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How to Cut Out Sugar from Your Diet
Are you looking for ways on how to cut out sugar from your diet? If so, you’re not alone. Millions of people are trying to reduce the amount of sugar they consume each day and with good reason!
Excess sugar consumption can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other health problems.
In this day and age, it’s not easy to avoid sugar in food and drinks with the readily available products on the market, most of which are packed with added sugar and many of which are marketed as healthy foods.
Understanding and identifying the biggest offenders in your diet and eliminating them will have the most significant impact.
This blog post will discuss the types of sugar and some tips and tricks for how to cut out sugar from your diet.
Refined Sugars
Refined sugar is made by extracting and highly processing the sugar naturally found in foods like sugar cane. This refined sugar is then added to foods for various purposes including enhancing the flavour of the food.
Refined Sugar is a pure carbohydrate. It doesn’t contain any minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, protein, or fibre whatsoever.
Natural Sugars
Natural Sugar is the type of sugar naturally found particularly in fresh fruits and vegetables in their natural state and does not contain any added sugar.
These sugars are pure carbohydrates, but unlike refined sugar, they contain nutrients like vitamins and minerals, unlike Refined Sugar.
Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are synthetic sugar substitutes, they are chemical additives that are sweeter than sugar but contain zero kilojoules/calories. Although some artificial sweeteners can be derived from herbs like stevia or from sugar itself.
Artificial sweeteners can have some positive health benefits, unlike sugar. For example, artificial sweeteners do not contribute to tooth decay and cavities like refined and natural sugar and are said to be better to use when trying to lose weight due to not containing any calories.
There has been a lot of speculation about how safe artificial sweetener is for you and a lot of research conducted. Generally, artificial sweeteners have been deemed safe when used in limited quantities.
So, How can you Cut Sugar from your Diet?
Sugar is in everything. It’s in our food, our drinks, and even in condiments like sauces and mayonnaise.
And while a little sugar is fine, too much can lead to some serious health problems.
One way is to eat more naturally occurring and low-sugar foods, meaning foods that have naturally occurring sugar that hasn’t been added in the process, combined with a well-balanced diet.
Low-sugar foods include fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains. These foods are packed with nutrients and fibre. Eating these foods will help to keep you feeling full longer.
Cut out Processed Foods
Processed foods are usually loaded with sugar and other unhealthy ingredients including preservatives and additives. Instead, focus on eating whole foods, and choose fresh, unprocessed foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.
Cook at Home
Another way to reduce sugar in your diet is to cook more meals at home. When you cook at home, you have more control over the ingredients that go into your food and can easily avoid adding sugar.
You also have control over what ingredients you are putting in, for example, ingredients that are fresh instead of processed, the portion size, and the variety of vegetables and protein.
Avoid Sugary Drinks
An easy way for most people to avoid or reduce their intake of sugar is a simple yet addictive habit that is to cut back on sugary drinks like soft drinks, fruit juices, and sports drinks and replace them with water or unsweetened tea or coffee.
You’ll be surprised how much of an impact this can have from just how much sugar intake you consume from hidden sugar in certain drinks.
Watch for Sugars in Condiments
There are a lot of sugars added to condiments such as sauces, mayonnaise, marinades, pasta sauce, and salad dressing to name a few. By preparing salad dressings and sauces yourself instead of buying pre-packaged ones, you can control the amounts of sugars added or omit them totally.
Limit Naturally Occurring Sugars
Let’s not forget about the natural sugars in foods like honey and maple syrup. While these are better for you than refined sugar, they should still be used in moderation. Sticking to a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy, and nuts is a good example to have in your diet.
Read Labels Carefully
Many “healthy” foods actually contain a lot of hidden sugar. Many supermarket foods contain high amounts of added sugars, so reading labels is crucial.
Be sure to check the food labels before you buy anything.
A rule of thumb, the first few ingredients on the label are what make up most of the product, the fewer ingredients, especially the names you haven’t heard of before the better!
Types of Names for Sugar:
- Granulated sugar
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Caster sugar
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Brown sugar
- Cane sugar
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Coconut sugar
- Sucrose
- Glucose
- Maltose
- Dextrose
Check your Pantry
Once you start reading the labels on products to see what is in the products for added sugar, preservatives, and additives, look through your pantry and do an audit on the usual products that you buy. As you start using up those products from home, have a think about what the product is made up of and if there is a healthier alternative.
These days there is an alternative to most things. It’s all about education and how we go about it to make our lives easier.
Eat Lean Protein and Whole Grains
Including more lean protein and whole grains in your diet can lower your blood sugar levels. These two food groups should make up half of your plate. Lean proteins, including lean meat, and whole grains have a high glycemic index which is also an excellent source of fibre.
According to one study, there was some limited evidence that when a high intake of sugar in your diet has been associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.
Meal Plan
As a busy mum, I have learned many times over the years just how important and vital meal planning is to maintain a healthier lifestyle and a way to evaluate and assess my eating habits.
Planning out the weekly meals not only helps with eating a variety of fresh, healthy, and wholesome food but it also can help you stay highly organised, and spend less time running around at the end of a busy day trying to think of what to cook, getting the ingredients and then finally cooking. We all know those days and how easy it is to opt for takeaway and highly processed unhealthy foods.
Staying ahead of the game with a meal plan ready to go can avoid making those bad choices and an easy way to cut out any unwanted added sugars and processed foods.
