Everyone has to deal with it. Sugar is seen as a fattening agent. If you look at the labels of the products you buy, you will notice that so many products contain sugar. You can be shocked by the amount, but also by the other sweeteners if it does not literally say sugar. Because of this, it seemed useful to write a knowledge base article about sugar detox tips. To be clear, I am not an expert in the field of good nutrition, but I can give you tips based on literature found and my own experience.
What is the definition of Sugar Detox
The meaning of Sugar Detox is:
”Detox is the term that stands for cleaning your body of waste products or toxins. In this case, it is about removing simple sugars from your daily diet. This with the aim of living a healthier life and greatly reducing your sugar intake”.
Sugar AddictedÂ
Sugar is addictive, it appears to be many times more addictive than cocaine. That is not surprising. Once you have had, you often want more and more. Take a look at your own life. What do you drink in a day? If I take myself as an example, I used to drink tea with sugar throughout the day. In the evening I had a glass of soft drink and this was also the case at the weekend. Today it is mainly water.
The effect of quitting sugar in your drink will make a difference. Try drinking coffee without sugar or just grabbing a glass of water. Avoid all fruit juices and soft drinks as well, but just grab a glass of water.
Taking too much sugar goes hand in hand with obesity and many well-known diseases including: cancer, dementia, heart disease and diabetes. Of course we can mention more, but these are the most important ones. Sugar intake differs per country. According to the WHO, it is recommended to consume less than 50 grams of sugar per day. Below the top 20 countries with sugar intake:
- United States (126 grams per person)
- Germany (102.9 grams per person)
- Netherlands (102.5 grams per person)
- Ireland (96.7 grams per person)
- Australia (95.6 grams per person)
- Belgium (95 grams per person)
- United Kingdom (93.2 grams per person)
- Mexico (92.5 grams per person)
- Finland (91.5 grams per person)
- Canada (89.1 grams per person)
- Austria (88.1 grams per person)
- Sweden (86.1 grams per person)
- Norway (83.1 grams per person)
- New Zealand (82.9 grams per person)
- South Africa (41.5 grams per person)
- South Korea (30.8 grams per person)
- Russia (20 grams per person)
- Egypt (19.5 grams per person)
- Israel (14.5 grams per person)
- India (5.1 grams per person)
There is a lot of room for improvement as you can see.
Added Sugars
When products have an expression that there is little or no sugar in them. Then it may also be that it contains added sugars. These are sugars or syrups that are added to food when it is being prepared. A common question is does this also include sugar from fruit? The answer is no. This does not belong to the added sugars. These added sugars can go by different names:
- Brown Sugar
- Corn Syrup
- Fructose
- Glucose
- Maltose
- Dextrose
- Molasses
- Sucrose
And we can actually name more like that. We can briefly conclude that most people, probably unconsciously, ingest too much sugar. So it is time to do something about this. Like any addiction, it takes a while for your body to get used to it. It is time to take the first steps towards a sugar detox.
How to start a Sugar Detox
Like any other goal you have in life, it must come from within yourself. You want to achieve certain parts in life so you will have to stand behind it yourself. You have to guess to yourself why you want this at all. If someone else tells you to do it and you don’t support it, then you have to be honest with yourself. Then don’t do it. May sound like really bad advice, but you can make the change. An other person can’t do that for you. They can help and support you where necessary, but the first step starts with yourself.
You must be willing to break your own sugar pattern. This pattern has been crafted in you for years and has become automatic. It must be broken and changed. If you succeed, you will notice that it is not that difficult at all. It takes a real willingness to change. To help you on your way, I have listed the top 10 sugar detox tips for you. There are many more tips in this area, only for me these are the most valuable!
Top 10 Sugar Detox Tips
Below you can find the top 10 sugar detox tips:
- Start small
- Drink more water
- Look out for hidden sugars
- Monitor your stress
- Sleep Enough
- Remove all the junk food
- Prepare your meals
- Healthy snacks
- Eat your carbs and protein
- Change your habits
Below you can find the detailed explanation.
Detailed Explanation Top 10 Sugar detox Tips
Start Small
It’s not possible for everyone to go cold turkey, so quit most sugar altogether. You can start by taking the first step. Remove all your sugar products and replace them with natural ones. If you normally put sugar in your tea, now use real honey. Find out for yourself which small step you can take first.
