The habit of eating highly sugary foods is one of the main health problems in Western countries. Not only is it associated with obesity, but eating large amounts of sugar can lead to both health problems and behavioural dynamics that are totally detrimental to the individual.

In this article we’ll see some tips on how to stop eating sugar , and some recommendations on how to get started.

How to stop eating sugar?

In the following lines you will find key ideas to keep the habit of eating sugar from getting out of hand and to establish a lifestyle in which you barely consume that ingredient. However, you should know that in some cases this habit is so ingrained that it is essential to go to a professional psychologist who offers personalized attention.

1. Start with a kitchen cleaning

This is not a literal cleanup, but rather going to the kitchen and throwing away all foods with a high sugar content: processed cereals, pastries, fruit or chocolate flavored dairy products, candies and sweets…

It is important to do this as a task that justifies itself, not as something complementary that we are going to do when it is time to go to the kitchen and think about what to eat. In this way we will avoid, as far as possible, giving in to excuses that we might make for not doing this, of the type “now I don’t have time to throw everything away” or “if I throw this away now I won’t have anything to eat”.

2. Avoid entering junk food stores

This advice to stop eating so much sugar is simple and complicated at the same time: don’t enter the premises based on offering highly processed and sugary food. It may be hard at first, but in the medium and long term it will save you a lot of trouble and worry .

3. If you are not used to cooking, buy healthier foods

In the long run, in order to have a healthy life in which sugar has less presence, you will have to cook a good part of what you eat, if not most of the time. However, if you have no experience in this, try to buy food that is as homemade as possible , like the ones in some catering services.

4. Learn to cook

This step is very important, for two reasons.

On the one hand, this habit will force you to eat much more natural foods , to make them the basis of your diet. On the other hand, this way you will link the fact of eating with a moment of the day that deserves your time and to which we must pay attention, which is the opposite of the concept of snack that so often makes us fall into products full of refined sugar.

This is one of the most difficult tips on how to stop eating sugar because it requires effort, and for this it is almost mandatory that you plan daily schedules in which you reserve approximately one hour a day to learn how to cook simple recipes that in the long run will hardly require your attention.

5. Remember the different names of sugar

When you are starting to take steps to stop eating so much sugar, don’t worry about eating very healthy; the priority is in any case to stop eating junk food .

So don’t get obsessed with trying to memorize all the technicalities used in the food industry. Just remember the following words, as they are all the names of sugar that are used to camouflage the presence of this ingredient on food composition labels:

  • Sucrose.
  • Glucose.
  • Fructose .
  • Molasses.
  • Honey (yes, honey is basically sugar).
  • Brown sugar.

6. Work away from snacks

If you work in a place where there are several people and you can choose where to stay, try to stay most of the time away from places where sugared products are placed that you are allowed to access : soda or chocolate machines, candy fountains, etc.

7. Think about the rebound effect

Don’t be content to go many hours of the day without eating sugar products. Think that in situations like this we are prone to overcompensate by bingeing on sweet foods whose glucose levels exceed what we would have eaten if we had followed our usual habits.

Therefore, although it is possible to eat some sugary product as a “rest” very occasionally (once a week), at those times you should pay close attention to what you are doing and not give in to the temptation to keep tasting those kinds of bites. If it is too difficult for you, perhaps it would be better to abstain 100% from eating sugary foods for several weeks in a row.

This is another piece of advice on how to stop eating sugar that is more complex to follow, as it requires us to be committed to what we are doing.

8. Eat fruit every day

If you manage to make fruit your regular source of sugar, you’ll have a lot of cattle. This is because these foods are much more satisfying than the average chocolate bar or snack , but in most cases they have much less sugar, and also this is unprocessed (less harmful).

One or two pieces of fruit a day are enough, and if you get used to eating them as a reward, continuing that healthy habit will be very easy.

Bibliographic references:

  • European Parliament and Council (1990). Council Directive on nutrition labelling for foodstuffs. Council Directive of 24 September 1990 on nutrition labelling for foodstuffs. p. 4.
  • O’Connor, A. (2016). Studies Linked to Soda Industry Mask Health Risks. The New York Times.