6 Ways To Stop Consuming So Much Sugar
Consuming too much sugar is never good as it can lead to obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. However, most people don’t know how much they’re consuming or how to curb the amount of sugar in their diet.
If you’re looking for a way to improve your overall health and wellness by reducing the amount of sugar you consume, this post will provide plenty of helpful tips.
1. Read Labels
If you shop for products with sugar listed as an ingredient, you’ll be able to understand how much sugar is in the product. This might be a shock initially if you’re not used to reading labels. However, be aware that some sugar-free foods list sugar as an ingredient because it is used for preservation purposes.
Another thing to note is that different countries use different labeling standards. In the United States, food companies need to list the number of calories, fat, and sodium, while other countries will list trans fats only when they are over a certain per serving size.
2. Consider Fruits Over Desserts
Desserts such as cake, ice cream, and cookies are primarily made of sugar and fat, which makes them unhealthy. If you’re looking for a sweet treat, consider eating fruit or freeze-dried snacks instead of a full cake or ice cream.
Fruit is sweet but is healthy and nutritious. For example, bananas are low in sugar, so that’s a good fresh start. Apples are good substitutes for cakes or pies. Other delicious fruits include mangoes or apricots.
Eating fruits will help you reduce your sugar intake and give you a little boost of nutritional value to your diet. That is because fruits contain vitamins, minerals, and fiber that you need to stay healthy.
3. Replace Sugary Drinks with Water
If you crave a sugary drink, try drinking water instead. Soda and juice can be unhealthy. If you don’t normally drink sugary drinks, it’s okay to have one once in a while. However, making sugary drinks a main part of your diet is not recommended.
You should consider replacing sugary drinks with sugar-free drinks or water since it is naturally low-calorie. This might also help you lose weight without affecting your lifestyle.
Fruit juices and smoothies are also good drinks to consume. However, these are not recommended if they’re made with artificial sweeteners, which can harm your health.
4. Consider Natural Fats
Natural fats, such as coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado, are healthy fats that you can include in your diet. You should use many of these types of fats due to their numerous health benefits. By switching out the unhealthy fats for healthier ones, you’ll be able to add more fiber into your diet while still enjoying the taste of fried foods.
Natural fats are great protein sources; you can use them to prepare meals and munch on them. This will help you reduce the amount of sugar you consume, as they contain less sugar than processed fats.
Additionally, whole grains are better than refined grains because the latter has been stripped of its most nutritious part. Whole grains will also help you stay full for longer, so you can eat less food each meal.
You should thus consider getting whole grain cereals instead of refined cereals to ensure you don’t consume sugar with your breakfast meals. As much as possible, choose pieces of bread made from whole wheat flour or with added bran to make it more filling. This can replace the usual white bread or toast that is usually sweetened before consumption.
5. Make Sugarless Diets the New Normal
Reducing the amount of sugar in your diet is a good start, but it’s not enough. A low-fat diet is a common way to live a healthier lifestyle and reduce unhealthy fats. Since this is already a widely accepted practice, you should follow this regimen regarding your health and wellbeing. A low-fat diet will help you lose weight without doing too much to your lifestyle and without having any problems with your digestion system.
6. Try Extracts
If you are someone who needs their coffee, tea, or hot chocolate fix, there’s a healthier way to achieve it. You may think that you can’t enjoy these drinks without added sugar, but that’s not true. There are a lot of coffee and tea flavors you can try out with various extracts such as vanilla, peppermint, or cinnamon, to name a few.
You can also add honey or milk cream if you want to give your drink more flavor while you reduce the amount of sugar in your diet at the same time.
Conclusion
Most of these tips might take some time for people to get used to because they’re quite drastic. However, they are necessary because they can help you achieve your goal of limiting sugar. You should consider the above tips when looking for ways to improve your health and wellness.