Most people are aware that eating too much sugar is bad for their health, however, kicking the sweet habit is not as easy as it might seem. So if you struggle with a sweet tooth, or just can’t seem to figure out where your sugar intake is coming from, here are 11 tips to help you eat less sugar.

Accordingly to dietary survey intakes, Canadians consume an average of 51 grams of added sugar per day, which is the equivalent of two chocolate bars per day! The problem largely lies in the fact that people are often consuming added sugar in foods without even knowing they are there, which only causes people to crave it more and more. It is certainly important to enjoy treats from time to time, however, it is the ongoing consumption of refined sugars in our daily meals and snacks that is problematic.

How to Eat Less Sugar

Here are 11 tips to eat less sugar that you can start implementing today.

1. Eat a Savoury Breakfast

When it comes to sugar, breakfast is probably the most dangerous meal of the day. Everything from cereal to granola to yogurt and bagels contains sugar. Even the “healthiest” brands contain added sweeteners so it can be really difficult to avoid (which is exactly why the standard North American breakfast looks more like dessert than actual breakfast). Instead, starting your day with a savory breakfast is a great way to help reduce your overall sugar intake. Something as simple as eating eggs instead of cereal can help to eliminate up to 20 grams of added sugar while adding more protein and healthy fats to the diet and alleviating afternoon cravings.

2. Avoid Liquid Sugars

Liquid sugars are probably one of the most dangerous forms of sugar because they hit your bloodstream fast, as they don’t need to be digested, and therefore spike your blood sugar quickly. Even if you don’t drink soda, many pre-made drinks such as smoothies, chocolate milk, energy drinks, sports drink, flavored coffees, iced coffees, and even kombucha contain added sugar. In fact, some of the most popular smoothie chains use frozen yogurt as the base for their smoothies, so you end up drinking more of a milkshake than an actual smoothie. When it comes to liquids, it is really important to focus on drinking the basics; water and perhaps some coffee or tea. Anything in addition to these should be considered a treat and used once in a while because something as simple as a morning latte + a pre-made smoothie + a pre-workout energy drink + a post-workout chocolate milk can add up to hundreds of grams of added sugar before you know it.

3. Focus on Fresh Fruit

People love them some dried fruit, and although it is technically a whole food, many brands will add vegetable oils and added sugars which is less than ideal. Plus, dried fruit is a concentrated form of sugar, so the combination of raisins in your granola, dried cranberries on your salad, and snacks of dates in the afternoon adds up to a lot of sugar very quickly. Instead, if you want a sweet treat opt for fresh fruit full of fibre and water that can help to slow the absorption of sugar to the bloodstream and comes packed with water-soluble nutrients at the same time.

4. Learn the Code Words

When it comes to sugar, manufacturers are really sneaky. Because they know that consumers are aware that sugar is less than ideal for them, they will use different words to represent sugar on labels. The list is long and you don’t need to memorize them all, but in order to be more mindful of your sugar intake knowing some of the code words for sugar will help to ensure you are equipped with the tools to identify it on a label.

5. Make your Own Dressings and Sauces

Next to breakfast, dressings and sauces are one of the worst places for added sugars. Literally, everything in the grocery store has added sugar when you start digging deeper and reading the label. I know it might seem like a lot of work, but learning a couple of basic salad dressing recipes, a quick stir-fry sauce recipe and some spice combinations can help to alleviate the need for store-bought dressings and sauces and, in turn, help you eat less sugar.

6. Drink Herbal Teas

I know this one might sound boring, but trust me it works. When you have a sugar craving sometimes just occupying your hands, your mouth and your taste buds can help make it go away. Drinking herbal tea is a wonderful way to enjoy something with flavor without any added sugar. Teas have come a long way in the past few years, outside of the basics of chamomile and peppermint, and now you can get tons of different flavors to help you satisfy a sweet tooth. Everything from vanilla chai to chocolate mint is now available for your sipping pleasure and is a great alternative to that sweet late-night treat to help ensure you eat less sugar.

7. Put Cinnamon on Everything

Cinnamon not only provides a nice warm flavor to foods but it is known to help balance blood sugar and also provides a natural sweetness to meals. Adding a sprinkle of cinnamon to your plain yogurt, oatmeal, into your smoothie, or simply onto slices of apple (my personal favorite) is another great way to add some sweetness to whole foods and eat less sugar throughout the day.

