Simple Ways To Stop Eating Lots Of Sugar
Eating too much sugar may be devastating for your health.
Added sugar, which is the sugar found in sodas, sweets, and other processed foods, has been shown to contribute to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and tooth decay .
Research suggests that most Americans eat anywhere from 5592 grams of added sugar daily, which is equivalent to 1322 teaspoons of table sugar each day representing about 1216% of daily calorie intake .
This is significantly more than the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendation of getting less than 10% of your daily calories from added sugars .
The World Health Organization goes a step further, recommending less than 5% of calories from added sugar for optimal health .
However, it can be challenging to slash added sugars from your diet. This article lists 13 simple ways to stop eating so much sugar.
Always Eat Breakfast With A Good Source Of Protein
Whether or not youre a breakfast person, its always best to make sure your first meal of the day contains a good source of protein. Protein is the primary nutrient that keeps your appetite satisfied its slow to digest and keeps blood-sugar levels stabilized. . Start your day with protein, which will keep your blood-sugar levels stable.
A few blood-sugar-balancing Paleo breakfast ideas include:
- 3 organic eggs with tomatoes, avocado, and turkey bacon
- A ham and spinach frittata
- A protein shake with berries, almond milk, and Paleo-friendly protein powder
- Smoked salmon and sweet-potato hash browns
Wlr’s 17 Tips To Help Reduce Your Sugar Intake
1. Get rid of it
Remove all sugar, white and brown, from your table and cupboards. Out of sight, out of mind! Or, go all out and completely get rid of all sweet treats, fizzy drinks and sugar from your home.
2. Go Sugar-Free
Opt for sugar-free or low-calorie drinks especially fizzy drinks. This will help not only reduce your sugar intake, but your calories too!
3. Try Adding Fruit or Spice
If you enjoy a lovely bowl of porridge or ready brek in the morning, instead of adding sugar or honey, try having your breakfast with some fresh fruit instead, adding natural sweetness. Porridge tastes great even with a little sprinkle of cinnamon.
4. Flavour your Water
Try drinking more water instead of fruit juice, squash and pop. You can add a little flavor to your water by throwing in some fresh fruits like lemon, cucumber, lime or even mint.
5. Try Salsa Instead
If you love a bit of ketchup with your meal, try substituting it for salsa. 1 tbsp of ketchup has nearly 4g of sugar. Salsa contains less than a gram. Try out our own Strawberry Salsa recipe if youd like to give it a go.
6. Choose Unsweetened
If you dont drink milk and choose alternatives such as soya or almond milk, make sure you choose the unsweetened variety.
7. Make your own Dressing
Enjoy a good salad for lunch but dont want it without dressing? You can still have a tasty dressing thats sugar free. Go for a simple balsamic and olive oil dressing rather than a heavier Caesar, or honey mustard dressing.
10. Get Fruity
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Can Diabetes Cause Weight Gain
If you have type 1 diabetes, when you start taking insulin, you might start to put on weight. There are lots of reasons for this, like how much insulin you take, your diet and the type of insulin youre taking.
Insulin is a growth hormone, and any growth hormone you take will mean putting on more weight. When youre diagnosed with diabetes its also likely that you lost a lot of weight in a short space of time, as this is one of the symptoms, and the weight gain is part of the recovery.
The type of insulin you take can affect your weight in different ways. Weve got more information about the different types and how they can affect your weight.
If youre worried about putting on weight, or youd like some help losing weight, then were here to help.
Wheres All The Sugar Coming From
You dont have to have a sweet tooth to be eating too much sugar.
Processed foods are Americans main source of sugar. These foods have been altered from their natural state so they look and taste good when theyre stored on supermarket shelves. Fat, salt and most importantly sugar are added in large quantities to most processed foods. In other words, theyre the opposite of the untouched, natural foods our grandparents lived on.
Its easy to find foods that are made with the worst ingredients you can eat refined sugars and white flours. Bread, pasta, soda, fast food, gourmet coffee drinks and cereal bars may taste good, but the amount of sugar in our food is making us fat, diabetic and miserable.
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Why I Need To Avoid Sugar
Im a middle-aged woman, so Ive had time to learn a few things about myself. One of those things is that Im never going to be a skinny person. Its not that I couldnt develop the discipline to eat only steamed broccoli for the rest of my life. I just dont care enough to do it. Ive got short, dumpy Irish potato farmer written all over my genetic code, and Im fine with it.
What I DO care about is avoiding:
Sugar threatens to make all of these horrors come true.
Your Risk Of Diabetes Decreases
One of the primary causes of type 2 diabetes is eating too much sugar. This means we have some amount of control over our diabetes risk. The majority of us can prevent this fatal disease if we make the bold choice to stop eating sugar.
Sugar increases our risk of becoming diabetic because high blood sugar levels are a large part of the diabetes equation. Eating too much sugar spikes blood sugar levels. Over time, high blood sugar levels can cause insulin resistance, which wreaks havoc on your liver, your pancreas, and other organs. While many factors contribute to diabetes, sugar is one of the key culprits.
