Tips & Healthy Alternatives to Search Out and Replace Sugar

These 3 Tips Are a Great Start to Make Simple Changes to Your Routine

Worldwide experts recommend no more than 6 teaspoons (25 grams) of added sugar per day for women, 9 teaspoons (38 grams) for men, and limits children to between 3-6 teaspoons (12-25 grams) per day. Yet, every day, Americans consume 3-6 times more added sugar than the maximum recommended by nutritional experts, with children and teens having the highest daily added sugar intake!

There is so much hidden sugar in our food, you may think you are avoiding it, when you very well could still be eating it! In fact, manufacturers add sugar to 74% of packaged foods sold in grocery stores. So, even if you skip dessert, you may still be consuming more added sugar than is recommended!

Friends - sugar is hidden everywhere and in everything! It hides in plain sight within food promoted as "healthy", such as cereal, yogurt, energy drinks and bars, as well as in savory foods such as crackers, salty snacks, condiments and pasta sauce.

Are any of these in your pantry or fridge?

It may be time to remove and replace them with practical, healthier options.

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The bitter truth is the alarming overconsumption of sugar is dangerous. Sugar impacts our metabolic health, immune systems, mental health, is a major contributor to chronic disease and, research proves, it can be a real addiction. Consuming too much added sugar over long periods of time wreaks havoc on our bodies! What can excess sugar do?

• Creates a biologic stress response by increasing adrenaline and cortisol, which overtime leads to insulin resistance

• Creates hormonal imbalances that dysregulate critical functions in the body, and causes resistance to hormones such as leptin, our body's natural appetite suppressant that tells our brains we are full and can stop eating

• Causes weight gain and fatty liver disease by turning to fat and locking that fat in our liver cells and in our adipose tissue (ie, waistline) as excess energy to be used later

• Depletes nutrients in order to metabolize it, thereby suppressing our immune system

• Heightens cravings by increases excitability of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, creating sugar highs and lighting up the addiction reward center in our brains

• Affects our mental health, driving feelings of being sluggishness or fatigued, anxious and even depressed

If you're dealing with any of these signs or symptoms, one of the simplest changes you can make is to search out the sugar that is most commonly used and restock with healthier options.

The reality is processed sugar offers no nutritional value and taxes your body’s systems. While most of us are not going to be totally derailed from our wellness journey by having a scoop of ice cream at a birthday celebration or enjoying a slice of pie during the holidays, we could all use a little less recreational sugar in our lives. Our modern dietary habits are sending our health into a downward tailspin. It's time to adopt a practical and sustainable real food lifestyle. Start by taking these three steps and click the link below for more support

1) Examine & reduce consumption of added sugars

2) Search out the sugar, prioritizing the most common

3) Restock with healthier alternatives, including DIY

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Tip #1 - Examine & reduce consumption of added sugars

No matter how careful you are to avoid the real thing, you still have to be extra vigilant to watch for added sugars lurking in what seem like healthy foods, such as yogurt, energy bars and drinks, and even tomato sauce. Food companies have quickly realized the opportunity to increase flavor with sugar, not only to sell products, but to create hyper-palatable foods that keep you coming back for more. Review the nutrition facts label and use this guidance as a starting point: choose packaged foods that have 10% or less of the % Daily Value for added sugars.

Tip #2 - Search out the sugar, prioritizing the most common

There are more than 200 types of added sugars that can be used in processed foods and beverages, with up to 75 different names listed on ingredient labels. Start by prioritizing - clean out your items that contain any of these: aspartame, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, cane juice, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, sucralose, sucrose, and saccharin. You'll be surprised where you will find these sugars. Review packaged products such as cereal, crackers, breadcrumbs, pasta, yogurt, energy drinks, prepackaged fruit smoothies, granola or protein bars, jam, nut butter, milk, sauces, soups, dressings, frozen waffles or pancakes and low-fat products.

Tip #3 - Restock with healthier alternatives, including DIY

Part of the process of removing and reducing sugars in the diet, is having to change your palate for sweets. For many people who are consuming vast amounts of sugars at every meal, in high concentrations, your palate has weakened. Sweet isn't sweet anymore, you need high amounts of refined sugar to taste any presence of sugar. Try the below as alternative to the sugars you're consuming.

• Try healthier sugar alternatives such as honey or coconut sugar versus traditional pure cane white sugar

• Rethink your drink. Avoid sugar-sweetened coffees and swap out sugar-sweetened beverages for plain or sparkling water flavored with mint, citrus or cucumber

• If baking, add unsweetened applesauce as a substitute for some of the sugar in a recipe

• Swap flavored yogurt for plain whole fat yogurt with fruit stirred in

• Take a page out of our ancestors' book and enjoy the natural sweetness of fresh fruit - baked, grilled, stewed or poached

• Make your own trail mix - combine your favorite unsalted or lightly salted nuts and seeds, raisins, unsweetened dried fruits with low-to-no sugar granola and cacao nibs

• Swap store-bought bottled salad dressings, ketchup, tomato sauce and barbeque sauce - which have a lot of added sugars - for homemade versions of condiments & dressings

Sign up to receive healthy swap tip sheets to start replacing & restocking with practical, healthier options.

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Challenge yourself to search out the sugar

Restocking my pantry and fridge was enlightening, to say the least. It is not an easy task to take on, but once you get started, over time, you'll find you add so much good, that it crowds out the bad. These tips are just a start. Challenge yourself to find 3 items you use regularly that have a high added sugar content and replace with healthier alternatives. Leave a comment below about what you plan to replace and how you plan to restock. Can't wait to hear!

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