Sugar provides absolutely zero nutrients, and your body does not need any sugar to function properly. In fact, too much sugar contributes to excess weight and insulin resistance, which can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes, a major health problem in the United States. Reducing the amount of sugar in your diet will not only promote weight loss, but can also reduce your risk of chronic disease.
High-Sugar Foods
When trying to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet, the first thing you should do is omit the obvious sources of added sugar, such as soda, candy, cookies, cakes and ice cream. Replace fruit juice with water, reduce the amount of sugar you add to your coffee in the morning and avoid high-sugar energy drinks.
Refined Carbohydrates
White breads, white rice, and processed and refined carbohydrates act like pure sugar in your body. When you consume carbohydrates that are highly processed, your blood glucose levels fluctuate significantly. As with pure sugar, you will experience a surge in energy, then a crash as the insulin released by your pancreas causes your blood sugar levels to drop. To avoid this fluctuation, choose whole grains over refined carbohydrates.
Hidden Sugar
Foods you think are healthy might actually contain excessive amounts of added sugar. Two of the most common culprits are yogurt and oatmeal. While many people believe that any type of yogurt is healthy, you should really choose only the plain varieties. Some types of fruit-flavored yogurt can contain as much sugar as a can of soda. Many instant and prepackaged oatmeal packets also contain high amounts of sugar. While the sugar might make the oatmeal more palatable, it does not do your body any favors.
Try to choose foods that are as close to their natural form as possible. Get plain yogurt and plain oatmeal and add your own toppings. Putting fresh fruit in plain yogurt improves its taste while still reducing the total amount of sugar you would consume if you bought fruit-flavored yogurt. Buy plain oatmeal and add a small amount of honey or brown sugar and some fresh nuts. The honey and brown sugar will contribute to your daily sugar intake, but this way, you can control sugar content.
Read Labels
Sugar by any other name is still sugar. While sugar might be listed on ingredient labels simply as sugar, it can also be hidden in packaged foods under a variety of other names. Read labels and become familiar with the different names for sugar. One important rule to remember is to look for any ingredient that ends in the suffix --ose, such as maltose or fructose. The --ose in the name indicates sugar. Sugar might also be listed as high fructose corn syrup, molasses, syrup, honey or fruit juice concentrate.
Avoid foods that contain sugar within the first five ingredients on the ingredient label, which indicates that the volume of sugar is high. Remember that it is not just sweet foods that contain high amounts of sugar, which is used during manufacturing as a preservative. Thus, foods you might not think contain high amounts of sugar often do.
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