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What Counts As Sugar
Sugar creeps into our diet in so many different forms. It naturally occurs in fruit, its added to processed food from sauces to cakes, and food producers try to mislead us by adding natural sugars in the form of fruit sugars, maple syrup, and honey.
Its all sugar! Even when its natural. I draw the line at removing fruit from my diet but try to minimize eating foods with added sugars even from natural sources.
I like to avoid drinking fruit juice. Its a big sugar hit and you can get the nutrients you need from eating whole fruit.
Heres what happens when you stop eating sugar for a month
How Does Refined Sugar And Flour Make Us Fat
Your body, digestive tracts and hormones are designed to process natural sugars, like those in fruits and vegetables. Refined sugar and flour affect our bodies differently than natural sugars:
- Natural sugars consist of long chain sugar molecules complex carbohydrates which are usually wrapped in fiber. Your body needs time to unwrap complex carbs to convert them to energy. This process breaking down complex carbs into smaller pieces so they can be absorbed and digested helps you feel full.
- Processed sugar and white flour consist of short chain sugar molecules simple carbs. Theyre not wrapped in fiber and are already broken into easily digestible pieces. Simple carbs are absorbed quickly by the body and cause a fast, substantial increase in blood sugar also called a sugar spike.
When we eat, our bodies secrete lots of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that directs sugar and calories to be burned for energy or stored in our fat cells as part of our normal, healthy body process.
Our bodies are time programmed to keep insulin in our bloodstreams long enough to break down carbohydrates. But our bodies cant immediately tell whether weve eaten healthy food or junk food, so even though simple carbs are absorbed quickly, the insulin hangs around and keeps lowering your blood glucose levels.
What happens when you have low blood sugar? You get hungry.
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How Much Is Too Much
Added sugars should make up less than 10% of a healthy daily diet. Thats about 11 teaspoons if you eat 1,800 calories a day. Some experts recommend even less than that: 9 teaspoons per day for men, and 6 teaspoons for women. A single 12-ounce can of soda has 39 grams of sugar, close to a days worth by any measure.
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.
However, if you live with others it can be hard to keep certain foods out of the house so you may want to have a plan in place for when sugar cravings strike. Studies have shown that distractions, such as doing puzzles, can be very effective at reducing cravings .
If that doesnt work, then try to keep some healthy low sugar snacks in the house to munch on instead.
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How To Eat Sugar To Lose Weight
Nope, you dont have to ditch the sweet stuff altogether to reach your weight-loss goals.
Okay, so mowing down a brownie after every meal isnt going to do anything great for your weight-loss efforts but we’re pretty sure you know that. What you might not be aware of is that you don’t have to completely eliminate sugar from your diet to slim down.
After all, healthy foods like fruits and vegetables contain sugar, and they’re still good for you. And eating a reasonably sized slice of that ridiculously good red velvet cake can help satisfy your sweet tooth and keep you from bingeing later on.
As it turns out, how the sweet stuff affects your weight has a lot to do with what sugar-laden foods you eat, when you eat them, and what you pair them with, says dietician Georgie Fear, R.D., author of Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss. So instead of forcing yourself through sugar withdrawals, adopt these sane, totally doable strategies to eat the sweet stuff and actually lose weight at the same time.
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2. Eat Sugar Alongside Fiber, Protein, and Healthy FatsI always tell clients to balance their carb and sugar intake with protein, fiber, and healthy fats, says Fear. All three of these nutrients slow the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream, which decreases the spike and crash in your blood sugar and your energy levels, she says. That means you won’t feel weak, shaky, or hangry 30 minutes after you eat.
Stress Less Sleep More
Have you ever wished for more hours of sleep and a less stressful life in general? Most people have stress and lack of sleep can be bad news for weight.
Chronic stress and inadequate sleep may increase levels of stress hormones such as cortisol in your body. This can cause increased hunger, resulting in overeating highly palatable foods and therefore weight gain.52 If youre looking to lose weight, you should review possible ways to decrease or better handle excessive stress in your life. Although this often demands substantial changes, it may immediately affect your stress hormone levels and perhaps your weight.
You should also make an effort to get enough good sleep, preferably every night. Strive to wake up refreshed of your own accord, independently of the alarm clock. If youre the kind of person who always gets brutally woken up by the alarm ringing, you might never be giving your body completely adequate rest.
One way to combat this is to go to bed early enough for your body to wake up autonomously before the alarm clock goes off. Letting yourself get a good nights sleep is another way of reducing stress hormone levels.
Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, goes hand in hand with sugar cravings.53 It also has an adverse effect on self-discipline and makes it painfully easy to give in to temptation . Similarly, sleep deprivation weakens your resolve to work out.
Sleep issues?
