According to the German Nutrition Society (DGE), the maximum proportion of sugar in the daily diet should be 10%. In fact, sugar consumption in adults is often around 13-14%. In children, the sugar intake is even 17% of the daily calorie intake. These numbers clearly show that we are consuming too much sugar .
In this article, we will give you eleven helpful tips for everyday life that can help you reduce sugar in your daily diet and explain why you should reduce your sugar consumption in the first place.
Why should you reduce your sugar consumption?
Now you may be wondering why the daily sugar intake should be reduced at all. Sugar is, of course, an important component in our diet, which should not be missed under any circumstances.
However, excessive consumption of sugar (over 10% of 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 Consumption
1. Get an overview of your daily sugar consumption
To get an overview of your daily sugar consumption, it's best to start with a food diary. For a week, write down what you eat and how much of each food you eat. You can also simply use a nutrition tracking app for the documentation , such as MyFitnessPal or FDDB.
These apps then automatically calculate your need for carbohydrates and sugars, fats and proteins, and you can also see whether you are consuming too much sugar. It is important to be honest with yourself and not to distort the results this week so that you get a real picture of your daily sugar consumption.
According to the WHO, you should not consume more than 10 percent of your daily calorie intake in the form of sugar. For women with an approximate calorie requirement of about 1800 kcal, this would be a maximum of 45 grams of sugar per day . Men, with an approximate calorie requirement of about 2400 kcal, should not consume more than 60 grams of sugar .
Then take a look at your average sugar consumption over the week and compare it with the reference values above. If your sugar intake is above the maximum recommended amount, you should definitely reduce your sugar consumption. In recent WHO publications, the WHO even recommends a maximum sugar consumption of 25 g to 50 g (free) sugar per day.
2. Give up sugar completely for a week
If you find yourself consuming more sugar than you should, you can try avoiding industrial sugar and sugar substitutes for a week . You will probably get tired quickly and have more frequent headaches this week.
This is because your body is so used to the high consumption of sugar and then compensates for this "withdrawal". In addition, you can sharpen your taste buds again this week and believe us, after this week you will even taste that a pepper or carrot tastes slightly sweet.
3. Drink enough water and refrain from soft drinks
Especially in drinks, sugar is often added and you tend to consume the sugar contained unconsciously. In addition, the sugar contained in soft drinks deprives you of water, although you actually drink to hydrate your body.
The
best thing is to switch completely to water.
This is much healthier for your body and you also save calories. If you don't find pure water so tasty, add some lemon and mint.
4. Eat as few processed products as possible, reach for those without added sugar
Many processed products often contain a lot of sugar. If you use processed products and you want to do without added sugar, pay attention to the
label "Without added sugar"
.
This means that no sugar has been added to the product and only contains sugar that is naturally present in the product.
5. Pay attention to the nutritional values in 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 values on the back, as well as the list of ingredients
.
These two pieces of information, which are mandatory on every food, tell you what ingredients are in a product.
Even if a product contains added sugar, it does not necessarily mean that this product is bad. As always, it depends on both the amount and the type of sugar added to the product. The order reveals the proportion of an ingredient contained in a product. The further up an ingredient is lined up, the more of it is included. Often, in addition to the ingredient, there is also the exact percentage of the proportion of the reference quantity (usually 100g).
But not only the amount of sugar that is contained is crucial, but also the type of sugar.
Because sugar is not the same as sugar.
There are different types of sugar that also have a different effect on our bodies. 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 basically very healthy and contains many different healthy vitamins,
fruit
also contains a relatively large amount
of sugar in the
form of fructose (fructose). You should therefore also take care with fruit that you do not eat more than 2 servings per day.
Vegetables, on the other hand, contain much less sugar than fruit
and are therefore perfect for reducing sugar in your diet.
In addition, a large portion of vegetables keeps you full for a long time and contains many important vitamins and trace elements.
7. Get healthy, low-sugar snacks
Especially when snacking, you like to fall back on something sweet. One way to avoid sugary snacks is to
completely stop snacking and eat large enough main meals
.
If that's out of the question for you,
be
sure to
eat low-sugar
snacks.
For example, nuts are the perfect snack for a sugar-reduced diet
.
They contain a lot of healthy fatty acids and fiber that keep you full for a long time and are low in sugar.
8. Eat fresh fruit rather than squeezed juices
Pressed juices or fruit juices also contain a relatively high amount of sugar due to the high fruit content, and if you want to minimize your daily sugar consumption, you should avoid these juices. Instead, grab fresh fruit or vegetables and snack on them raw. This means that you can get full faster from a smaller amount and thus reduce your sugar intake.
If you cannot do without fruit juices from time to time, then
definitely dilute them with water, at least in a ratio of 1:3.
9. Season your meals sufficiently instead of sweetening them
Another tip to avoid sugar in your meals:
just use a few spices instead of added sugar.
For example, cinnamon
is perfect
for your breakfast.
Cinnamon also helps against cravings. If you season your food enough, it will taste nice and aromatic and you can safely do without the sugar.
10. Sweeten your breakfast with fruit instead of sugar
Of course, if you like a sweet breakfast, you don't have to do without it.
Just leave out the added sugar and add a sweet taste to your breakfast with some fruit,
such as healthy berries. Here's a recipe for a delicious smoothie bowl with no added sugar.
Cashew Green Smoothie Bowl – no added sugar
Accessories
-
Blender
Ingredients
- 50 g baby leaf spinach
- 100 g mango
- 1 Kiwi
- 40 g cashew
- 30 g oatmeal
- 1 tbsp cashew butter
- 80 ml water
- a dash of maple syrup to your liking
Toppings (at will)
- Cashew
- Verival Sport Muesli
- Flaxseed
Preparation
-
Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix them well until a creamy mixture is formed.
-
Then place the mixture in a bowl. If you want, you can also add toppings such as cashew, flaxseed or Verival Sport Muesli to your smoothie bowl.
Nutritional values
11. Don't go shopping hungry
Our last tip is about shopping. Who doesn't know it, you go shopping hungry and almost only sweets end up in the shopping cart. To prevent this,
you should not go shopping hungry and it is best to write a shopping list
.
This guarantees that you only buy what you really need.
The positive effects of a sugar-reduced diet
Finally, we have summarized the benefits of a low-sugar diet for you:
- Improvement of the general state of health
- Improved skin appearance and acne can be reduced
- Healthier teeth and lower risk of tooth decay
- Prevention of diseases such as type 2 diabetes
- Reduced headaches (if you have previously consumed excessive sugar)
- Weight loss and weight maintenance is easier
- No fatigue or afternoon lows as blood sugar levels are more constant
