foods with a high glycemic index increased their risk for depression. Another study published in 2017 in the journal Scientific Reports found that men who consumed more than 67 grams of sugar every day increased their risk for depression when compared to men who ate less than 40 grams each day.

Just consider a small child after eating their Halloween or Easter stash. They often turn from little angels to pesky devils! If you want to eat to beat the blues, youll want to stop eating sugar especially if youre prone to depressive states.

Your Sex Life Will Get A Boost

Eating too much sugar is detrimental to your sex life. When you cut back on sugar, your libido improves, as does your bodys ability to get revved up for sex. For women, sugar disrupts the sexual hormonal balance. For men, eating too much sugar can lead to erectile dysfunction and low libido due to the insulin spike that takes over after consuming sugar. Let this be one of your motivating reasons for cutting sugar from your diet. Chances are, youll have better sex, and more of it!

Read Also: Is 260 Blood Sugar High

Increase Your Satiating Macronutrients

Satiating macronutrients are the foods that help you feel full and satisfied after youve finished eating a meal.

The top foods you should enjoy to help with your sugar cravings are:

Sugarfree Alternatives

• A good alternative is to incorporate sour additions like fermented foods to your recipes and meals. This helps combat sugar cravings, and bonus, theyre great for gut health!
• Make your own dressings.
• If youre someone who finds yourself buying premade products, check out this guide to the best-packaged foods for clean eating.

How To Quit Sugar For 30 Days

This article was co-authored by Kyle Kenny and by wikiHow staff writer, . Kyle Kenny is a Master Trainer, Certified Personal Trainer, and the Owner of KennyTRY Training. With more than seven years of experience, he specializes in helping people achieve their fitness goals by creating individualized meal programs, training regimens, supplementation systems, vitamin lists, and workouts. Kyle has multiple Personal Training Certifications and a Fitness Nutrition Specialist Certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 20,993 times.

If youve ever craved a late-night bowl of ice cream or candy bar, youre definitely in good company. As yummy as it is, too much added sugar isnt great for our health, and can eventually lead to health issues like diabetes and heart disease.XTrustworthy SourceHarvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical School’s Educational Site for the PublicGo to source If youre hoping to wean yourself off added sugars, a month-long detox could be a great step in the right direction. While there isnt a universal, no-sugar detox plan out there, weve put together some rough guidelines to help you get started.

You May Like: What Can Cause Your Blood Sugar To Be High

If You Stop Eating Sugar Will You Lose Weight

Research shows that elevated sugar consumption leads to weight gain.

Plus, a lot of processed food high in sugar includes starches and fat. When you consume sugar , you also consume these other, unhealthy ingredients.

So what happens if you, instead, eat the right foods with only natural sugar?

Your health will improve.. a lot!.

You see, foods like salmon, white fish, chickpeas, and beans include a lot of great nutrients that keep you full for longer. Some of them can boost your metabolism and regulate your blood sugar, which helps you stay energized throughout the day .

And with spices like cinnamon, mint, and ginger, you can actually make a lot of things taste sweet.

I never tell my students to completely cut out sugar, though. Thats what well look at next.

Replace It Neutralize It And Break It For Good

Soda might not be your thing. Maybe its frozen yogurt or Hot Tamales. Perhaps its sugar-filled flavored lattes.

Whatever it is, you may want to cut back on the amount of added sugar youre consuming on a daily basis. If youre not a quit-cold-turkey type of person, try to replace the habit as often as possible with a lower or no-sugar option youre less emotionally attached to.

Maybe swap for a flavored sparkling water or fruit-infused water before you jump down the soda wormhole. Gradually replacing means youre gradually neutralizing. The goal is to break the habit once and for all.

Being consistent is key. For example, if youre used to drinking soda twice per day, first work on cutting back to once a day, than once every other day, and so on until soda isnt a part of your typical diet. Same goes for other sugary foods like candy, sweetened breakfast cereal, and ice cream.

Read Also: How To Fix Your Blood Sugar

Complete Care: Supporting A Healthy Community

Sugar overload isnt typically a medical emergency, but a lifetime of eating too much sugar can lead to health issues that occasionally turn life-threatening. When that happens, our ER centers are here to provide you with top-notch, patient-centered care without the typical wait of a standard ER.

State-licensed and equipped to handle all of the medical emergencies that an ER attached to a hospital can treat, our Complete Care emergency facilities are here to help you get in, get out, and get on with life.

For emergency medical assistance, simply visit your nearest Complete Care ER location in Texas or Colorado Springs, CO. No appointment needed.

Also Check: Which Cells Produce Hormones To Regulate Blood Sugar

Cut Back On Sugary Drinks

Most added sugars in the American diet come from sugary drinks sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened teas, and others .

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

For example, 1 cup of cranberry juice cocktail contains more than 7 teaspoons of sugar .

Additionally, your body doesnt 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.

