Tips for reducing sugar intake?

blonde20fan

Hi everyone! I am going to try to cut sugar out of my diet or at least cut my intake in half. What are some tips to try and foods that have hidden sugars in them? I would consider myself a sugar addict. Thanks a lot! Also feel free to add me as a friend!!

tigersword

There's really no such thing as "hidden" sugar. Just read nutrition labels. Sugar is required on them. Also, keep an eye on your fruit intake, as fruit tends to be higher in sugar.

taunto

Try to add honey in more stuff. For example, if you drink tea, use honey instead of sugar. Also, if you crave sugar, see if eating some fruits help curb that craving.

And the final advice that work alot for me is to start working out. Whenever I workout, I tend to lose my want for sugar automatically

PS. in my humble opinion, while fruits are high on sugar, I donot count fruit sugar since honey and fruits have natural sugar and I have never heard of anyone getting fat off of fruits....

rtaddlowe

There are some sugar free candies, like Werthers that are tasty and not many calories. there are sugar free jellos and puddings that are low in calories. One other thing that works for me is freezing grapes and rasberries and eating them as a snack because they are low in calories,

somigliana

I tend to snack on veggies rather than fruit for the most part.
I also avoid things like flavoured yogurt, flavoured oats, cereals with dried fruit in it, frozen yogurt, flavoured milk, fruit juice.
Sauces like BBQ and tomato sauce are also sugar traps.
Eat whole food, simply prepared and you should be golden

tigersword

Try to add honey in more stuff. For example, if you drink tea, use honey instead of sugar. Also, if you crave sugar, see if eating some fruits help curb that craving.

And the final advice that work alot for me is to start working out. Whenever I workout, I tend to lose my want for sugar automatically

PS. in my humble opinion, while fruits are high on sugar, I donot count fruit sugar since honey and fruits have natural sugar and I have never heard of anyone getting fat off of fruits....

Sugar is sugar, the human body doesn't recognize the difference between sugar in an apple, sugar in honey, or sugar in breakfast cereal. It's all sucrose, fructose, galactose, and glucose as far as the human body is concerned.

Also, sucrose (table sugar) is actually the lower calorie and lower sugar option than honey.
1 TBSP of honey contains 64 calories and 17.25 grams of sugar.
1 TBSP of table sugar contains 46 calories and 12 grams of sugar.

amie0724

I cut out sugar out of my diet completely . When you eat sugar it makes you crave more junk ,,,,and please stay away from sugar substitutes . read labels and just stay with the natural sugar from fruit ,but not fruit juice . It is a gradule process to cut out sugar from your system , you may feel low for a few days, but then you get the energy back from natural resources. good luck

Dabjagger

Reducing Sugar
Go to the health food store and buy some clear liquid stevia to use as a sweetner. It is a healthy, no carb, no calorie alternative to sugar.
Use it to sweeten anything you would put sugar on or in, coffee, tea, cereal, tuna salad, anything...
When you first start using it, just use one drop at at time, until you find the right blend. It can taste a little bitter if you use too much.

If you want to bake with it, it's best to get a stevia recipe cookbook to know how to substitute liquid or powdered stevia the best.

You can also learn about and add other healthier low carb, low cal, lower glycemic indexed sweeteners to your daily routine (Xylitol, erythritol, coconut palm sugar).

taunto

Try to add honey in more stuff. For example, if you drink tea, use honey instead of sugar. Also, if you crave sugar, see if eating some fruits help curb that craving.

And the final advice that work alot for me is to start working out. Whenever I workout, I tend to lose my want for sugar automatically

PS. in my humble opinion, while fruits are high on sugar, I donot count fruit sugar since honey and fruits have natural sugar and I have never heard of anyone getting fat off of fruits....

Sugar is sugar, the human body doesn't recognize the difference between sugar in an apple, sugar in honey, or sugar in breakfast cereal. It's all sucrose, fructose, galactose, and glucose as far as the human body is concerned.

Also, sucrose (table sugar) is actually the lower calorie and lower sugar option than honey.
1 TBSP of honey contains 64 calories and 17.25 grams of sugar.
1 TBSP of table sugar contains 46 calories and 12 grams of sugar.

Ah ok. Oh well, I guess I'll continue my ignorant path of eating fruits and honey. I'm kinda committed to this "unhealthy" lifestyle of eating fruits....

lewdug

Natural sugars are better for you. I don't really recommend using artificial sweeteners, even Stevia. But try to avoid high-fructose corn syrup. But using natural things like honey, agave nectar, maple sugar, and sugar in the raw are good for you. Don't discount eating fruits, though. They're important for a lot of your vitamin C, especially your citrus fruits. If you eat sugars, it's just much better to get them from fruits. It's not so much eliminating sugar or cutting it in half: it's more about the types of sugars you eat. I'm not at that point yet, since I still don't eat a lot of fresh fruit or anything, but I'm going to get better about it as I go on and get enough money to start purchasing more fruit for myself.

jsugihara86

For me, I know I will not stick to something if I cant have a bit of what I love. So.. instead of cutting it out completely, try eating 1/2 of whatever you would normally eat.

