10 Tips To Cut Sugar

By Moira Chisholm

Swap sugary cereal for porridge and berries

As most people in the UK are having more than their daily amount of sugar and children are having more than three times their daily amount, nutritionist Helen Money from Barleycup is encouraging people to cut down on at least 30% of added sugar in their diet.

With too much sugar linked to type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, some types of cancer and tooth decay, cutting sugar is rightly a top priority for many people this year. To help those confused by all the information out there, we’ve compiled our top tips and hints to help you to cut your added sugar intake by 30%.”

Helen’s Top 10 Tips:

1 Try swapping your sugary cereal for unsweetened porridge mixed with a handful of berries to cut your sugar intake by over 30%.

2 Swap your sugary drinks for water or sugar-free drinks and save up to 10g of sugar (over 3 sugar cubes) per drink.

3 Reduce your sugar intake by around 30g (7.5 tsp) for every sugary fizzy drink you cut out.

4 At breakfast time enjoy toast with a savoury topping such as marmite or peanut butter rather than jam, honey or syrup and save over 10g (2.5 tsp) of sugar per serving.

5 Watch for hidden sources of sugar such as processed soups, takeaways, pizza and savoury sauces. For example, some brands of tomato ketchup have around 3g of sugar (around 1 tsp) per serving.

6 Make a sugar chart – to help monitor and understand how much sugar you are having in a day.

7 Make sure you eat regularly – structured eating helps ensure your blood sugar levels do not go too low and cause sugar cravings.

8 You can cut sugar in homemade bakes and cakes by up to a third with little impact on taste – try adding vanilla, orange or lemon extract or ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg instead.

9 While some foods – like bananas, for instance – are naturally high in sugar, the real danger in our diet is added sugars in processed foods often listed under carbohydrates as sugars – get to know your food labels – and check out Change4Life’s Sugar Smart App to help.

10 A tasty hot drink can help to keep your mind off sugar. Barleycup contains no added sugars and only 0.6g of naturally occurring (carbohydrate) sugars per cup. Try a cup of tasty caffeine-free and gluten-free Barleycup in place of your sweetened tea and coffee today. It only has 10 kcals per cup, too!