Drinks also dont make you feel as full as solid food, so people who consume lots of calories from drinks dont eat less to compensate (

Also Check: Does Almond Milk Have Added Sugar

Tips For Cutting Down On Sugar

Keeping tabs on how much sugar youre swallowing is an important part of a heart-healthy lifestyle, especially if youve been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes. The empty calories from added sugars in desserts, some drinks and candy can lead to weight gain and spikes in blood glucose levels.

The good news is that cutting down on sugar may be easier than you think.

Potential Signs Youre Eating Too Much Sugar

Upset stomach, irritability, and sluggishness are all possible warnings youre overdoing it on the sweet stuff.

Yaroslav Danylchenko/Stocksy

Sugar gets a bad rap, but the truth is that its a vital source of energy and essential to our survival. Of course, not all sugars are the same. Fructose found in fruits and vegetables and lactose in dairy-rich foods are natural sugars we dont have to be as concerned about because these foods also have fiber and calcium, for example. Added sugars, however, which are often found in processed foods, are those we could do without, and most of us consume too much of them.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 20202025, the average American consumes 270 calories of added sugars, or 17 teaspoons, each day.

RELATED: The 6 Best and the 5 Worst Candies for Your Health

Added sugars are anything thats added to food to make it taste sweet, and this includes natural sugars like honey and maple syrup. Even though they may be more wholesome than table sugar, its still contributing more calories but not much in the way of vitamins and minerals, says Jessica Cording, RD, a health coach in New York City and author of The Little Book of Game Changers.

Sugar is sneaky and can hide under 61 different names, according to the University of California in San Francisco. Despite your best efforts to make healthy food choices, you could be getting more sugar than you bargained for.

You May Like: Hyperglycemic Diet

Don’t Miss: What Does It Mean When Blood Sugar Is Low

Some Well Known Science

Before I even get into telling you how I was able to kick my sugar addiction, you need to understand why it is extremely important for you to do so as well.

Sugar is considered calorically dense

Its very easy to consume a lot of calories by either drinking or eating sugar. Its everywhere in high sugar foods, snack bars, sugary snacksname it.

If youre trying to lose weight, do note that this much sugar consumption not only increases your blood sugar levels, it also puts you more at risk to put on a few more pounds.

When consuming it, youre either replacing nutritious foods for sugar or adding extra calories to your diet. Thats why sugar is the first ingredient you should be on the look out for in any ingredient list, nutritions facts label or food labels.

Did you know how much sugar is in a can of coke? Well, a 12oz can of coke has 39 grams of sugar. Yeah, thats a lot of sugar when you really think about it.

Thats 39 grams of empty calories from your diet soda that you could replace with a cup of water, healthy dairy products like plain yoghurt, fresh fruit, dried fruit, or something with less to no sugar, like a meal replacement shake, for instance.

The reason I would insist on fresh fruit or plain yoghurt though, is that theyre perhaps the only ones you can be sure packs natural sweetness.

Excessive amounts of sugar puts you at higher risk for heart disease

Eating too much sugar can affect the heart in several ways.

Sugar is considered an empty calorie

Do Carrots Have Lots Of Sugar

No, carrots do not have lots of sugar. In fact, carrots are considered one of the lowest-sugar vegetables. A single raw, medium-sized carrot contains only 6 grams of sugar. Carrots are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals, providing many essential nutrients that promote good health.

They are also believed to have cancer-fighting properties and may even reduce cholesterol levels. Therefore, carrots are considered one of the healthiest snacks, and their low sugar content makes them an excellent choice for those watching their sugar intake.

Don’t Miss: Can Eating To Much Sugar Cause Diarrhea

Which Brings Me Back To My 11 Sugar Crushing Tips

Right now, I bet there is at least one simplistic thing you could do – something no hassle at all – that can cut a shockingly large amount of sugar from your diet. Something as simple as swapping a food brand or drinking an extra cup of water could make a LARGE impact in changing your relationship with sugar and finding your path to live with less of it.

Instead Drink More Water

H2Oh, yeah, baby. The good stuff.

Wake up and drink two large glasses of water to help flush out your system and lower blood glucose levels. Its especially important when you might be dehydrated after a big night out .

When youre dehydrated, the volume of blood decreases, and the blood glucose remains the same. This means more of your blood consists of sugar in other words, the concentration of sugar is higher.

Dehydration can also impair blood sugar control. So make sure youre drinking enough water. We explain how to work out your ideal water intake here.

Don’t Miss: When Is The Best Time To Test Blood Sugar

Try A Nitro Cold Brew Coffee

Move over cold brew, a new java du jour has arrivedand it may just help you lose weight. It’s called nitrogen brewor nitro brew for shortand it lives on barista countertops in a contraption that looks similar to a beer tap. The keg, filled with cold-brew coffee, is attached to a pressurized tap that infuses the brew with nitrogen gas, which makes the coffee bubble up, giving it a creamy, chocolaty taste that’s been described as being similar to chocolate milk. The foam at the top also adds a pleasing texture and seems to help cut through coffee’s naturally bitter taste. And since it’s naturally rich, you’ll probably be able to drink it sans sugar. For those of you without a nitro tap at your local coffee spot, opt for a lighter roast. The lighter the beans, the less bitter the brew.