Carry on Beautiful!

It’s hard to argue that British people don’t eat far too much sugar. On average, we eat a massive 700g of it a week, which is an average of 140 teaspoons per person. Sugar that’s added to food, like table sugar that you have in your tea, and honey and syrup, shouldn’t make up more than 5% of our energy intake – that’s only 30g per day. As you can tell, there’s a huge difference between what we should be eating and what we’re actually doing! A lot of people think that eating fewer sweets is the only way to cut down on sugar intake, but that isn’t necessarily true. Read on to find out more!

Check The Ingredients Labels

There’s a lot of sugar in foods that you wouldn’t expect, like bread, crackers and salad dressing. If you’re a healthy eater, you probably already opt for brown bread – keep doing this, because white bread has far less nutritional content, but make sure you watch out for 100% whole grain bread instead of whole wheat, as it’s much better for you. Corn syrup is often added to many foods to entice people to eat them – make sure you look at the labels!

Cut Down On Sauces

Sauces like pre-made pasta sauce in jars, ketchup and barbecue sauce often have huge amounts of sugar in. When you’re buying readymade options, go for the ones with low sugar or sugar free labels. If you’d rather go for the healthiest option, make your own salad dressing by combining olive oil and balsamic vinegar with some salt and pepper for a more pure but equally tasty dressing. You can also make your own pasta sauce by making your own pesto or tomato sauce from fresh ingredients.

Check Out Other Sources Of Sweetness

I don’t know about you, but my sweet tooth is undeniable. I often enjoy something sweet-tasting after meals, but I’d prefer to eat something that isn’t heaped in sugar. Something that works for me is the miracle berry, which alters how the tongue perceives taste and adds sweetness to foods like lemon and other citrus fruits. That means you can enjoy healthier options while still tasting your favourite sweet flavours.

Go For Fruit Desserts

Natural sugars are a lot healthier than added sugars. Particularly in summertime, fresh berries like strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are a delicious and healthy dessert alternative to cakes and puddings. During the wintertime you can try out seasonal fruits such as grapes, passion fruit, kiwis and clementine oranges. You can also use fruit and vegetables to bake with – beetroot cake and courgette cake are both delicious and worth a try.

Cut Down On Fizzy Drinks

This is a tough one – using a can of Coke to help you get through the morning at work can work wonders. But fizzy drinks can contain more than 15g of sugar per 100ml – Coca Cola contains 10.6g, and Red Bull contains 11g. Not only is this bad for your weight, mood and energy levels, but it also adds considerably to tooth decay. Make sure you keep your carbonated drinks as occasional treats, rather than an everyday habit, and check out this post on healthy drink options.

-Dana