6 tips for sugar reduction

6 tips for sugar reduction

6 tips for sugar reduction

It is well known that excessive consumption of free sugars can be detrimental to our body’s health. Free sugars “include grape sugar (glucose, dextrose), fruit sugar (fructose), household sugar (sucrose), and malt sugar (maltose), or sugars found in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates.” [1] We often sweeten foods or beverages such as coffee or cereals ourselves quite deliberately. But most of all, sugar hides in processed foods.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends consuming no more than 5 to 10 teaspoons of free sugar per day. 10 teaspoons are equivalent to 50 g of sugar.

So how can we take care to keep our own sugar consumption as low as possible? Today we have compiled 6 tips for sugar reduction for you:

• Identify hidden sugar: When you buy processed foods like yogurts, cereals or juices, look closely at the ingredients on the label. Sugar often hides where you don’t expect it.

• Enjoy drinks unsweetened: It would be best to drink water and unsweetened teas. However, if you don’t want to sacrifice flavor, infused water is a great alternative. Provide a liter of water and add a handful of your favorite ingredients , such as lemons, mint, berries, ginger, cucumbers, etc. Let your infused water steep for an hour before enjoying.

• Reduce or replace sugar when baking: If you are baking a cake, then you can definitely reduce the amount of sugar to 1/3. Of course, you can also replace it with bananas or unsweetened applesauce.

• When it comes to dairy products, go for the unsweetened variety: natural yogurt, buttermilk or curd. The same goes for the plant-based alternatives, of course: buy soy/almond/lupine yogurts, etc. unsweetened. You can then sweeten them with fresh fruit or fruit purées.

• Reduce cravings for sweets: By eating foods that already taste sweet, you may find that your cravings for sweets diminish. Certain vegetables such as pumpkin or carrots, as well as cereals (e.g. millet, oats or spelt) already bring a sweet taste. Also, by chewing for a long time, you stay satiated for a long time and the craving for “sweets” becomes less.

• “Healthy Snacking: If you still want to snack, try whole and fresh fruit first. Or also with fruit mushrooms. Dried fruits such as dates or raisins also taste particularly sweet. But you can also simply make sugar-free energy balls and then enjoy them. You can find the recipe on our blog.

Sources

https://www.dge.de/presse/pm/empfehlung-zur-maximalen-zuckerzufuhr-in-deutschland/

[1] https://www.ages.at/themen/ernaehrung/who-zucker-empfehlungen/