We survived Halloween, Thanksgiving has now come and gone, but Sugar Season is far from over! Christmas cookies, desserts, sugar-sweetened beverages are readily available throughout the month of December and we want to help you get through this holiday season. Here’s the good news your body can safely metabolize about 6 tea spoons of added sugar per day, the bad news is the average American consumes over 22 tea spoons per day. All that excess sugar is metabolized into body fat, and leads to many of the chronic metabolic diseases we struggle with, including but not limited to – Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), dementia and certain types of cancer.
Sugar is highly addictive; it actually triggers the production of natural opioids in the brain. The more you eat the more you want, therefore the less you eat, the more sensitive to it you will become, and the less you will crave it. The key is minimizing sugar consumption this December and here are 3 ways you can do it!
1. Replace Sugar with Stevia
Holiday baking can still be fun, but make an effort this year to swap sugar for a natural sugar substitute like stevia. In most cases, you can swap powdered stevia for sugar cup-for-cup in recipes for cookies, cakes, or other baked goods. If you don’t enjoy stevia, try cutting the sugar in recipes in half.
2. Think Before you Drink.
When you’re sipping on alcoholic beverages, don’t just think about calories. Remember the sugar. Spiked eggnog, ciders, sodas and other classic holiday cocktails can pack enough sweet stuff to send your blood sugar into a tailspin and your pancreas screaming for mercy!
If you are going to drink, be responsible, but opt instead for clear, distilled spirits or wine, both of which are naturally lower in sugar and calories.
Speaking of drinks, beware of sugar-laden coffee beverages, too. Those peppermint mochas and pumpkin spice lattes can clock in at 50 grams of sugar apiece on the high end. That’s the equivalent of thirteen sugar cubes
3. Cut all Carbs.
Speaking of carbs, another way to cut down on overall sugar consumption is to reduce your carbohydrate intake overall in your daily diet. Limiting bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other starches, as well as higher-glycemic fruits, can really help lower your daily glycemic load.