According to several studies, the maximum percentage of sugar in the daily diet should be 10%. Sugar consumption in adults, in fact, is usually around 13-14%, while in children, the daily sugar intake is 17%. These figures clearly show that we consume too much sugar.
Now, you may be asking yourself, why should you cut down on sugar in your diet? We are, of course, talking about an important ingredient in our diet that should not be missing, however, consuming too much sugar (more than 10% of calorie intake) can harm our body in the long run and promote various diseases.
The purpose of this post is to reveal some useful tips on how to reduce sugar consumption in your diet.
The positive effects of a low-sugar diet
To better understand the benefits of reducing sugar consumption in your diet, we will summarise its positive effects on the body:
- Improvement of the general state of health.
- May promote better skin texture and acne.
- The result is healthier teeth and a reduced risk of caries.
- Prevents diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
- Reduces headaches (if you have previously had excessive sugar intake).
- Weight loss and weight retention is easier.
- Episodes of fatigue are reduced to zero, as blood sugar levels are more consistent.
Useful tips for reducing sugar consumption
Before reducing sugar intake in your diet, you need to get an overview of your daily intake. Achieving this involves, first and foremost, aim in a diary what you eat and the amount of food you eat in a week.
You can also easily use a nutrition-tracking application that can be used to track your automatically calculates your carbohydrate and sugar needs, as well as fat and protein. In fact, some apps can tell you if you're consuming too much sugar.
It is important to be honest, i.e. not to falsify this week's results to get a true picture of your daily sugar intake. If you notice that you are consuming more sugar than you should be, you can try doing without industrial sugar and sugar substitutes for one week. Be careful, there is a possibility that you may get tired and have more frequent headaches during these days (abstinence).
Here are some tips for reducing sugar consumption:
Drink enough water and avoid soft drinks
Sugar is often added to beverages, and we tend to add sugarHowever, soft drinks have a higher amount of this ingredient. It is best to avoid them and drink more water, as it is much healthier for your body and also saves calories. Not so keen on plain water? Add some lemon and mint to it.
Eat as little processed products as possible
Many processed products often contain a lot of sugar. If you are a regular consumer of processed products and want to do without added sugars, pay attention to the registration and check if it says "No added sugars". This means that no sugar has been added to the product and it only contains sugar that is naturally present in the product.
Pay attention to nutritional values
Another tip that can help you reduce your sugar intake is to take a closer look at the nutritional information on the back, as well as the list of ingredients. If a product does, in fact, contain added sugar, this does not mean that this product is bad. All depends on both the amount and the type of sugar added to the product.
The proportion of an ingredient in a product reveals the nutritional value. And it is not only the amount of sugar contained that is crucial, but also the type of sugar. Because natural sugar (like honey) is not the same as refined sugar.
Eating fruits in moderation and more vegetables
Fruit is basically very healthy and contains many different healthy vitamins, also contains a certain amount of sugar in the form of fructose (fruit sugar).. So make sure you consume no more than 2 portions of fruit per day.
Vegetables, on the other hand, contain much less sugar than fruits, so they are perfect for reducing sugar in the diet. In addition, a large portion of vegetables will keep you satisfied for a long time and contains many important vitamins and trace elements.
Access to healthy, low-sugar snacks
Especially when you have a snack you like to resort to something sweet. One way to avoid sugary snacks is to get out of the habit. completely, by consuming sufficiently large amounts of food.
If you feel that avoiding snacking is out of your reach, make sure you eat low-sugar snacks. Walnuts, for example, are the perfect snack for a low-sugar diet. They contain a lot of healthy fatty acids and fibre that keep you satisfied for a long time and are low in sugar.
Eat fresh fruit instead of squeezed juices.
Tableted fruit juices also contain a certain amount of sugar, so if you wish to reduce sugar consumption in your diet, it is better to cut down on them.
Instead, eats fruit or fresh vegetables, you will even be more satisfied with a smaller amount, reducing the consumption of this component. If you cannot do without fruit juices from time to time, dilute them with water.
Sweeten breakfast with fruit instead of sugar
If you like a sweet breakfast, you don't have to do without it. Simply omit the added sugar and add a sweet taste to breakfast with some fruit.as healthy berries.
Conclusions
As you will see, reducing sugar consumption in your diet is not mission impossible. However, you need a lot of willpower and a desire to see positive changes in your body. Remember that high consumption of this ingredient is associated with obesity and diabetes, among other health problems.
It is not necessary to completely eliminate your consumption, but it is essential to regulate it so that it does not exceed the maximum percentage recommended by specialists (10% per day). We assure you that with the aids described in this post, you will achieve your goal.