KeepingChocolate

I think the biggest "hidden" sugar is found in simple carbohydrates. For me, this translates into reducing how much bread and pasta I eat (since these simple carbohydrates convert to sugar during digestion). I'm trying to substitute vegetables as much as possible for pasta; for sandwiches I try to eat them open face so I get half the carbohydrates of a regular sandwich.

tigersword

I think the biggest "hidden" sugar is found in simple carbohydrates. For me, this translates into reducing how much bread and pasta I eat (since these simple carbohydrates convert to sugar during digestion). I'm trying to substitute vegetables as much as possible for pasta; for sandwiches I try to eat them open face so I get half the carbohydrates of a regular sandwich.

Bread and pasta are actually starches, which are complex carbohydrates, not simple ones. All carbohydrates break down into simple sugars, that's what carbohydrates are.

FlynnMacCallister

Try to add honey in more stuff. For example, if you drink tea, use honey instead of sugar. Also, if you crave sugar, see if eating some fruits help curb that craving.

And the final advice that work alot for me is to start working out. Whenever I workout, I tend to lose my want for sugar automatically

PS. in my humble opinion, while fruits are high on sugar, I donot count fruit sugar since honey and fruits have natural sugar and I have never heard of anyone getting fat off of fruits....

Sugar is sugar, the human body doesn't recognize the difference between sugar in an apple, sugar in honey, or sugar in breakfast cereal. It's all sucrose, fructose, galactose, and glucose as far as the human body is concerned.

Also, sucrose (table sugar) is actually the lower calorie and lower sugar option than honey.
1 TBSP of honey contains 64 calories and 17.25 grams of sugar.
1 TBSP of table sugar contains 46 calories and 12 grams of sugar.

Ah ok. Oh well, I guess I'll continue my ignorant path of eating fruits and honey. I'm kinda committed to this "unhealthy" lifestyle of eating fruits....

The point is not that fruits and honey are bad, but that sugar is the same regardless of the source. You would be just as healthy (although perhaps less happy!) designing a diet that gives you all the same nutrients, but all your sugar from refined sugar out of a jar. It doesn't actually make a difference.

freezerburn2012

To reduce sugar, get more of your calories from protein and fat.

No, I am not advocating a low-carb lifestyle.

lewdug

Try to add honey in more stuff. For example, if you drink tea, use honey instead of sugar. Also, if you crave sugar, see if eating some fruits help curb that craving.

And the final advice that work alot for me is to start working out. Whenever I workout, I tend to lose my want for sugar automatically

PS. in my humble opinion, while fruits are high on sugar, I donot count fruit sugar since honey and fruits have natural sugar and I have never heard of anyone getting fat off of fruits....

Sugar is sugar, the human body doesn't recognize the difference between sugar in an apple, sugar in honey, or sugar in breakfast cereal. It's all sucrose, fructose, galactose, and glucose as far as the human body is concerned.

Also, sucrose (table sugar) is actually the lower calorie and lower sugar option than honey.
1 TBSP of honey contains 64 calories and 17.25 grams of sugar.
1 TBSP of table sugar contains 46 calories and 12 grams of sugar.

Ah ok. Oh well, I guess I'll continue my ignorant path of eating fruits and honey. I'm kinda committed to this "unhealthy" lifestyle of eating fruits....

I think that you should go ahead an continue on that "ignorant" path. According to my nutrition class for nursing, it is always much better to get your nutrients from natural sources, including plenty of fruits and vegetables. Honey and fruits contain nutrients that pure table sugar doesn't contain, so you shouldn't stop eating them. Sure, the body doesn't know the difference between the sugar part, but the body does notice the nutrients, including antioxidants, that are in things like honey and fruit.

tigersword

Try to add honey in more stuff. For example, if you drink tea, use honey instead of sugar. Also, if you crave sugar, see if eating some fruits help curb that craving.

And the final advice that work alot for me is to start working out. Whenever I workout, I tend to lose my want for sugar automatically

PS. in my humble opinion, while fruits are high on sugar, I donot count fruit sugar since honey and fruits have natural sugar and I have never heard of anyone getting fat off of fruits....

Sugar is sugar, the human body doesn't recognize the difference between sugar in an apple, sugar in honey, or sugar in breakfast cereal. It's all sucrose, fructose, galactose, and glucose as far as the human body is concerned.

Also, sucrose (table sugar) is actually the lower calorie and lower sugar option than honey.
1 TBSP of honey contains 64 calories and 17.25 grams of sugar.
1 TBSP of table sugar contains 46 calories and 12 grams of sugar.

Ah ok. Oh well, I guess I'll continue my ignorant path of eating fruits and honey. I'm kinda committed to this "unhealthy" lifestyle of eating fruits....

Right, because I certainly said fruit is unhealthy. I'm simply explaining the fact the biologically, sugar is sugar, and source is irrelevant. If you're going to significantly cut sugar out of your diet, than all sugar must be accounted for, as it's all the same.

And yes, diabetics have to cut way back on fruit, because even "natural" fruit sugar can throw their blood sugar out of whack and potentially kill them.

Also, suggesting to someone who wants to eliminate sugar that they should replace it with a sweetener that has more sugar in it I will go ahead and say is ignorant.

blonde20fan

Thank you all for the great tips. I will be putting all this to use. I will still have my fruit when a craving hits, but I am cutting it out by half. I am eating way too much sugar. Thanks again!!