MyWeightLossForLife.com

Gimme some sugar, baby

I’m amazed at how much sugar is in a “normal” diet.

Since my husband was diagnosed with diabetes last summer, we’ve paid a lot more attention to our sugar consumption. Of course, we pay attention to sweets because candies, cookies, etc. are pretty much off limits for a diabetic. However, milk is relatively high in sugar (lactose) and therefore high in carbs. We’ve switched to a brand of milk called Calorie Countdown, which is lower in carbs but higher in price!

Cereals are also tough to buy; it’s not just the carbs (though most cereals are VERY high in carbs), but many also have quite a lot of sugar. One that we’ve had success with is the Special K Protein cereal. It tastes like a cross between regular special K and bran flakes, and it’s the cereal with the lowest carb count that we’ve been able to find.

Splenda is an obvious substitution for sugar, and it’s easy to buy sugar-free syrups for pancakes and flavorings. If your store doesn’t have a good variety, then try an online store like netrition. You can also buy sugar free honey (well… fake honey), and it’s available at our Wal-Mart.

Unfortunately, a lot of packaged foods have added sugar, so we’ve learned to read our nutrition labels before buying anything new. Also, there are often significant carb count differences between brands for similar foods. If you’re diabetic, pre-diabetic, or just interested in cutting your sugar consumption, then reading your food labels is a MUST.

We use the approach advocated by the Atkins and South Beach diets. First, you’ll look at your total carb count. Then, you can subtract any fiber in the food AND subtract any sugar alcohols. Whatever is left is your “real” carb count, the number of carbs that are likely to impact your blood sugar. So… sugar free candies often have very few carbs per serving because they’re primarily sugar alcohols. High fiber foods are also lower in carbs because they’re harder to digest, so carbs take longer to get into your system.

Finally, we’ve had to pay close attention to serving sizes. A serving with 10g of carbs is completely doable, unless you inadvertently eat three servings worth! Cereal is a big one on this list; often we just pour a bowl of cereal, which can amount to twice the normal serving size. Snack foods are another one to pay close attention to.

What do you do to reduce sugars (and carbs) in your diet? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share?