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Become sugar free in 5 steps

Sugar can have several negative effects on your health and can contribute to the development of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity and tooth decay. Sugar is found in many pre-packaged foods and can also be found naturally in fruits and some vegetables. Today we’re going to look at how you can drop foods with added sugar, while maintaining a modest intake of foods containing natural sugar.

When you’re searching for healthy food to eat it can be difficult to know what to choose. As with fats, sugar is extracted from a natural source and added to our foods to make them more palatable and more addictive. Sure, the chemical reactions which occur during cooking require fats or sugar to produce a particular sensation or mouth feel, to increase integrity of some foods, or to change the look of food. But the majority of the time the addition of sugar is all about taste. And we are attracted to sweet foods.

We have a reward centre in our brain which is set off like crazy when we eat sweet food. Its the same area of our brain that makes us feel good. And if something we do makes us feel good, our brain wants to do more of it. And this is how we start our sweet addiction. So today, we are going to go cold turkey. It’s time for rehab!

1. Eliminate sweet beverages

Sweet beverages, even the ones which are sugar free can still train your brain to seek out sweet foods. This inner drive is difficult to control and the more sweet food or drinks we have, leads to wanting more. But over time out brain needs sweeter food or drinks to get the same kick. We then start adding more sugar to things and before you know it, you’re hooked. This challenge is going to be hard. But set yourself the goal to drink plain old fashioned water. And when you need something with a bit more flavour, go for a tea or coffee. Just don’t add the sweetener.

2. Eat foods containing natural sugars

The natural sugars gained from food is pretty low, especially when you eat them in moderation. But what are they? Well they are the fruits we normally eat. But some of us have too much fruit or opt for fruit juice or puree.  Having two piece of fruit isn’t such a bad thing. Fruit contains plenty of vitamins and minerals and fibre. One piece of fruit often curbs the hunger feeling, but it’s a whole different story if you choose juice instead. Too much fruit will increase your calorie consumption and substantially increase your sugar consumption.

Remember two pieces of fruit is the limit per day. So when you’re tempted for a juice, consider how many pieces of fruit are used to create a glass of juice. If you’ve ever squeezed your own orange juice, you’ll know that a glass of orange juice is more than 3-4 oranges. That’s at least double your daily intake of fruit, additional calories and so much more sugar. The worst thing is that because it is a liquid, your body doesn’t need to work very hard to process it. And before you know it you’re hungry again. So choose in-season fresh fruit, but stick with no more than two servings per day.

3. Load up on leafy green Vegetables

Green leafy vegetables contain an abundance of nutrients from vitamins and minerals to other phytochemicals. Eating a wide variety of leafy greens throughout the day, will make sure we gain a nice balance of these nutrients and lessen the need to go for high sugar containing treats. Veggies will make you feel full and they contain much less calories than many other foods. So you’ll curb your desire for food after a belly full of vegetables. Its just about impossible to eat too many leafy greens. So dig in.

4. Check your labels

Even items you think look healthy can be hiding some nasty sugar in the ingredients list. But it is hard to tell what is sugar on ingredient panels these days. Your shortcut is to look at the nutrition panel and if sugar content per 100g is more than 15g you should move on. If it is more than 10g per 100g, then you should consider moving on.

You can also check to see if the high sugar content is due to the addition of real fruit. But remember fruit juice is probably a concentrate of real juice. meaning that it is juice minus some water. Leaving more sugar. It is a more watery version of syrup. It’s essentially just sugar. Cross-check the ingredient list with this list of sugars and make sure it isn’t in the top three ingredients, or that numerous types of sugar haven’t been added.

5. Don’t shop when you’re hungry

We know it’s not always possible but try to not to shop on an empty stomach. When we shop on an empty stomach, our brain and vision is enhanced. We spot colorful items more quickly and we pick up on colors like red which draws our attention. Our brain is in survival mode and is looking for what it sees at quick energy and these types of colourful products is like a beacon for our brain. Quite often we end up buying these types of foods and of course, once it’s in the house, it will get eaten.

So be on alert, make sure your brain doesn’t get the better of you in the supermarket. Have a snack or a meal before shopping to avoid the trap.

If you are struggling to shake the sugar addiction, please speak with an Accredited dietician or your Accredited Exercise Physiologist.