How To Eat Less Sugar By Doing A One Month Challenge
Lose weight with a low sugar diet

June 1, 2011

This is both obvious and tricky. You know you should eat less sugar but your just don’t know how to. Lucky for you, we do.

Related: 6 Ways Eating Too Much Sugar Messes With Your Body

The Obvious

Avoid fizzy drinks, juice, sweetened teas and coffees, sugary cereals and chocolate.

Related: 14 Sugar-Free Treats You Need In Your Desk Drawer For When Those Sugar Cravings Kick In

The Tricky

Sugar hides on ingredient labels behind such names as…Barley malt, Brown-rice syrup, Corn syrup, Dextrose, Evaporated canejuice invert syrup, Fructose, Fruit juice, Galactose, Glucose, High-fructose corn syrup, Honey, Lactose, Maltodextrin, Maple syrup, Molasses, Organic cane juice, Sorghum, Sucrose, Turbinado

Our Advice

Try an experiment. For one month, use this list to avoid any sugar unless it naturally occurs in a food (like the kind in milk or fruit). When scientists at Cornell University examined the eating patterns of more than 14 000 people, they observed that those who ate the most baked confections and chocolate also ate the most fruit – so try satisfying your sweet tooth with the natural sugar in a peach or melon instead of a chocolate bar.

Related: Are You Having Too Much Sugar? Here’s How Much You Need

As dieticians like to say: “No one ever got fat from eating fruit.” Also, start substituting protein-rich snacks (low-fat cheese, hardboiled eggs) for seemingly harmless fare like bagels, popcorn and pretzels. The latter is primarily composed of starch, which your body quickly breaks down into sugar. So, technically, you’re still feeding your body