7 Unusual & Easy Tips to Eat Less Sugar

Find out why sugar is so bad for you and exactly what it does to your body, along with 7 unusual ways to cut down on this addictively sweet stuff! Follow these tips, and you’ll be well on your way to weaning yourself off sugar and reducing your intake!

We’ve all heard it time and again: too much sugar isn’t good for you. Our wonderful doctors (an honest thank you to all you medical professionals!) tell us it can lead to obesity and health problems. Our dentists inform us it makes our teeth more susceptible to decay. Even popular culture has moved toward an emphasis on reducing sugar in our diet, which is fantastic. But…if it’s so bad for you, why on Earth does it taste so good? How can we slowly lessen the amount we consume when it calls to us?

The Harmful Effects of Sugar on our Bodies

There are two types of sugar: natural sugars and added sugars. Natural sugars are the ones found in fruits and vegetables. Added sugars include common granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, and things of that nature.  

Sugar (and especially added sugars) affects various parts of your body over time:

• Heart – According to WebMD, extra sugar causes your body to produce more insulin, which can inflame and stiffen your arteries, setting you up for heart disease. Per a study in JAMA Internal Medicine and summarized by Harvard Heart Letter (a publication of Harvard Medical School), study participants whose caloric intake consisted of 25% added sugar were twice as likely to die from heart disease than those whose intake was 10% or less.

• Brain – Per an article in Live Science, our brains can adapt and allow our bodies to develop a tolerance for sugar, leading us to ingest more to get any perceived benefits (more on this shortly). Sugar can also potentially affect the inhibitory neurons in our brains, which (as evidenced by their name) inhibit our impulses and cravings (leading to a cycle of eating sugary foods, dampening our self-control, and allowing us to continue to engage in eating more sugary food). High-sugar diets may also interfere with memory, affecting the formation of new brain neurons.

• Pancreas & Liver – Your pancreas produces insulin to process sugar. Too much sugar can cause your pancreas to eventually malfunction. Excess sugar can also produce fat build-up in your liver or inflammation/scarring.

So Why Does it Taste so Good if It’s Bad?

Sugar is an obvious source of energy and always has been for humans; soon after we eat it, we feel ready to go. So we’re programmed to find the taste pleasurable. Eating sugar releases the chemical dopamine in our brains, which is associated with happiness. Naturally, we’re drawn to something that makes us happy, even if it’s only for a short time. As mentioned above, if we stimulate our brains with this burst of gratification too much, we can develop a tolerance, i.e. we need more of the stimulant to get the same effect. (Sounds like a vicious cycle, doesn’t it?)

Ok, I Know It’s Bad for Me – So How Much Can I Eat?

According to the American Heart Association, men should strive for a maximum of 36 grams (or 9 teaspoons) of added sugar per day, and a max of 25 grams (or 6 teaspoons) for women. This may sound like a lot, but there are added sugars in quite a lot of our everyday foods.

Here are just a few of some of the common foods for added sugars to hide, per HealthLine:

• Fruit juice (one glass of juice = way more pieces of fruit than you would normally eat in one sitting)

• Those Starbucks coffees and teas – oh my, I was so surprised at the amount of sugar in these!

• Condiments – ketchup and BBQ sauce usually have sugar in them.

• Granola/protein bars – lots of storebought varieties are produced with excess sugar.

• Sweetened iced tea – best to buy unsweetened or brew your own so you control the amount of sugar.

•  Cereal – yep, even in some of the “healthier” versions!

• Yogurt – flavored yogurts can be amped up with sugars to make them taste better to the masses.

• Packaged foods, including pre-packaged or frozen items.

You certainly don’t have to cut these foods out of your diet; they can be quite beneficial for many reasons. It may be wise to check out the nutrition labels, though, to see how many grams of added sugar are in the versions you typically buy. If the amount per serving is a significant portion of the recommended 36 grams for men or 25 grams for women, then perhaps look for an alternative with less. I’ve definitely been surprised when reading the labels of some of the more well-known varieties of certain foods, so I’d recommend you take a look at items in your pantry/fridge, or when you’re about to pick up that weekly item at the grocery store.

Some Tips for Reducing Sugar Intake (the “well known” tips)

Before I list my personal tips, here are a few standard tips for reducing the amount of sugar you eat (per Healthline and the American Heart Association):

• Familiarize yourself with the different names for added sugars. You may see cane sugar, honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, corn syrup, agave nectar, and terms ending in “-ose.”

