5 Sweet Tips To Get You Started

Taming your sugar addiction may seem easy, especially now that Halloween is over. Just don’t buy candy, cookies and ice cream, right?

Not exactly.

Here’s the sneaky thing about sugar: it’s everywhere. It’s lurking in unsuspecting things like salad dressings, condiments, bread and most processed foods. Kicking the candy habit is definitely a great start to reducing sugar, but what else can we do?

Here are a few tips that have helped us reduce the sugar in our diet:

Read Labels: Less is definitely more in this case. The more ingredients listed, the more likely it contains sugar (also, the closer sugar is to the top of that list, the more there is). We also had to learn sugar vocab. Things like brown rice syrup, fruit juice concentrates, maple syrup, cane crystals and anything ending in ose (glucose, fructose, etc.) also count as added sugar. Told you it was sneaky.

Go Slow: We love enthusiasm, but cutting out sugar overnight can lead to things like headaches and even more cravings (depending on how much sugar you consume on a regular basis). Let’s taper, shall we? Using one pack of sugar in your morning java instead of two then gradually eliminating it altogether is a great example.

Swap Spices for Sweetener: Have you ever tried a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg in your coffee instead of sugar? You should! We love others spices too, like cardamom, cloves and coriander. They really amp up our faves like lattes, oatmeal and stews, but they don’t add sugar. Score!

Eat on the Regular: This sounds doable, right? Munching multiple times a day helps stabilize our blood sugar so we don’t end up famished at 3pm and giving in to the breakroom donuts. The trick is making sure our foods are a nice mix of healthy fats, fiber and protein so we stay fuller longer.

Don’t Drink Up: We all know regular sodas are jammed with sugar. But did you know many seemingly “healthy” drinks like enhanced waters, sweetened teas and store-bought smoothies can put just as much sugar in your diet? This goes back to reading labels, including the serving size. We’ve been duped by many a beverage before!

What are your biggest sugar cravings? Share in the comments! We bet others in our STRIVE community share your sentiments.

Sources:
www.health.com