Easy ways to cut back on sugar

In America,30 million children and adults have diabetes, and 86 million are prediabetic, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). A leading risk factor for Type 2 diabetes is being overweight. But the good news is, according to the ADA, losing just seven per cent of your body weight can decrease that risk by 58 per cent. One way to manage your weight is to cut back on sugar, which can often be a sneaky source of weight gain. Before getting started, it’s important to remember that many healthy foods naturally contain sugar, a carbohydrate your body burns for energy. Processed sugars are different, adding calories that provide no other nutritional benefit, and at excessive levels, disrupting your metabolism, and potentially posing serious health risks.

The USDA’s dietary guidelines recommend that added sugar account for less than ten per cent of your daily calories — that’s a maximum of 50 grams a day for average women and 62.5 grams for men. To keep your sugar consumption in the healthy range, Courtney McCormick, Corporate Dietitian at Nutrisystem offers the following tips:

• Hold the Ketchup. You know baked goods and candy are loaded with added sugar, but so are many foods you may not think of as especially sweet. A tablespoon of ketchup, for instance, has four grams of sugar. Salsa, barbecue sauce, spaghetti sauce, and even bread are hidden sources of sugar.

• Sweeten with Spices. Replace sugar from coffee, hot cereal and other foods with spices that have a naturally sweet taste, such as vanilla, cinnamon, and cardamom, instead.