Strategies for Reducing Sugar Intake: Personal Tips and Alternatives

I grew up hearing a constant warning about not consuming too much sugar because it'll leave a negative impact on health, although back then I didn't understand as I'm just growing and felt all of those were just adult strategies of preventing you from doing what you like and just wanting you to drink bitter herbs instead. But as time goes on and I grow in age and knowledge, I become more aware of the danger too much sugar can cause to our health, and today I'll be sharing tips on how I cut my sugar intake to maintain a balanced and healthier diet on a daily basis.

To be fair, sugar isn't necessarily bad to consume; in fact, when moderately consumed, it's usually a quick source of energy that we need to face the daily tasks and activities ahead. It's also a good ingredient that is used to sweeten food, ultimately making the food much more satisfying and enjoyable. In addition, sugar is one of the components that makes up a balanced diet, so we can't necessarily do away with it, and neither is it bad; what is bad is the excess intake of it. So with that being understood, let's take a look into how I curb/moderate my sugar intake.

My first avenue of reducing my sugar intake is probably the easiest to do, and that's as simple as picking up every food item package and reading the sugar level of the product as slated in the description of such products. Doing this easily helps me know the amount of sugar inside that particular package, and I can easily compare that with other items I'll be consuming that day to decide when I've had enough and when I should stop. Reading these descriptions can also easily prevent us from consuming something when we realize they've got too much sugar in them.

Additional in my bid to reduce my sugar intake, I prioritize home-made food where I get to monitor all of the ingredients I put in the meal rather than eating out, where they usually use loads of sugar and sweetener to enhance the tastes of their food. To be on a safer side, preparing one's meals is a good step forward towards moderating one's sugar intake because there you're the chef and can easily decipher which ingredients shouldn't be overused because of the amount of sugar that contains.

Fruit intake is another avenue via moderate sugar intake, because most fruits are naturally sweet and don't necessarily have sugar in them, so rather than putting sugar in most of my meals, I just eat fruit and still get the energy sugar would give me. With that being said, I'll also like to talk about some of my alternatives to sugar; these are things I use in place of sugar, and I hope you'll find it helpful as well.

To start with, rather than using sugar in my tea and other related foods, I tend to use honey, which is more natural and possesses loads of nutrients that the body needs; it's always an alternative to sugar because it also sweetens food, and when it comes to baking, I remember my sister once showing me a trick of how he can easily reduce the amount of sugar she uses in her back, and that's by using some things to take the role of sugar in her back.

One of which is mashed banana; she once processed this in my present, and I was thrilled by how well that cake backs out at the end of the day. Another alternative is dates; they can also serve the same purpose as sugar, but in a healthier way since we're trying to reduce our sugar intake, but then I understand that being addicted to sugar and sweet things can't be easily stopped in a day, and so that's why we can be committed to gradually reducing this in our day-to-day intake.

Take, for instance, that I'm addicted to drinking Pepsi, and it was not easy for me to just stop it when I realized it had loads of sugar in it, but with time I reduce the amount of daily I drink it in a week, and then I also seek alternatives in their other products that don't have sugar in them; take, for instance, that we've got zero sugar Pepsi and diet Pepsi, so something. Rather than taking the usual Pepsi, I just take these alternatives, and it tastes almost the same and satisfying my craving.

So that's to show that regardless of if there's sugar in a drink or not, I'll still drink it. I do drink herbs and other bitter drinks for health purposes, so it's not like I'm entirely a sugar or sweet thing person alone, and by the way, that something isn't sweet doesn't mean it's not sugary. To back that up, most beer and alcohol people drink are usually bitter, and yet when you check the amount of sugar in it, you'll be in awe because it's much more sugar than most of the soda we drink.

All photos used in this article are mine.