Drink more water
One of the first steps you can take is to check for yourself what you drink all day. I am not a good example here, as I never drink coffee or tea. I drink water all day long, even when I eat. At the weekend I still want to drink often soft drinks. If you often drink a beer on the weekend, then this is of course no problem. The real summer beers often contain sugar, which is sweeter in taste. If you usually drink high percentage alcohol drinks on the weekend, check out the soda you mix it with. Are there options to reduce the sugar in this? Vodka water is an option.
Look out for hidden sugars
If you are a real coffee drinker, avoid the cake or cookie that goes with it. Look for a healthier alternative. You will be surprised at how many hidden sugars you eat throughout the day. An example could be chewing gum or a cup of soup, but you will also find a lot of sugars in many ready-made products. I therefore advise you to check what the label contains. In addition, fresh products are always better, it can be a bit more expensive. But you will have to calculate what the differences are in a week.
Monitor your stress
One of the most important things is changing your regular pattern. By removing most of the sugars from your home, you will also not be more likely to switch to eating products with a lot of sugar. Another tip is to pay attention to your stress levels. If you experience a lot of stress, you may naturally look for food with sugar in it. Eating food with sugar can increase the serotonin product. This has a calming effect and lowers your stress level. When you are under a lot of stress I advise you to go outside and walk around. Clear your mind and enjoy the things around you.
Sleep Enough
Maybe you recognize it in yourself. You slept badly and know that you don’t have the right energy to get through the day. You often take a cup of coffee with extra sugar to get a lot of energy. To prevent this, it is all the more important that you get enough sleep. This is different for every person. Some people have a lot of energy after 6 hours of sleep, while others need a minimum of 7.5 hours of sleep.
Remove all junk food
Stop eating junk food or make the food yourself only a healthier variation. Depending on the junk food you take it will contains a lot of sugar or a lot of fat. By eating low-sugar products in combination with healthy fats you ensure your blood sugar level remains stable. By good fats we mean, among other things, nuts and avocados for example.
Prepare your meals
If you really want to break your pattern, make sure you already prepare your meals. You can interpret this in two ways. The first way is to plan in advance what to eat. So you know what you need to have and you will not encounter surprises. The second possibility is that you are already preparing the food, you only have to heat it up. My preference is for the first way. If I prepare food in advance, I always heat it up later in a pan on the gas. I never use the microwave for this.
Healthy Snacks
When do you notice that you are most in need of a snack? This is often towards the end of the working day. In order not to fall into your old pattern, I advise you to bring a healthy snack to work. You can make this healthy snack yourself. Healthy snacks are for example: protein loaf, homemade energy bars, granola bars, avocado with crackers, hummus & veggies, nuts mix, salad without sauce or some fruit for example.
Eat your carbs and protein
Make sure your meals containing a lot of carbs and protein. For carbs you need to take the right carbs. You can find these carbs in vegetables. Examples are mushrooms, onions, peppers, eggplant or other green vegetables. Whole grains are also included. Avoid potatoes and bread. With pasta it depends on the pasta type. The protein can be obtained from fish, chicken and meat. With meat I would avoid the red meat. You can also look up the calories of the cut of meat on the internet or on the label itself. That way you know exactly what the meat contains.
Change your habits
All these points above are nice. You can see it as another list of 10 tips. Ultimately, you have to change if you take in too much sugar. Not another. You have to make the choice and support it 100%. You can go full turkey right away or take it easy as long as there is a change. Change your patterns and think consciously about the choices you make. For example, why do you always drink so much soda? Is it normal or do you really like it that much? If it is a habit, you can learn another habit. If you really like it, you can look for something that is just as tasty, but a lot healthier. This way you are working every day to make yourself aware of reducing your sugar intake.
The above 10 tips should give you the tools to start your sugar detox. The road will not be easy, but it is a good first step. Ultimately, you decide whether you are going to succeed in this or not. And remember this well: every step is one. As long as you keep giving that one small step, you will move forward!
FAQÂ Sugar Detox Tips
Below you can find the most asked questions about sugar detox:
What is a Sugar Detox?
Detox is the term that stands for cleaning your body of waste products or toxins. In this case, it is about removing simple sugars from your daily diet. This with the aim of living a healthier life and greatly reducing your sugar intake.