How to cut out sugar from your diet

In general, we are eating far too many processed and refined foods, and far too few natural ones.

The majority of processed foods are made ‘on the cheap’ and therefore have ingredients that lack in nutrition, and also include sugars to make them taste good. Together with processed foods and meals, many of our favourite snacks and drinks are high in sugar, too.

Here are some tips to help you cut the sugars from your diet, and lose weight faster and more effectively than before.

The obvious one first

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Don’t eat sweets and sweet baked goods. I mean, you know there’s added sugar in those, right? If you’re serious about losing weight then they have to go.

It’s easy, just don’t eat them. If someone offers, say “No thanks”. You don’t have to explain yourself. If you’re craving something sweet, have a banana or an apple.

Drink responsibly

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Sodas are full of sugar. Diet sodas are full of sugar-replacement sweeteners that are (arguably) even worse for your body than the sugar they replace.

The bottom line? Don’t drink sodas or fake fruit drinks. There’s really no need. Water, tea, coffee – those are the drinks you can use to keep you going. Every now and then you can have an alcoholic beverage. But sodas? Just say “No”.

Learn the lingo

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With the recent negative reaction to sugar there are now a bunch of terms used on ingredient lists to fool you into thinking food is sugar-free.

Terms such as ‘evaporated cane juice’, ‘fruit juice concentrate’, ‘barley malt’ and ‘glucose’ are all the same thing – sugar. Don’t be taken in by the clever words.

Learn the power of other flavours

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Spices, chilli, herbs, oils, salt, texture – these are all contributors to the enjoyment of a meal. If you learn to use them, you will likely find that you are not so in need of sugar anymore because you will have found that the real value-for-calories in food comes from these other flavours.

Sugar is just a cheap way to get a smile onto someone’s face, but it doesn’t have lasting value.

How much sweetness do you really need, anyway?

The modern diet has created an environment where we all think that food needs to be heavily flavoured all the time. It’s very seldom you’ll find people who like to eat bland food.

While this is not an appeal to you to eat bland foods regularly, it is an appeal to you to think about how sweet your foods need to be. And if you think about it, you realise you don’t need food to be sweet at all. At its simplest, food is just fuel for your body. Let that sink in for a while.

This post appeared first on All4Women

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