I don’t know about you, but I love sugar and all sweets. The only problem with sugar is we tend to get too much of it and mostly through the wrong types instead of the naturally occurring forms without realizing that it can play havoc with our health from diabetes, inflammation, high blood pressure, liver disease, or possibly developing a heart attack to a stroke. How can we also forget the extra weight gain to aging our skin faster as it damages the proteins from within. Besides that, sugar also can effect our moods and energy levels. Given all this, here is how to eat less sugar per day without making it such a sacrifice.
According to the American Heart Association, we consume about 15.40 teaspoons of sugar a day. This amount doesn’t sound like much. After all, you may just stir a spoon into each cup of coffee or tea that you drink and think that you’re fine because you didn’t even touch a sweet dessert. Instead, they recommend women should have six teaspoons and men to consume just nine teaspoons each day to be on the safe side.
However, sugar comes in sources that we often don’t consider that also add up. For instance, instant oatmeal, breakfast cereals, granola bars, spaghetti sauces, salad dressings, packaged fruits, ketchup, barbecue sauces to low fat yogurt, which can have 7.17 teaspoons of sugar alone.
The biggest danger with sugar is that it is addictive due to the neurochemical effects it has on the brain. The reason for this is sugar releases opioids as well as dopamine once it enters the blood stream.
Then exactly what am I driving at in order to eat less sugar per day? To start, examining your beverage choices can help lower your average daily sugar intake. Soda, energy drinks, iced teas, sweetened lemonades, sport drinks contain lots more than you need. A best choice, but not always the tastiest is always water. Water helps to flush out toxins and hydrates the skin to plump out the tissues, a win-win for your health and complexion.
Instead of just boiling and draining away nutrients and flavor, try roasting some fresh vegetables such as carrots, peppers, potatoes or tomatoes. You’ll find doing it this way is how to eat less sucrose once cut into small pieces and mixed with a little olive oil. Roast them until slightly brown and you’ll notice how much this really sweetens them.
Snacking is a downfall for many of us. In order to eat less sugar per day, alternatives like air-popped popcorn, celery sticks and rice cakes aren’t nearly as delicious as sweeter and calorie-laden desserts, but they can help when you need something to munch between meals.
Spices and herbs are other ways that can assist you in how to eat less sugar. Ground cloves for one is usually reserved just for desserts, but try using it sparingly in cooking chicken, rice, beef, etc. really deepens and enhances flavor. In fact, you might want to pair it with rosemary and thyme leaves for a delicious twist. Cinnamon to cooked oatmeal is tasty.
Trying to eat less sugar is not always simple with our habits to the foods we buy. However, it can be done gradually and in a way that you won’t feel deprived once you set your minds to it.