8. Eat Savoury Snacks

For most people, go-to snacks include items like granola bars, crackers, or flavored yogurt. Unfortunately, all of these snacks are sources of refined carbohydrates which means sugar, sugar, and more sugar. So instead of going the sweet route, opt for a savory snack with lots of protein and healthy fats like hummus and vegetables, cheese and almonds, or popcorn with butter. Not only are these snacks salty and savory and delicious, but they are another simple hack to help you eat less sugar one snack at snack time.

9. Use Natural Sweeteners

If you must sweeten something, then opting for a natural sweetener is your best choice. Although sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, or molasses are still sources of sugar, they do come with some nutritional benefits which help to mitigate their effects on the body.

10. Read Labels

When it comes to added sugars, the only way to really know what you are getting when you buy something in the grocery store is to read the label. In an ideal world, you are buying whole foods (fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, and whole grains) which don’t contain added sugar in the first place, however, if you must buy something packaged it is absolutely imperative that you read the label! Look for all of the code words for sugar so know exactly what you are getting and compare flavors and brands to ensure you are getting the very best option.

11. Eat your Treats Out

When it comes time to have a treat the simplest thing to do is to eat them outside of the house. If you buy the entire box of cookies at the grocery store you aren’t really setting yourself up for success when they are sitting in the pantry at home, are you? You are likely much better off simply enjoying a dessert after a meal out, or a cookie with your coffee at the local coffee shop, or an ice cream on the weekend with the family as opposed to having an entire box of cookies, a pint of ice cream and entire cake sitting in your kitchen at home. Part of setting yourself up for success means controlling your environment, so keeping treats out of the house is a really helpful way to ensure you eat less sugar.

Cheese has been part of cultural diets around the world for centuries, so it can certainly be included in a healthy diet if done well. Fortunately, with a little know-how you will be able to distinguish the real deal from the imposters, so here is a simple guide to buying healthy cheese to ensure you know what to look for and why.

With hundreds of different types of cheese available in the grocery store, it can certainly be hard to distinguish the best from the rest. From hard to soft, and shredded to brick, there are so many different varieties and flavors of cheese available, and although many versions appear to be real cheese, many of them are not at all.

What is real cheese?

First things first, it is important to understand what cheese actually is. Cheese is made by separating milk into curd and whey, and by adding cultures (called ‘starter cultures’) and enzymes. The cultures added are lactic-acid-forming bacteria that change the lactose (sugar) in milk into lactic acid; this chemical change prompts the milk to curdle, while the enzymes join up the proteins in the milk to allow the milk fully to coagulate and form the curd. Once separated, the whey is removed and the curd is broken up, salt is often added for flavor, as a preservative and to inhibit the growth of certain bacteria. Once this is done, the curd is then placed into molds, pressed to remove the last bits of whey, and taken to a cool, humid store to mature. By tweaking these steps and introducing different cultures, producers are able to create a vast range of cheeses, textures, and types.

What is healthy cheese?

One of the major concerns with cheese is that the cheese found in grocery stores is often more of a cheese-like-product than actual cheese itself. Real cheese should only contain milk, enzymes, cultures, and salt, while many cheese options in the grocery store contain additional ingredients and additives.

I think it goes without saying that cheese slices are not real cheese, they contain 21 ingredients, after all, however many other types of cheese contain unnecessary additional ingredients making them more processed than real. For instance, some cheeses contain added coloring or refined salt, while others are made with modified milk ingredients, which is a processed form of milk.

How to Buy Healthy Cheese

When it comes to buying healthy cheese there are a few important factors to consider.

1. The Quality of the Milk

Milk is the foundational ingredient in cheese and therefore the quality of the milk itself will determine how good the cheese is. Ideally, cheese should be made from the milk of pastured, grass-fed cows. The quality of milk heavily depends on the diet and health of the animal it comes from, so it is imperative that the animals consumed a natural diet of grass and were exposed to substantial amounts of sunlight on the pasture. In fact, their diet and exposure to sunlight are two of the most important contributing factors to the amount of vitamin D, calcium, omega-3 and vitamin K2 present in the milk, and therefore the cheese itself. The type of animal is much less of a concern as cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk can all create healthy cheeses.

