I know that you are tired of hearing about the fact that you have to take less added sugar, that many supermarket products contain it in high quantities, which is one of the main battles to win to improve our diet... blah, blah. I'm not gonna grill you with that today. It is time for action.
There are strategies that work to lower this consumption, as long as we meet two fundamental requirements: the first is to want, the second is to have a little patience.
When we are very accustomed to sweet flavors, sugared coffees, sweetened yoghurts, soft drinks, cookies, milk chocolates... we need to reduce that threshold of sweetness we have so high. This is why a radical change can mean that many sugar-free products do not taste good to us.
On the other hand, if we do it gradually, it will be easier, easier and easier and we will get used to our palate. I assure you that patients who drank more than one cocacola a day, after a few weeks are satisfied with a couple of drinks, because they find it excessively sweet. That people who had breakfast and snacked Chocokrispies with Colacao, are able to enjoy a porridge with banana or some toast and do not want the previous sugar chute. I really do. It can be done. But you have to love.
WHAT IF I SWAP IT FOR SWEETENERS?
It seems like the easy way: I'm moving on to zero or light soft drinks, sweetened yoghurts, sugar-free pastries and a problem solved, right? No. I'll explain why.
Firstly, with this solution we continue to keep the threshold of sweetness very high, we do not lower it to normal limits, to those where a fruit seems sweet to us and triggers our reward mechanisms. We still need that high threshold to achieve it. Doesn't seem like a great solution.
Secondly, because many sweeteners are caloric and do not raise blood sugar, it does not make them harmless. Today we know that its consumption negatively affects intestinal microbiota, among other things, also cause digestive discomfort and do not work in weight loss or diabetes prevention.
Moreover, the problem of such sugar-free' products is far from being just sugar. They are characterized as a conglomerate of unhealthy ingredients that should not be present in the usual diet.
The solution is not to change sugar for sweeteners, it is to learn to enjoy the real taste of food and get rid of those products and those artificially sweet flavors. If you only like coffee with sugar, sweetened cocoa, sweetened yoghurts... maybe what you like is sugar, not coffee, cocoa or yoghurt.
I WANT TO HAVE LESS SUGAR, HOW DO I DO THAT?
Let's go with some easy strategies, each one applying them to its weak point:
COFFEE AND INFUSIONS: If you are always putting sugar or sweetener in your drink, it is not a good idea to remove it overnight because it probably does not taste good. Decrease the amount gradually: if you put two teaspoons, start by one and a half for a week, then one and after a week half and so on until zero.
REFRESH: those who consume refreshments daily, whether light or not, reduce. Put on a weekly cap. If you take, I don't know, five a week, put a limit of two and explore other alternatives: infusions with ice, tomato juice, coffee, or, call me crazy, water.
CHOCOLATE: Chocolate with more than 85% cocoa is still chocolate, with much less sugar. If it costs you, start with 70% and go up. It can be done.
GALLETAS, MAGDALENAS AND SIMILARES: Wholemeal bread, always going to be better than any of those choices. With tomato and oil, avocado, sugar-free peanut butter cream, cheese, hummus...
BREAKFAST CEREALS: Before switching to a sugar-free version such as oat flakes or puffed rice without anything else, you can use the Corn Flakes as an intermediate version, which have about 8% sugar, when usually around 20% or more.
COLACAO OR NESQUICK: almost any supermarket sells pure cocoa. Start by mixing it with the sweetened one, half and half, gradually increase the percentage of pure until you get rid of the cocoa and enjoy the real flavor of the cocoa.
YOGURES: leave the flavored yogurts, which usually have more than 10g of sugar per container, and the sweetened ones. Natural yogurt. If it tastes like acid, mix it with fruit, raisins, cinnamon. Or start by adding a little sugar and gradually you are going down, as with coffee.