WPG Health Update: 5 Tips To Reduce Your Sugar Intake
Whether your weakness is ice cream, chocolate, donuts, or all of the above, sugar is certainly tasty and addictive. Even if you aren’t eating candy bars and guzzling cans of soda, sugar is present in a ton of foods that we don’t even realize such as ketchup, sauces, and bread.
The more we eat, the more we want to eat and too much sugar can increase the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease, weight gain and overall poor nutrition. Women should have no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day and men no more than 9 teaspoons, according to American Heart Association. But Americans tend to consume 2-3 times the amount.
Here are 5 ways to reduce your sugar intake.
- 1
Read Food Labels
Reading the food labels is one of the best way to watch your sugar intake. You may be surprised how much sugar your favorite food or drinks may have in them, even if they are not sweet. The ingredients are usually listed in order and if sugar (or variation of the word - such as sucrose) is near the top of the list, then that product may not be the best choice.
- 2
Add Some Protein
A little touch of protein goes a long way, when watching your sugar. Foods with high sugar can cause your blood sugar level to increase and decrease quickly. When you combine protein with a sugary food, it will balance out your sugar level and create a healthier snack.
- 3
Go Unsweetened
Different soda brand names like Coke or Pepsi sometimes trick us by throwing the word "diet" on the soda can. According to Health.com, diet sodas usually include artificial sugars. When your body consumes sugar it expects to obtain calories and nutrition, which artificial sugars do not have. So a healthier choice would be water or a drink infused with natural sugars.
- 4
Be Natural
Foods with natural sugars are much more healthier than foods with added sugar. What kinds of foods have natural sugars? Well one in particular is fruit. Fruits like grapes, bananas, strawberries, and oranges provide vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. So You'll have have a sweet and healthy snack. The best of both worlds.
- 5
Say a Long Goodbye
Let's be realistic here, we're not saying to stop your sugar intake completely. The body needs sugar to remain in good health, just not an overabundance of it. Health.com says, gives a great example of how to cut the right amount sugar our of your diet. If you're a person who likes two packets of sugar in your coffee, try adding one for a week, then half, and progress to adding a drop of milk. That way you'll get that sweet taste your looking for, but with less sugar.
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