This week I’ve been cutting sugar out of my diary, as I am in a full blown sugar addiction. Its scary to think how easy it is to get addicted to the sweet things, and yet as a world we do nothing to prevent this addiction, for me its more addictive than alcohol, tobacco and drugs. And its so easy for our children to access sugar in so very many forms.

So I’ve put together a 12 Step process which I have followed this week to help cut out my sugar intake.

LISA’S 12 STEPS TO A SUGAR FREE LIFESTYLE

1. Stop buying processed foods – If it comes in a packet, a bag or a box, there is a good chance that it will contain added sugars.
2. Make your own sauces – The amount of sugar which is hidden in premade sauces eg. bolognaise sauces, is absolutely shocking. We wouldn’t add it to our own sauce if making from scratch, so why would we accept it in premade sauces?
3. Swap fruit juices for fresh fruits – grab fresh oranges and squeeze your own rather than buying bottled juices because as to be expected based on the rest of this post, they contain hideous amounts of hidden sugars. Think of the affect it would have on your teeth too!
4. Avoid flavoured yoghurts – buy natural yoghurts and add your own fresh fruits rather than the premade varieties
5. Make your own dressings – to go along with point 2 above, pre bottled dressings also contain hidden sugars. So making your own and this will rid you of sugars that you don’t realise you are consuming
6. Give yourself a quota – If you need to add sugar to your drinks limit yourself to a certain number of teaspoons or if you want to eat some chocolate limit the number of squares you will eat per day/week
7. Set rules – especially when it comes to desserts!!
8. Don’t keep treats or sweets in the house – this is a massive one for me, If its in my house I’m going to eat it, so its better for everyone if I don’t buy chocolate. Because I have literally NO willpower when it comes to chocolate.
9. If you want to use sugar, consider a substitute – if like me you take sugar in your tea, try a sugar substitute instead. It comes in a powder form or a tablet which goes much better in hot drinks.
10. If chocolate is your downfall, eat dark chocolate. My drug of choice is chocolate, but I know a massive bar of dairy milk isn’t going to work in my favour so I have will be using a few squares of dark chocolate to satisfy those desperate chocolate cravings
11. Avoid Mixed Alcohol Drinks – Premade alcopops like Smirnoff Ice or WDK and mixed fruit ciders are full full full of sugar. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if they contain more hidden sugar than they do actual alcohol. If you have to have a drink, ideally a spirit with a mixer is the best option for you. Even our go to wines are full of sugar!
12. Cut out all fizzy drinks – Even diet fizz contains enough sugar substitutes to ensure a great flavour, and lets not even talk about how much sugar is in a full fat coke!! Even thinking about it has set my teeth on edge. Do you ever drink a fizzy drink and it feels like your teeth a furry? That’s the sugar reacting with your poor teeth enamel.

To help you out, listed below are some of the ways sugar can be listed in the ingredients list of our pre packed foods:

• Sucrose
• Glucose
• Fructose
• Invert Sugar
• Fruit Juice
• Molasses
• Hydrolysed Starch
• Corn Syrup
• Honey

And when it comes to understanding food labels, here is a quick guide to help you judge the sugar levels in your foods.

A food is high in sugar if it contains 22.5g or more of sugar per 100g

A food is low in sugar if it contains 5g or less of sugars per 100g

I really hope that the tips above prove useful and that it helps you understand and also reduced your sugar intake. I am providing many more details of my sugar detox which you can find on Instagram using the handle @babebariatric

I look forward to finding out how going sugar free works for you!!