Mindset
It is important in any task you set out to achieve to have focus and a plan. Mindset is just as important, you need to have your mind in the right place in order to stick with what you set out to achieve. Like anything, it takes time to learn any new skill and time to align your mind to a positive outset.
Motivation
You need to be motivated and determined to want to do something in the first place in order to achieve what you set out to do. Without motivation, there is nothing to keep you going and stick to your goals. This comes back to mindset, having both of these are going to be vital. Ensure you are ready, you have set a plan including your goals and timeframes in order to be successful and know what you want to achieve.
Using a Journal
Having a Journal is much more than just writing little reminders in. There are countless benefits to journaling. You can read much more in-depth about the benefits of Journaling here.
Using a journal to record your week, schedule, weekly meal plans, daily food intake, and setting goals can help you manage and evaluate your eating habits and help identify habits you didn’t know you had. This can then help you to set goals to cut out sugar and other foods you identify in order to improve your healthy journey.
Staying Accountable
Accountability is another important factor in staying healthy and cutting out added sugars in your diet. When you are accountable, you are more likely to stick to your goals.
There are numerous ways to stay accountable, for example, you can hold yourself accountable by tracking your progress and setting goals, or you can find an accountability partner that you both can do together. Whatever works for you, make sure you find a way to stay accountable!
Reward Yourself
Making changes in your lifestyle, especially with your eating habits is going to take time, effort, and a lot of willpower to stick to and accomplish.
Setting small goals with manageable steps and a timeframe will help to keep you motivated and also stay on track. This can also help evaluate your process and identify any areas that you might need to change or improve on.
Once you have achieved your goal within the timeframe, rewarding yourself with a reward that is in line with your goals can help further you to achieve your bigger goals and drive your mindset and motivation and even build your self-esteem.
Health Benefits.
Lower Triglycerides
Studies have shown that cutting sugar from your diet can lower your triglycerides (type of fat in your bloodstream) and can prevent fat buildup in your blood, which may lead to serious health conditions. When you eat, calories that are not needed right away are converted to triglycerides and stored and used for energy. (Cut sugar to lower triglycerides – The Globe and Mail)
Better Immune System.
Sugar can harm our immune system, meaning sugar can kill the good bacteria in our body in particular the microbiome that helps to keep us healthy. You can read more from this fantastic article explaining this in further detail. (Your Microbiome on Sugar — Hyperbiotics).
Healthier teeth.
Cutting or reducing sugar from your diet can reduce the chances of developing cavities, tooth decay, or developing infections. Also, the naturally found bacteria in your mouth feed on sugar and release an acid that forms plaque.
By brushing your teeth regularly and reducing sugar intake, you can keep your teeth healthy, strong, and cavity-free.
Preventing Diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease characterised by high blood sugar levels, when limiting or cutting out refined sugar in your diet you are reducing the amount of sugar intake meaning you are lowering your blood sugar levels which can help stabilise your levels.
Prevent Heart Disease.
Diets high in sugar intake can affect the heart in several ways and can also be linked to weight gain. Sugar is known to raise blood pressure and increase chronic inflammation. (Eating too much added sugar increases the risk of dying with heart disease – Harvard Health)
Reduce the risk of Obesity.
High sugar and even regular sugar intake can contribute to elevated blood sugar, and insulin resistance, which are linked to weight gain and excess body fat leading to obesity. Sugar is addictive and causes increased cravings leading to unhealthy eating habits that can increase and progressively get worst with the more added sugars you consume.
Improve Mood, Skin, and Brain Health.
A diet high in sugar has been linked to acne, psoriasis, and other skin conditions. Your mood can also be affected by the effects of sugar and the side effects due to sugar cravings, this can also cause brain fog and the inability to clearly think and affect cognitive functions.
Better Sleep
When reducing the amount of sugar you consume, you may find that it is much easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. By reducing your sugar are a lot calmer and your blood levels are lower and stable.
Improve Nutrition
Incorporating a balanced diet of a variety of healthy, fresh whole foods can have a vast array of health benefits including a diet packed full of vitamins and minerals and reducing the abovementioned issues connected with consuming sugar.
Maintain a Healthy Weight
Cutting or reducing sugar from your diet can help to keep you focused on eating a healthy balance of fresh and whole foods, free from preservatives, additives, and highly processed foods. Also cutting sugar will reduce your sugar cravings and help avoid consuming unwanted extra calories.
Conclusion
Cutting out or reducing sugar in your diet has numerous benefits, including reducing heart disease, and obesity. It also helps you maintain a healthy blood glucose level.
Low-sugar diets have been proven to improve mood, skin, and brain health. It is a great choice for people who are prone to diabetes or are already diabetic.
By eliminating processed foods and sugary snacks and drinks, you can help yourself become a healthier person, while also eating delicious fresh foods and vegetables.
Following a reduced sugar diet by limiting refined and added sugars, you’ll be on your way to better health in no time! Just remember to take things slow and be patient with yourself. Anything is possible with the right mindset, dedication, and effort.
It takes time to break old habits, but it’s worth it in the end.
Good luck!
What are some of the ways you like to reduce sugar in your diet? Let us know!
Amy xx
This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.
- Accountability in Weight Loss: The Importance of Accountability
- 28 Day Challenge – No Time for Dieting – The Healthy Mummy
- 5 Lessons Learned in Weight Loss: Insights from a Personal Journey
- Plant Based Keto Lifestyle
- Importance of Fitness Routines for Busy Mums