• Don’t even bring the cookies or sweets into your house. “Out of sight, out of mind!” If you find yourself searching your cupboards for a snack and you actually see something sweet on the shelf, you’ll tend to go for it. (I find I’ll eat the sweet item literally just because it’s there, whether I actually want it or not!)

• Add less sugar and coffee creamers to your coffee or tea. You can also try adding milk (or lemon for tea) to change up the flavor a bit.

• Swap water for soda. If you’re used to soda, try slowly cutting down the number of servings per day.

• Try swapping out fruit for baked goods. You’ll feel more satisfied due to the fiber, and the natural sugars are healthier for you.

• Be careful when choosing low-fat foods. These can sometimes have more sugar in order to make them taste better.

• Cook your own food rather than ordering takeout. That restaurant food may be tasty, but you unfortunately can’t control the amount of sugar that may be in it.

• Eat more protein and healthy fats. These will help fill you up for longer.

My 7 Unusual Tips to Eat Less Sugar

Like so many others, I’ve struggled with sugar quite a lot in my life. I’ve dealt with hypoglycemic/hyperglycemic episodes, and cutting sugar intake and then bingeing days later (sugar addiction is real). I don’t have diabetes luckily, but there is a history in my family, so I’m trying to cut down. Here are some tips that I’ve found work for me, in addition to the common ones above; maybe if you’re on a sugar reduction journey, they can help you too!

• When weaning yourself off sugary snacks, try starting out with sweeter varieties of fruit. Certain fruits are naturally sweeter than others. When you’re used to refined sugar, fruits that are more tart may be less appealing to your sugar-addicted taste buds. As a result, your resolve to swap fruit for sugar may go downhill. I’ve found that mangos, dates, watermelon, bananas, and red grapes (versus green grapes) are on the sweeter side, and so I’m naturally more drawn to these as an alternative to cookies. Once you eat refined sugar less, these will even taste sweeter (trust me, it does work!), and then you can move to apples and strawberries, which may be just a bit less sweet.

• Try making a cup of hot tea, using a fruity blend. I find that just tasting a fruity tea can help satisfy my desire for something sweet, no matter how much of it I actually drink. I think I just like the idea of a hot beverage. You can also try adding some warmed frothed milk to chai or cinnamon tea for a luxurious feeling.

• Add less sugar and more warm spices. When I make oatmeal, I cut down the amount of brown sugar I use and add some cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg (as well as a bit of banana or grapes). Adding these spices that are typically associated with sweet baked goods tricks me into liking the food more. Same thing with my cereal: I buy Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, which has a strong cinnamon flavor and only 9 grams of sugar per serving.

• Add caramelized orange bell pepper or onion, or sweet potato, into your dishes. I discovered by accident that orange bell pepper caramelizes nicely when sautéed on medium-low heat, and it adds a subtly sweet flavor. I’ve also included sweet potato in a vegetarian dish, and it added a surprising dash of sweetness to the recipe with no other sugar added.

• For a healthier chocolatey snack, try popcorn with melted chocolate drizzled over it. You could also try chocolate wafers, or a made-from-scratch chocolate pudding. I find the popcorn and wafers are lighter and airier, with less sugar content than cookies or cakes. I feel satiated more easily if I eat 6 mouthfuls of popcorn versus 6 squares of a candy bar. In addition, milk-based desserts tend to trigger my sweet tooth much less than a cookie (no idea why, but I’ll take it!).

• If you absolutely want a cookie or something similar, bake it, don’t buy it. Don’t buy a package at the store and have it sitting ready in your cabinet; bake a small (keyword: small) batch instead. This way you have to go through effort to get the sugary item. If the recipe says it makes 2 dozen cookies (which seems to be standard), halve or quarter it and split the cookies with others, so you just don’t have as many available to you.

• If you really want something, decide on one dessert as part of a restaurant dinner at the end of the week. This way, you have something to look forward to, but you’re not eating dessert all week long. 

I hope you found some of these tips useful! Let me know in the comments down below if you have tried any of these, or if not, which ones you’re excited to try!

For more articles on healthy eating, check these out:

• Healthy Alternatives to Popular Sugary Snacks
• 30+ Pantry Must-Haves for Healthy Cooking
• Top Tips for Meal Planning/Prepping and Batch Cooking
• 6 Easy Ways to Exercise Portion Control
• 8 Low-Sodium Snack Foods

Cover image photo credit: IStockPhoto.com/photoschmidt