5 Easy Ways To Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Although a little bit of sugar is OK for most people, eating too much sugar can undermine your health in a lot of ways. Sugar can add excess calories to your diet, crowd out more nutritious foods, and otherwise contribute to aging, weight gain, and disease.

Here are 5 tips I’m sure would help in reducing your overall sugar intake:

Read Food Labels
You’ll quickly realize just how often sugar is added to foods when you look for it on ingredients lists. Even things that you don’t think are sweet, like tomato sauce, crackers, and salad dressings can be packed with sugar. Read the list of ingredients on the packaging before you make a decision on whether to eat/drink it or not.

Choose Healthy Snacks
In between meals, you might have the need to chew on a snack. In such situations, opt for a healthy snack. Healthier snack options are those without added sugar such as fruit (fresh, dried, tinned or frozen), unsalted nuts, unsalted rice cakes, oatcakes or homemade plain popcorn

Avoid Sweetened Drinks & Beverages
Nearly a quarter of our added sugar in our diets comes from sugary drinks such as fizzy drinks, sweetened juices, and squashes. A 500ml bottle of cola contains the equivalent of 17 cubes of sugar. Try sugar-free varieties or better yet, water, lower-fat milk, or soda water with a splash of fruit juice.

Trade sweetened foods for naturally sweet fruit
Replace foods laden with added sugar for fruit, which is naturally sweet and just as satisfying. Fruit – whether it’s fresh, baked, grilled, or pureed — makes a great replacement for sugar in lots of dishes, from cookies to coleslaw.

Buy unsweetened food
Once you know where sugar hides, you can start making changes. One strategy: buy foods labeled “no added sugar” or “unsweetened.” You’ll find unsweetened versions of these common foods in most grocery stores. For instance, go for unsweetened milk instead of the regular one. Also, when buying canned fruit, they should be packed in
juice—not syrup.

SL Fabz, do you have any more tips to add?