How to Eat Less Sugar - Part3 Sticking to Your Commitment

1 Clear your home of sugary foods. Don’t put temptation in your path! Keeping sugary treats like cookies, sodas, or white breads around your kitchen will only give you an opportunity to slip sugar into your diet. A cookie here and a stolen sip of soda there will add up over the course of the day. When you make the decision to reduce sugar in your diet, throw out or donate all foods whose nutrition labels mark them as too sugary for your new lifestyle.

·         This may not be realistic if you live with roommates or family members who don’t share your aversion to sugar. Talk to the people you live with about whether or not they would be willing to alter their diets for their own health.

·         If they don’t want to cut down on sugar, separate your food from the rest of the food in the house. Stake out one shelf in the pantry for your own food, and tell yourself you can only eat from that shelf.

·         Put your food somewhere else completely, where you won’t even have to see your roommates’ or kids’ sugary foods when you want to grab a snack or prepare a meal.

2 Manage your sugar cravings. Humans are just hard-wired to love sugar. Carbohydrates, including sugar, release serotonin in the brain, which makes us feel calm, relaxed, and just overall good when we sugary foods. When you cut sugar out of your diet, you may find yourself in sugar withdrawal, but there are things you can do to fight off your cravings.

·         Wait out your withdrawals. Just like any other addictive substance, you may feel cravings for the first 2 to 3 days after going cold-turkey with sugar. However, if you can stay strong for those first 72 hours, you’ll find your cravings will diminish.

·         Eat something else. You may get sugar cravings when your blood sugar drops too low, likely because you haven’t eaten in some time. Many foods, including vegetables, have sugar in them, though, and you can correct your imbalance without splurging on sugar.

·         Distract yourself by doing something else you enjoy. Listen to your favorite album, take a nice walk, or bury yourself in an interesting task at work.

·         While fruit is a much healthier option, it does still contain sugar. Eating a snack high in protein combined with a healthy fat will help curb cravings and keep you energized. For example, hard-boiled eggs and almonds.

·         Research suggests that chewing gum can effectively fight off sugar cravings. Obviously, look for sugar-free gum!

3 Don’t shop hungry. This is more than just common-sense folk wisdom — it’s the conclusion of scientific research. People who shop while hungry tend to purchase tasty, but unhealthy products at the grocery store. If you have a sweet-tooth, you’ll be more likely to indulge in your favorite snacks that you would if your hunger was satisfied.

·         If you’re hungry when you need to shop, eat a snack to tide you over until you can eat a full meal. A small, healthy snack eaten 5 minutes before your shopping trip will prevent you from bringing sugary foods home.

·         Many grocery stores now have options where you can order your groceries ahead of time and pick them up at little cost. This is a great way to control the food that you get in terms of their nutritional value, but it also prevents you from buying things that you just don't need, and in effect saves you money.

4 Focus on how good you will feel soon. When you cut sugar out of your diet, you’ll likely have strong cravings for at least a couple of weeks. However, if you can push through that initial barrier, you’ll find that your body feels healthier and your mood is improved. A reliance on sugar has been correlated with fatigue, depression, anxiety, poor sleeping habits, and hormonal and digestive problems. Even if you really want one of the free donuts in the break room, think about how much better you will feel once your cravings have passed. Be assured that just like any other "addiction," your severe sugar cravings will get better once your body has adjusted to the absence of sugar.

5 Remind yourself of sugar-related risks. Sugar is related to a wide variety of health issues, many of which might prove fatal if you don’t address your sugar consumption. Whenever you get a sugar-craving, remind yourself why you’re doing this: sugar is a cause of acne, infertility, certain cancers, osteoporosis, vision loss, and kidney disease. It’s also related to mood swings, depression, fatigue, and memory loss. Research suggests that sugar can cause fatal heart disease even in thin patients who seem outwardly healthy. Moreover, sugar is known as an “empty calorie,” meaning it adds calories to your body without any nutritional value. As such, sugar is closely linked with obesity — more so than even fat content.

·         While the causes of diabetes are complex, Type-2 diabetes is known to be caused by a combination of genetic predisposition and lifestyle choices, including diet. Though eating sugar will not necessarily lead to diabetes, it puts you at a higher risk, especially if you have diabetes in your family.

·         Though not the only cause, sugar is certainly the leading cause of tooth cavities that can be both painful and expensive to treat. Sugary foods can lead to tooth decay or gum disease.

6 Treat yourself from time to time. If you cut sugar out of your life entirely, you might find yourself thinking about it all the time. Instead, keep your sugar intake within the World Health Organization’s recommendation, which is 25 grams per day, and give yourself a treat once a week. Pick a day when you think you’ll need a treat, and let yourself cheat when you need to. Maybe you need a big, sugary donut breakfast every Monday to prepare for the work week, or maybe you need to unwind with a giant bowl of ice cream when you get home from work on Fridays.

·         Many dieticians believe that allowing yourself to cheat on any kind of restricted diet improves your chances of sticking to the diet long-term.

Tips

·         Decide on your goals and then hold yourself to those goals. Never permit exceptions!

·         When you go out to eat, share anything that is sugary. That way you can still have a taste without eating it all alone.

·         Read the labels on all foodstuffs - the most unlikely foods have sugar added to them: baby foods, tinned vegetables, crisps. These are the "hidden sugars" that do so much damage because we fail to account for it.

·         Putting black pepper on strawberries makes them taste sweeter. There is also an herb called Sweet Cicely - beloved of diabetics - which does the same thing. Strange, but true!

·         One possible natural sweetener is Stevia, which is popular in Japan and South-America; it can be hard to obtain in some jurisdictions. You will need to do your own research into the utility of this sweetener for your diet and refer to your local jurisdiction's assessments of it.

·         The average American consumes almost 160 pounds of refined sugar annually.

Warnings

·         You should check your BMI or Body Mass Index. If you are going to start dieting or anything then make sure you do not become underweight.

·         As well as being very careful not to have too much sugar you should not have too little sugar as it can cause blackouts to happen.

·         Don't become a sugar-hating fiend. The aim is to reduce your intake by a great deal but there are going to be some foods and occasions where you will consume more sugar than you'd normally do. Everything in moderation is your byword, and also keep the amount of sugar in perspective. For example, a bottle of sauce may contain a lot of sugar, but if you're only adding a dollop, you're consuming very little of it.