If you're determined to kick your sugar habit, it's OK to stop cold turkey. The Mayo Clinic recommends taking a two-week break from sugar to reset your body. This doesn't have to be an outright cleanse, but try to limit yourself to foods with little to no added sugars or sweeteners — shoot for less than 5 grams of added sugars per serving.
Start by cutting out sugary drinks. They are the biggest culprit, accounting for almost half of the added sugars Americans consume. A ounce can of soda can contain as much as 10 teaspoons of sugar. Think of it this way: The American Heart Association recommends men eat only nine teaspoons of added sugar each day, while women and children should consume six teaspoons. Just like that, you can exceed your daily sugar allotment in five or six gulps of your favorite soda.
The spoonfuls and spoonfuls of sugar in soda explain why there are so many calories in a drink the size of your hand. There are four calories in a gram, so a soda containing 40 grams of sugar has calories.
It's easy to see how calories add up when that ounce soda turns into a ounce drink at your favorite fast food restaurant. You should also stay away from any baked goods, desserts and candy. Cereals, even the so-called "healthier" options, still have added sugars that can creep up on you.
Then there are unassuming foods, such as pizza or pasta sauces, that you wouldn't normally associate with having added sugars. A half-cup of a store-bought marinara sauce contains anywhere from 2 to 4 grams of added sugar, which amounts to a teaspoon.
As a general rule, look for words that end in "ose" — sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, lactose or dextrose. This is an easy indicator to spot added sugars. Don't let ingredients that sound better for you fool you, either. Honey, agave, maple syrup, brown rice syrup and juice concentrate are still added sugars. Now that you've reduced your sugar intake, what comes next?
For starters, introduce more whole foods — whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean meats — to your diet. Many fruits and vegetables still contain natural sugars, but the starch and fiber in these foods slows the digestion process and leaves you feeling more full. You can learn more by reading our blog post on healthy carbs. Researchers found that fructose, but not glucose, altered blood flow in areas of the brain that stimulate appetite.
So you want to especially limit foods containing high-fructose corn syrup such as sodas and sweetened cereals. You can control the amount of extra sugar you spoon onto your food, but sometimes it's hard to spot sugar hidden in presweetened packaged and processed products. That's why it's so important to read food labels and to know exactly how much sugar is in the foods you buy. Artificial sweeteners, which are sugar-free and typically lower in calories than sugar, might seem like healthier options, but that idea is controversial.
However, there's also evidence that eating these sweeteners, which are generally hundreds—or even thousands—of times sweeter than sugar, can make you crave sweets even more. You undermine the benefit of using artificial sweeteners, for example, if you use a glass of diet soda to justify having a bowl of ice cream. However, if artificial sweeteners can help you cut back on calories in a meaningful way, then they can be helpful in controlling weight and blood sugar.
You may wonder which artificial sweetener is best. All of the sweeteners on the market are considered safe. There were reports during the s linking saccharin to bladder cancer in rats that were fed extremely high doses of the sweetener. However, later studies didn't find any evidence of the same effect in humans. Aspartame was also linked to cancer at one time, but that association has also been disproved. Still, if you're concerned about the safety of your artificial sweetener, Dr.
Hauser suggests using sucralose, which has not been linked to any adverse health effects. Or, you can try a sweetener containing sugar alcohols sorbitol, xylitol , although these products cause diarrhea and bloating in some people. If you're "hooked" on sugar, don't try to eliminate all sugary foods at once. If you deny yourself even a single piece of candy or sliver of cake, you'll only crave sweets more. Instead, eat a healthy diet made up of more satisfying foods—whole grains, fruits, vegetables, healthy oils, and lean protein.
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Just like with regular white sugar, Avena underlines that it's very important to consume artificial sweeteners in moderation and get most of your calories from whole foods. But how to do this? Read on for expert-approved tactics for eating and drinking less sugar. People don't realize it, but not sleeping well can affect your sugar cravings. To help with cravings , aim for seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Oftentimes when we think we're hungry, we're actually just having a craving.
What's the difference? Next time you want to reach for that chocolate cake, ask yourself: if the only thing I had to eat right now was an apple, would I eat it? If the answer is "no," then you're probably having a craving and not actually hungry.
When you're hungry, what you're willing to eat is flexible, when you're having a craving, it's not. The next time you answer "no" to that question, take 20 minutes before you act on it. Often you'll find that the craving goes away; if it doesn't then allow yourself to mindfully indulge. Whenever I experience a craving, I'll either go for a walk or sip on sparkling water. I find that if I don't act on my initial craving and allow some time to pass, my craving will usually dissipate on its own.
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