Sugar has long been targeted as being the culprit of poor health. It increases the risk of weight gain, obesity, and a number of diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Consuming large amounts of sugar can also make our bodies feel sluggish and even promote worse eating habits.
Nutritionists and dietitians now encourage many of their clients not just to develop clean eating habits, but to adopt an entirely sugar-free lifestyle. Living sugar free not only has a positive effect on your health, but it can also boost your daily energy level.
Making this lifestyle change is a daunting prospect, and one that’s not easily accomplished. Here are five tips to help you make that change:
- Read food labels carefully
Get a better understanding of what is actually in the foods you consume by reading not only the nutrition facts, but also the list of ingredients. Even though the label seems to say that the food contains only a small percentage of your daily value of sugar, the list of ingredients can reveal otherwise. Anything that ends with “-ose” is a sugar (like glucose, fructose, and so on). The earlier these are included in the ingredients list, the more sugar is present in the food.
- Transition out of eating sugar
Some people like to cut sugar out, cold turkey, but others find it difficult to make such a drastic change all at once. Don’t beat yourself up for accidentally indulging on a pastry at work. Just return to your healthy diet once you notice and remind yourself of your goal.
- Balance the natural bacteria in your stomach
Everyone’s stomach contains bacteria that helps regulate health and digestion. Completely and immediately removing sugar from your diet can cause your body to initially be deficient in some nutrients, so it’s important that you take probiotics to support your body and help rebalance your internal system.
- Practice self-control
It can be difficult to break old habits, and choosing not to consume sugar is one of those. If you find yourself wanting sugar, take chromium supplements to help keep those cravings at bay.
- Eat more protein
Removing all the sources of sugar from your diet can cause you to consume less food in a day. To keep yourself from falling back on sugary snacking habits when you’re hungry, try to add more protein-dense foods to your diet. It takes your body longer to digest protein, which will allow you to feel fuller for longer and avoid the need to snack on other food.
