4 simple tips to reduce your sugar intake

for a healthier diet, less tiredness plus ultimately losing weight (if you want to).

The WHO recommends a daily sugar intake of less than 10 percent of the total energy supply per day. Based on an estimated energy intake of 2000 kcal, this would be a maximum of 50 g per day.
However, average daily sugar intake lies far above.

Women at an age between 15 and 80 for instance eat about 79 g of sugar per day, men at the same age around 65 g per day.

Because of the multiple diseases and risk factors that go hand in hand with consuming too much sugar, these high daily intakes are fatal.

But help is in sight! These 4 easy and implementable tips will guide you through living without tons of sugar and highly important without risking your health.

Tip 1: Sugar has a lot of names- how to recognize it properly

If there is added sugar in any kind of food, it should be named in the ingredient list. Sounds easy, right? The only problem is: the term sugar occurs in over 50 different names. Some examples are glucose, dextrose, high fructose syrup, maltodextrin, rice syrup, barley malt, stock, and so forth.

Provide yourself with information about possible substitute names, maybe print them out as a list or write them down, and then study the ingredient lists of your most used-food. This way you can identify groceries with high levels of sugar and cut them out of your diet.

Tip 2: Sugar in beverages- nutrient-free energy bombs

Sweetened drinks such as fruit juices, lemonades, or nectars contain a lot of energy but almost no nutrients.

By only consuming one portion of these sugary beverages one absorbs around 20 to 34 g of sugar.

Therefore try to reduce your consumption of drinks that contain a high amount of sugar. Try to switch lemonades and fruit juices with water or unsweetened teas.

Tip 3: Convenience Products- sugar suits in well

Regarding food production and convenience products sugar fulfills several functions. Not only does it sweeten our food but it also helps stabilize, preserve, and moist our products. Furthermore, it is important for good texture and appealing color.

Eating fewer convenience products and more fresh, unprocessed foods automatically lowers your daily sugar intake and provides you with much more essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, or secondary phytochemicals.

Tip 4: The reason why

Oftentimes one consumes a lot of sugary food without ever thinking about the reasons behind it. Not uncommon, people consume sugar for emotional reasons instead of pleasure. Sorrow and boredom are the number one reasons for mindless sugar consumption.

Ask yourself: why do I crave sugar respectively why do I eat sugary food right now? and most important be honest about yourself. If it isn’t for enjoyment try to find coping strategies instead. Talk to someone about how you feel or try to spend some time in nature instead. Anything that keeps you from randomly consuming high levels of sugar is good enough.