According to the German Nutrition Society (DGE), the maximum proportion of sugar in the daily diet should be 10%. In fact, sugar consumption among adults is often around 13-14%. For children, sugar intake is as high as 17% of daily calorie intake. These figures clearly show that we consume too much sugar.
In this article, we will give you eleven helpful tips for reducing sugar in your daily diet, and we will also explain why you should reduce your sugar consumption in the first place.
Healthy breakfast without added sugar – discover here
Why should you reduce your sugar intake?
Now you may be wondering why you should reduce your daily sugar intake. Sugar is, of course, an important part of our diet that should not be missing under any circumstances.
However, consuming too much sugar (more than 10% of your calorie intake) can damage your body in the long term and promote various diseases such as type 2 diabetes. Find out which symptoms indicate that you are consuming too much sugar.
11 helpful tips to reduce your sugar intake
1. Get an overview of your daily sugar intake
To get an overview of your daily sugar intake, it's best to start with a food diary. For a week, write down what you eat and how much of each food you consume. You can also simply use a nutrition tracking app such as MyFitnessPal or FDDB for the documentation.
These apps then automatically calculate your carbohydrate, sugar, fat and protein requirements, and you can also see immediately whether you are consuming too much sugar. It is important to be honest with yourself and not to falsify the results during this week, so that you get a realistic picture of your daily sugar consumption.
According to the WHO, you should not consume more than 10 percent of your daily calories in the form of sugar. For women with an approximate calorie requirement of around 1800 kcal, that would be a maximum of 45 grams of sugar per day. Men, with an approximate calorie requirement of around 2400 kcal, should not consume more than 60 grams of sugar.
It's best to look at your average sugar intake over the course of a week and compare it to the reference values above. If your sugar intake is above the maximum recommended amount, you should definitely reduce your sugar consumption. In more recent publications, the WHO even advises a maximum sugar intake of between 25 and 50 grams of (free) sugar per day.
2. Give up sugar completely for a week
If you notice that you consume more sugar than you should, you can try giving up refined and processed sugars for a week. You will probably get tired more quickly and have headaches more often during this week.
This is because your body is so used to high sugar consumption and then compensates for this ‘withdrawal’. In addition, you can sharpen your taste buds a little during this week and believe us, after this week you will even taste again that a pepper or carrot tastes slightly sweet.
3. Drink enough water and avoid soft drinks
Drinks in particular often contain added sugar, which you tend to consume unconsciously. What's more, the sugar in soft drinks dehydrates you, even though you actually drink to keep your body hydrated.
It's best to switch completely to water. This is much healthier for your body and you'll also save calories. If you don't like pure water, why not add a little lemon and mint?
4. Eat as few processed products as possible, and choose those without added sugar.
Many processed products often contain a lot of sugar. If you do eat processed products and want to avoid added sugars, look for the label ‘no added sugar’. This means that no sugar has been added to the product and it only contains sugar that is naturally present in the product.
Find out more about breakfast with no added sugar here
5. Pay attention to the nutritional information on processed products
Another tip for your grocery shopping that can help you reduce your sugar intake is to take a closer look at the nutritional information on the back and the list of ingredients. These two pieces of information, which must be provided on every food product, tell you what ingredients are in a product.
Just because a product contains added sugars doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad. As always, it depends on both the amount and the type of sugar added to the product. The order in which the ingredients are listed indicates the proportion of the ingredient in the product. The higher up an ingredient is listed, the more of it is contained in the product. Often, the exact percentage of the ingredient in the reference amount (usually 100g) is also listed next to the ingredient.
But it's not just the amount of sugar that's important, but also the type of sugar. Because not all sugars are the same. There are different types of sugar that also have different effects on our body. Learn more about different sugar alternatives such as agave syrup and honey.
6. Eat fruit in moderation and eat more vegetables
Even though fruit is generally very healthy and contains many different healthy vitamins, fruit also contains a relatively large amount of sugar in the form of fructose (fruit sugar). You should therefore make sure that you do not eat more than 2 portions of fruit per day. Vegetables, on the other hand, contain much less sugar than fruit and are therefore perfect for reducing sugar in your diet. What's more, a large portion of vegetables will keep you full for longer and contain many important vitamins and trace elements.
Healthy porridge with no added sugar – discover it here
7. Opt for healthy, low-sugar snacks
Snacking is a particularly good time to reach for something sweet. One way to avoid sugary snacks is to stop snacking altogether and eat sufficiently large main meals. If that's not an option for you, then make sure you eat snacks with a low sugar content. Nuts, for example, are the perfect snack for a low-sugar diet. They contain a lot of healthy fatty acids and fibre, which keep you full for a long time and are low in sugar.
8. Eat fresh fruit rather than squeezed juices
Due to the high fruit content, squeezed juices or fruit juices also contain a relatively high amount of sugar, and if you want to minimise your daily sugar consumption, you should avoid these juices. Instead, reach for fresh fruit or vegetables and snack on them raw. This will help you feel fuller faster from a smaller amount, allowing you to reduce your sugar intake.
If you can't do without fruit juice every now and then, be sure to dilute it with water, at least in a 1:3 ratio.
9. Season your meals well instead of sweetening them
Another tip for avoiding sugar in your meals: Instead of added sugar, simply use a few spices. For example, cinnamon is perfect for your breakfast. Cinnamon also helps to prevent cravings. If you season your food well, it tastes nice and aromatic and you can confidently avoid sugar.
10. Sweeten your breakfast with fruit instead of sugar
If you like a sweet breakfast, you don't have to go without it, of course. Just skip the added sugars and add some fruit, such as healthy berries, to give it a sweet taste. Here is a recipe for a delicious smoothie bowl with no added sugars.
11. Don't go shopping hungry
Our last tip concerns shopping. We've all been there: you go shopping hungry and end up with almost only sweets in your shopping cart. To prevent this, you should never go shopping hungry and you should also make a shopping list for yourself. This way, you can be sure to only buy what you really need.
The positive effects of a low-sugar diet
Finally, we have summarised the advantages of a diet with low sugar consumption for you again:
- Improvement in general health
- Improved complexion and acne can be reduced
- Healthier teeth and lower risk of caries
- Prevention of diseases such as type 2 diabetes
- Fewer headaches (if you previously consumed excessive sugar)
- Weight loss and weight maintenance is easier
- No more tiredness or afternoon lows, as blood sugar levels are more constant.
