Many people are looking for ways to lose weight and be healthier overall, but don’t always know where to begin. Whether you have already experienced health problems, or you simply want you and your family to experience better general health, there is one step you can take that can help you achieve this goal: reducing sugar in your diet. While this sounds like a simple task, it isn’t just as easy as switching from regular sodas to diet versions. To truly achieve the goal of reducing sugar in your diet, you need to know how to look for hidden sugars, and incorporate a few tricks into your daily low-sugar diet. Read on for a few tips on lessening sugar intake to achieve better health.
Know the Sugars
While some foods will explicitly say the word “sugar” in its list of ingredients, most will not. If you see the words fructose, glucose, maltodextrin or dextrose, the food you are buying contains sugars from these sources. By looking for these words, you will be able to be aware of hidden sugars that might be lurking in your foods and drinks, preventing you from being successful at a low-sugar diet.
Most Processed Foods Contain Sugars
If you weren’t looking at the ingredients label, it might be easy to assume that certain storebought prepared foods contain no sugar. For example, a can of corn likely contains sugar. However, if you buy fresh corn, or even frozen corn, you can eliminate this unnecessary extra sugar from your diet. By watching those labels, you can decide which foods you should buy fresh or frozen, or make from scratch, to continue on your low sugar diet.
Splurge on Occasion
Once you know that most processed provide you with more sugar than you need on your low sugar diet, you may be tempted to avoid them altogether. There are
, however, sugar free versions of many great packaged foods that can make cooking easy without giving you those unnecessary sugars. Sometimes these sugar free foods are more expensive than traditional versions, but they are still less expensive (not to mention less time-consuming) than cooking those same foods from scratch. Not only that, but if you find a great sugar-free candy or chocolate that you like, be sure to keep it handy so that you don’t end up giving into a craving and taking in too much sugar.
Don’t Let Names Fool You
Some foods and drinks that sound healthy and harmless, such as apple juice, actually contain added sugars that are not necessary. There are two great ways to combat this – you can purchase low-sugar juices or juices that have no added sugar, or you can skip the juice and have fresh fruit and water instead. Just be sure to watch the labels and don’t trust the name alone just because it has a healthy sound to it.
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