– Don’t be fooled by « healthy sugar » disguises. Brown sugar, turbinado sugar, raw sugar … it’s all pretty much the same thing as far as your body is concerned.
– Make a real effort to reduce or eliminate processed carbohydrates. Most processed carbs — breads, bagels, most pastas and snacks — are loaded with flour and other ingredients that convert to sugar in the body almost as fast as pure glucose. That sugar gets stored as triglycerides, which is a fancy way of saying fat.
– Watch out for « fat-free » snacks. One of the biggest myths is that if a food is fat-free it doesn’t make you fat. Fat-free doesn’t mean calorie-free, and most fat-free snacks are loaded with sugar.
– Shop for color. The more your grocery basket looks like a cornucopia of color, the better. It usually means you’re getting more fresh vegetables and low-glycemic fruits such as berries and cherries.
– Become a food detective. This tip is from the wonderful author and nutritionist Anne Louise Gittleman, who adds that « To reduce sugar, you have to know where it is first. » Start reading labels.
– Beware of artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately, they can increase cravings for sugar and carbohydrates. They can also deplete the body’s stores of chromium, a nutrient crucial for blood-sugar metabolism.
– Do the math. Look at the label where it says « total sugars » and divide the number of grams by four. That’s the number of teaspoons of sugar you are ingesting. This exercise alone should scare the pants off you.
– Limit fruit. (Notice I didn’t say « eliminate. ») Fruit has sugar, but it also has fiber and good nutrients. Just don’t overdo it. For weight-loss purposes, two servings a day and try to make most of them low-glycemic.
– Eliminate fruit juice. It’s a pure sugar hit with none of the fiber and less of the nutrients that are found in the fruit itself.
Source: Bowden, J. (2010). Top 10 Ways to Cut Back on Sugar. Diet Boot Camp workbook, p.126.
