By now, most of us know that eating too much sugar is dangerous to our health. While sugar is naturally found in foods like fruits and vegetables, and are needed by the body for complete nourishment, there are plenty of foods in our diet that has some added, and/or “hidden” sugars.
Here are some tips on how we can avoid eating too much added sugars:
- An obvious place to start is by limiting your consumption of regular soda or softdrinks, as well as the addition of too much sugar into your coffee and other beverages. Instead, use natural honey or fresh fruits to sweeten your tea and other beverages. Here are some better, lower-sugar drink options:
- Water: It’s free and has zero calories.
- Sparkling water with a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime: Homemade soda.
- Water with mint and cucumber: Amazingly refreshing in warm weather.
- Herbal or fruit teas: Drink them hot or cold with ice.
- Tea and coffee: Stick to unsweetened tea or black or flat white coffee.
- Avoid Sugar-Loaded Desserts such as cakes, cookies and ice cream. Instead, eat fresh, frozen, dried or canned fruits. Choose fruit canned in water or natural juice. Avoid fruit canned in syrup, especially heavy syrup. Drain and rinse in a colander to remove excess syrup or juice.
- Read food labels. Always read food labels to check for sugar by its many names. The closer to the beginning it is on the ingredients list, the greater percentage of sugar the product contains. Compare food labels and choose products with the lowest amounts of added sugars. Dairy and fruit products will contain some natural sugars. Added sugars can be identified in the ingredients list. However, food companies uses more than 50 other names for added sugar, which makes it more difficult to spot. Here are some of the most common: High-fructose corn syrup, cane sugar or juice, maltose, dextrose, invert sugar, rice syrup, molasses and caramel.
- Avoid sauces with lots of sugar. Be mindful of condiments such as ketchup and barbecue sauce, which can be high in sugar, and opt for lower sugar options such as salsa, mustard or hot sauce, or better yet, use fresh or dried herbs and spices to put additional flavor in your food.
- Eat whole foods. Whole foods are foods that have not been processed or refined. They are also free of additives and other artificial substances. Try to cook from scratch when possible so you can avoid added sugars. You don’t have to cook elaborate meals. Simple tricks like marinating meat and fish in herbs, spices and olive oil will give you delicious results.
/AET
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