Sugar is serious business. And many of us are addicted to the sweet stuff – or at the very least, getting way too much of it.
According to the USDA, Americans get more than twice the recommend amount of added sugar daily. What’s the big deal? Excessive sugar consumption can lead to weight gain, metabolic disorders (a precursor to diabetes) and even some forms of cancer. In other words, our sugar addiction could kill us.
And from a purely fitness standpoint, lots of sugar translates into extra body fat. A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down – but it will take 4 minutes of treadmill running to work it off!
What can you do to kick your sugar habit?
- Get your sugar where it occurs naturally – from fruits, dairy and vegetables.
- Avoid the obvious stuff like soft drinks, cakes, cookies, pies, fruit punch and candy.
- When you buy food, check the label. In the list of ingredients, look for any of these as they’re all forms of sugar in a clever disguise: Brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, syrup or table sugar.
The easiest and most effective way to cut some sugar from your diet is to simply replace any fruit or soda beverages with water. If you can replace just two sugary beverages with water, you’ll make an annual caloric savings equivalent to 22 pounds of body fat!
Hey Davey,
I love my sugar so much, especially in a cup of tea, would it be sensible for me to replace the sugar with a sweetner or is the sweetner just as bad??? i honestly dont think i could live without sugar in my tea.
Regards,
Paul in Ireland
If you can’t live without sugar in your tea, then put sugar in your tea! Just look at other areas in your life wherein you can cut back – like soda, sugary cereals, etc.
Hello Paul, I know it’s been a while since you asked, but I think this is integral for the community to know as well. Stevia is a wonderful alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. It is an herb, doesn’t affect blood sugar, no (or almost zero, don’t quote me here) calories, and may increase glucose tolerance making it perfect for diabetics. The only downfall is that it is a little hard to find now, though many larger grocery stores are starting to carry it. xx
in the bottom, you forgot “evaporated cane juice”, which is very common these days. i am a sugar addict
an organic, vegan one, but an addict none the less!
i think theres one thing youre missing here. its that to limit your carbs, because whether you eat refined sugar or bread, they eventually get broken down into sugar in your body and thats how most people get fat.
Honey is an excellent natural substitute for sugar … especially in tea!
Personally, i cut my sugar in what i make! but not what everybody else makes for me, because im skinny fat, they just wanna fatten me up, so sugar, and fats are in my diet, weather i like it or not. I am trying to cut it though
Great great website! Im putting this in “My Favorites”.
This is the thing with sugar and me….I am seriously addicted to chocolate..I am actually very active, I spin 5 times a week, I starting a p90x program, and I eat very healthy and when I say healthy, I dont eat any of the things that you included in your “worst foods to eat” list. I am a clean eater. But, once that chocolate craving starts, there is no way of turning away from it. I find myself pacing around, I start hyperventilating, I begin to panic and I will actually start fantasizing about the way chocolate smells and tastes in my mouth! I know, I have a problem…
I have something sweet once a week, just to take the edge off.
How can I stop these cravings? I honestly find that this craving is my biggest weakness when it comes to my nutrition and fitness goals.
I seriously doubt eating sweets once a week is gonna hinder your weight loss. If you really feel this way then work out extra to burn the calories you ate but I personally am also addicted to chocolate. I started buying dark chocolate (which is better for you) in flavors like cherry, ginger, mint etc from Whole Foods. Just the price alone makes me go slower with it. A serving of a certain on is 210-230 cals for 10 small squares. As long as you’re not binging and taking in 1000′s of calories from the candy is should be easy to work off or eat less of something else and fit it into your daily calories.