“How many more people in our family are going to be diagnosed with diabetes?” I asked, after my husband informed me he had prediabetes. We were already watching sugar at family events since my in-laws have diabetes, but now we were required to cut back even more. I thought we had been eating a semi-healthy diet, until I read that women were only supposed to consume six teaspoons of sugar a day. Sugar is sneaky. It hides in products I wasn’t even aware contained it. No wonder the average American consumes 22 teaspoons a day! I’ve discovered 4 simple steps to cut sugar from your diet. Over time these can make a big impact on health.
4 Ways to Cut Sugar From Your Diet
1. Be a spy and read labels.
Sugar can be hiding in places we might not expect, like vanilla lattes, fruit flavored yogurt, salad dressing and cereal. Once the sources of sugar have been identified and outed, we can make choices to cut down on the amount of these products we eat.
2. Be on the lookout for sneaky sugar aliases.
Just because the label doesn’t say sugar doesn’t mean the product doesn’t contain sugar. It can be hiding in many different forms, like fructose, maltose, sucrose, dextrose, or corn sweetener. Learn to recognize the other forms of sugar and watch out for the amount contained. If it’s the first ingredient on the label, prepare for a sugary overload!
3. Cut out sugary beverages from your daily routine.
Sure that soda tastes delicious, but it’s empty calories that won’t satisfy hunger. As a diet soda addict, I can say it is hard to cut these out of the daily diet plan, and I wouldn’t advise anyone to go cold turkey. Begin by gradually cutting down the amount and replacing with water. It’s healthier and much cheaper on the budget.
4. Begin to replace sugar with other ingredients. Don’t want to use as much sugar? Replace it with ingredients like agave or honey. You can also cut down the amount of sugar by using an artificial sugar blend, or a half sugar/half artificial sweetener blend.
Do you have any tips to rid your diet of sneaky sugar products?
I love that you have shared all of these different ideas. Sugar can be so good but can also be so bad for you.
These are all great tips. I have been looking for more ways to be able to make sure I cut back on sugars.
There are a lot of wonderful ideas here. Sugar is added to everything nowadays, so these tips can be very beneficial.
Thank you for the great tips! I need to cutout the sugar in my diet. I have stopped eating dessert, so that is a start!
yesss. thank you for sharing this. i am working to live a healthier lifestyle. i think i am getting better but i do have my moments and this will help
Carbohydrates also convert into sugar in your body so that is something else you need to watch. Honey is a great substitute.
My dad did a sugar detox for about 3 weeks.
He is always looking for replacements for sugar.
MY mom is pre diabetic and these are wonderful tips to help her cut back on sugar in her diet- and to be honest they are great tips for me and my kids as well!
Great tips! My mom is diabetic so we are cutting back on sugar in our house. Thanks for sharing these.
The aliases do get me. Knowledge is definitely power. You want to know what the names of the ingredients really mean.
Cutting sugars are really hard cause most of the time, I did not realized that those food that I’m eating is have a lot of sugar! This is smart idea, glad that I found it.
These are great tips! I love using honey in place of sugar but I’ll try your other tips here too.
Sugary drinks are my issue. When I cut them out during my pregnancy I had a huge change in energy, weight and mood. Its something I need to cut out again sadly.
Same here! Sadly, I love my flavored coffees, and sweets. I really need to be better and more strict with myself.
These are amazing tips- thanks for sharing! I know how much better I feel when I stop eating so much sugar- it’s good to see it’s not just me!
It is crazy how much hidden sugar there is in food. I am always looking for ways to reduce my sugar intake. I try to make as much of my food as I can.
I am usually pretty good quitting anything cold turkey. I did that a few years with my over consumption of soda. These are great tips to make it easier to quit sugar
I really ought to do this, but Im so nervous. If I make the leap, I’ll be suing these tips.
My tips are to simply try avoiding adding sugar. I do not mind natural fruit sugars though.
Over the past year I have worked very hard on cutting out sugar. I am now at the point where eating it makes me feel sick.
We rarely drink sodas. My trick is just not to buy it at the grocery store. If you don’t have it you can’t drink it.
Ah, there seems to be hidden sugar in a lot of different foods. These are good strategies! I’d like to cut sugar where I can.
These are great tips. I need to cut sugar out of my diet so I will try these.
I cut out pop cold turkey, and I immediately felt better. It’s just liquid sugar, and it spikes your blood sugar.