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Sugar Is In Everything
No, seriously. I thought I knew this when I read this article on deceptively sweet health food. Hidden sugars blah, blah. But no, really. Sugar is in everything. I learned to read nutrition labels even closer than I had been, which helped me make healthier choices. And thats a habit I can take with me beyond this month-long experiment.
Eat Less Dairy Products And Nuts
Can you eat as much as you like and still lose weight? This often works well with a low-carbohydrate diet, as appetite regulation often improves.54
However, despite the fact that a low-carbohydrate diet generally makes it easier to eat just enough, there are foods classified as low carb which become a problem in larger quantities. If you find yourself having a hard time losing weight on a low-carb diet, you could try to be more careful with:
- Dairy products
- Nuts
Dairy products contain varying amounts of lactose , which could slow down weight loss when over-consumed. Consequently, cutting back on dairy products may help accelerate weight loss.
This applies especially to dairy products typically lacking in fat, such as regular milk and various yogurts.
However, if youre struggling to lose weight, you should avoid large amounts of full-fat dairy, such as cream and cheese. Remember that, gram for gram, fat has twice the calories of carbs or protein therefore, high-fat, highly palatable foods can deliver a huge calorie load before you know it.55
When it comes to butter, you dont need to worry about extra carbs, as butter is almost pure fat. But, like any other source of fat, if butter is over-consumed, your dietary fat will be burned for fuel instead of body fat.
Nuts, the second food to watch, contain a fair amount of carbohydrate in addition to a significant amount of fat, and its very easy to unwittingly scarf down large quantities.56
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Youll Become More Mentally Sharp
Want to increase mental productivity and improve cognition? Stop eating sugar. Once you do, youll find how much more focused and clear your mind becomes. Brain health is sabotaged when youre addicted to sugar, and then act on your addiction.
A 2014 study published in Nutritional Neuroscience explains how a high-fructose diet causes hippocampal insulin resistance while also exacerbating memory deficits. Another study published in Molecular Neurobiology found a link between sugar consumption and negative changes in the brains frontal cortex changes associated with additional cognitive problems. If you want to stay sharp and on top of things, especially as you age, stop eating sugar. Your mind will reward you in spades.
You Wont Get Sick As Often
When you eat too much sugar, you wreak havoc on your immune system. But, when you stop eating sugar, your immune system is able to function in the way it was designed. The chronic inflammation linked to high sugar consumption lowers your immune response, making you more susceptible to colds and flus throughout the year.
When you stop eating sugar, youre likely to find youre far healthier and less likely to catch a cold or flu bug. One reason for this has to do with your white blood cells. For up to 5 hours after youve eaten a bunch of sugar, those cells are 50% less able to fight off bad bacteria.
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Lesson #: Breakfast Without Sugar Is The Most Challenging Meal
My first attempt to eliminate sugar from my diet was breakfast, and it proved to be harder than I anticipated. My go-tos: yogurt with granola, avocado toast, or cereal all contained sugar. Luckily, I drink my coffee black, so I didn’t have to alter my morning infusion of caffeine too-that would have been unbearable. I knew bagel day at the weekly office meeting-which fell on day eight- would be a big test. Bagels have both sugar and gluten, and in my mind, there is no acceptable substitute. Resisting this temptation was the toughest ordeal of the two weeks, but I held strong.
Sugar-free breakfast was an eye-opening experience. Before I even left my apartment, I was consuming more sugar than I even realized. Gluten-free oatmeal made with unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon, and apple slices became my challenge breakfast of choice-by the end, I didn’t even miss adding brown sugar! The challenge forced me to pre-plan to avoid a breakfast of convenience, but I ended up finding one that tastes good and is good for me. Another bonus: It kept me full until lunch, yet I didn’t feel bloated like, ahem, a bagel tends to do.
Why Is Eating Sugar Bad For Me
Sugar leads to increased inflammation in the body and the potential onset of serious diseases.
Dee Momi, nutritionist & founder of MINT Wellbeing, says this can manifest in all sorts of ways. From the most obviously visible weight gain , a higher risk of developing acne and fluctuating moods to the more critical, including increasing your risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
It also has the potential to disrupt an area of the brain, nutrition researcher from Brain Freed Ltd, Dishalni Senthilkumaran, says. Excess sugar can have an inflammatory effect on the brains memory centre and can be an increased risk factor in cognitive decline, whilst a 2017 study at UCL also sugar increases the likelihood of anxiety and depression. It can also deplete essential nutrients in our body, including magnesium.
We know that sugar can cause a positive rush over a short period of time. And while this is typically associated with hyperactivity in children, sugar actually triggers pleasure responses in adults too. Sugar triggers your reward and pleasure chemical dopamine, which is released when you derive pleasure from great food, sex and a sense of accomplishment. Excess dopamine can reduce novelty and prompt impulsive behaviour.
Coming down from a sugar rush as your blood sugar levels return to normal can leave you feeling fatigued, thirsty, with headaches and frequent need to urinate.
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