Cutting out sugar has been on the health radar for a few years now, it’s not recent news. However, you know it’s not good for you to eat all the extra sugar and yet some of you continue to eat it regardless of the health implications. The empty calories from added sugars in desserts, drinks and sweets can lead to fat gain and spikes in blood glucose levels.
The goods news is not all sugar is bad for the body. The bad news it’s not as easy as you might think giving up those extra sugars you are hooked on. The extra good news is once you have useful tips to take action then you can cut out the extra sugars.
Taking baby steps to cut out sugar for weight loss, and any other health goals, will make it more manageable and less overwhelming for you. Let’s take a look at 7 tips for cutting out sugar for weight loss/fat loss.
7 Tips for Cutting Out Sugar
1. Eat Fruit
Eat Nature’s candy! Fruit – fresh, frozen, dried or canned – is an excellent option for replacing all those extra sugars from sweets and desserts. Choose fresh as much as possible, and then the other options when fresh isn’t available. Choose fruit canned in water or natural juice, do not choose fruit canned in syrup (excess sugar!)
You can use natural sweetness such as maple syrup, agave syrup and coconut sugar, however you still want to keep these limited. The best thing is to focus on wholefoods such as fruit. Add berries to oatmeal, have fruit with nuts for a snack, add banana and berries to a smoothie and make ice cream out of frozen bananas. When you replace processed sugar with fresh wholefoods your palate will begin to reset and your body will be satisfied from the nutrients in the fruit which means you will crave less sugary processed foods such as biscuits, cakes and sweets.
2. Get Rid of the Sugar
Get rid of the white sugar. Empty your cupboard of the white sugar. Cut back on adding sugar to tea, coffee, cereal and other breakfast foods. Replace that white sugar with fresh fruit at breakfast or honey in your tea and breakfast foods. Enjoy other teas such as herbal teas for different flavours if you are used to an overly sweetened tea.
3. Substitute in Baking
Today we have access to many delicious and healthy recipes online. A quick google search will help you find an alternative sugar substitute to use in baking and give you a recipe for using that substitute ingredient. Some examples of sugar substitutes in baking: applesauce, banana, dates, honey, agave syrup, and maple syrup.
Here are 5 baking recipes with a sugar substitute:
Sugar Free Caramel Slice Bites
4. Find Balance
Give yourself time to adjust to your new foods, new palette and not eating the daily sugar-filled slice of cake. Once you are past the initial period of switching foods, allow yourself to see that you are not banned from the high sugar foods. Of course, it is best and healthier to eat low sugar foods, fresh fruit and wholefoods. However, on the odd occasions when you fancy your absolute favourite sugary food, give yourself permission to enjoy guilt-free and then move on and enjoy wholesome wholefoods filled with nutrients.
5. Read Labels
Learn to read the labels on shop-bought products. You will be surprised at the amount of sugar added to pre-made foods. One of the best solutions to this is to make your own food using wholesome fresh food. Often shop-bought food needs to add the sugar (and salt) to make it appealing after being stored for so long on the shelves. When making your own food you will see that you don’t need to add the sugar to make it taste good.
6. Do Not Drink Sugar
One of the simplest ways to cut out sugar for fat loss is sugar in sweetened drinks. Many shop-bought drinks are high in added sugars, such as soda, sweetened tea, fruit juices, cordials and fizzy drinks. Choose water, herbal tea and fresh fruit juice.
7. Use Spices
This does not mean adding curry spices to your drinks. When your taste buds are used to overly sweetened food and drinks, it is not able to enjoy other flavours. There are many delicious sweet-tasting herbs and spices that can be added to food to cut out sugar and make the food taste fantastic. Examples of spices include: cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom which taste incredible in oats and warmed drinks. Make hot milk using almond milk and cinnamon – it is incredibly satisfying!
Rebecca is a personal trainer and health & wellness coach who is passionate about helping women to feel healthy, happy and LOVE life. As a coach with a huge passion for vegan nutrition, holistic health, enjoying exercise and self care, Rebecca is on a mission to help women thrive!
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