How to Reduce Sugar in Your Diet

Tips for Diabetic Meal-planning

Shaw Belt
If you're like many Diabetics, you are challenged to reduce or eliminate sugar from your daily diet. However, sugar is found in just about everything that you eat. From fructose that you may find naturally in fruit to refined sugar that is found in candy and cakes, sugar is everywhere and takes many different forms.

In order to better manage your Diabetes, it is important that you are not only aware of what foods have sugar in them, but you should also know what to do in order to avoid high-sugar foods without feeling as if you are depriving yourself of sugar. After all, when you feel you are depriving yourself of a certain food, you're more likely to crave that food.

Here are some tips to help you limit your sugar intake without feeling like you are depriving yourself of something you enjoy:

Switch to diet

If you are a regular soda drinker, it's important that you eliminate sodas from your diet in order to better control your Diabetes. One easy way of eliminating sodas without quitting cold-turkey is to switch to diet sodas. Many diet sodas taste very similarly to full-sugar or full-corn syrup sodas, but they contain no calories and no sugar. Eliminating sodas will also eliminate an extra few hundred calories from your diet, which will aid in weight loss. Look for full-flavor, no-calorie versions of your favorite sodas in order to see the benefits of sugar-free soda options. Eventually, it would be wise to eliminate sodas altogether, as even diet sodas often have large quantities of sodium.

Select sugar-free options

There are sugar-free options for many popular desserts and sweets, including cookies, cakes, and candies. If you are trying to control your blood glucose levels and reduce your sugar intake, then select these sugar-free options instead of their full-sugar counterparts. In many cases, such as with this almond pound cake, the sugar-free option is just as tasty as the full-sugar option, but won't pack on the pounds or increase your sugar levels.

Read the labels

Whenever you are trying to control your diet or reduce sugar, it is important that you are aware of the ingredients in everything you eat. From ketchup to salad dressing and everything in between, you may be surprised by how much sugar common foods and condiments have in them. Therefore, always read the labels so that you are aware of what you eat. After awhile, you will start to remember which foods have what amount of sugar and will no longer need this extra step, but take time to research in the beginning so you can get on the right track for health.

Resources:

http://shop.imtypefree.com/Sugar-Free-Dessert-Almond-Pound-Cake-p/407.htm

Published by Shaw Belt

Since 2004, Shaw Belt has been a freelance writer based in Richmond, Virginia. She specializes in feature article writing, search engine optimized Web content, and business writing.  View profile

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