2. Made with Real Salt

In addition to the milk, salt is an important ingredient in the cheese-making process, so a cheese made with real salt, as opposed to refined salt, will be of much higher quality.

3. Fat Content

Real cheese should be made from whole milk, not skim milk, low-fat milk, non-fat milk, or any combination of modified milk ingredients. Milk in its natural state contains fat, as it should, and that is exactly what cheese should be made from. From a nutritional perspective, cheese is a good source of fat and protein, in addition to fat-soluble vitamins K2 and D, which means they are only present when fat is present. Opting for low-fat or fat-free cheese more or less defeats the nutritional purpose of eating cheese in the first place. If you are concerned about saturated fat in cheese, you need not be as this is one of the biggest food myths of the 20th century causing us far more harm than good.

4. Opt for Raw if Possible

Raw cheeses are legal in Canada and a great option when you are looking for healthy cheese. Raw milk is a complete food, containing proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, cholesterol, and beneficial bacteria (probiotics), and when it comes from pastured, grass-fed animal is the best option.

The Bottom Line

Although it might now seem impossible to find healthy cheese, I assure you it is not. When it comes to your options, here are the ones to prioritize. The best option would be to find cheese made from raw whole milk from pastured cows with minimal ingredients. These types of cheese are commonly found at farmer’s markets or specialty food shops. Alternatively, look in the deli section of your grocery store for cheese made with minimal ingredients, as healthy cheeses are rarely found in the aisle with sliced cheese or shredded cheeses. If raw milk is not an option, opt for cheeses from pastured cows, and if pastured cheeses are also not an option simply ensure the cheese you are selecting is made from a combination of whole milk, sea salt, microbial enzyme, and bacterial cultures.

Since breakfast is the first meal of the day it can either set you up for a day of success or a day full of hunger and cravings. Opting for the right breakfast can help set the tone for the entire day by balancing your blood sugar, maximizing energy, and minimizing hunger cues. Although popular breakfast items like smoothies, yogurt, and toast can be considered healthy choices, they might not be the right choice for you.

Factors such as sleep, activity level, and stress can all affect our individual needs so it is important to pay attention and consider how your breakfast choice might be affecting the rest of your choices throughout the day. So if you think you are choosing a healthy breakfast, but are just not sure, here are the 6 common signs your breakfast choice isn’t actually working for you and what you can do instead. Here are 6 signs that your breakfast choices aren’t setting you up for success.

1. You need a mid-morning snack.

If you eat a well-balanced breakfast, the body should easily be able to go 4 or more hours without eating, so if you are constantly looking for a snack after your breakfast, it’s probably a good sign your breakfast choice isn’t ideal. One of the most common causes of being hungry within one or two hours of breakfast is eating a breakfast rich in carbohydrates, specifically refined carbs, which includes popular choices like cereal, bagels, and granola. These types of meals can spike your blood sugar first thing in the morning and give you a big boost of immediate energy, but will only cause your blood sugar to crash within hours of eating, leaving you in search of a mid-morning snack. Combinations like cereal and milk, toast and jam, and flavored yogurt and granola are loaded with refined carbs and added sugar, so they don’t work well to balance your blood sugar or keep you full. In order to alleviate the need for a mid-morning snack, opt for breakfast with a good source of protein and fat, and ensure you are eating a portion large enough to help keep you full until lunch.

2. You struggle to make it to lunch.

If you are constantly watching the clock and counting the minutes until the clock strikes 12:00pm it might be a good sign you need to revisit what you had for breakfast. Many people, especially women, opt for a ‘light’ breakfast because they think it’s the ‘right’ thing to do, but here is the deal; that light breakfast is not working for you if you are itching to eat your next meal all morning! A green smoothie, egg whites or a piece of fruit might seem the right choice if you are trying to lose weight, but they are not the right choice if they leave you distracted and hungry all morning! Instead, focus on eating the volume of food that makes us feel full and satiated (not stuffed and uncomfortable) to keep you energized for the day. Simply opting for a larger portion of what you are already eating, or adding more protein and fat, can help you go comfortably all the way to lunchtime and actually further support your health and weight loss goals.

3. You drink multiple cups of coffee.

Look, I love my coffee too, but if you’re drinking multiple cups during the day it’s probably a good sign that something isn’t working right. At the end of the day, coffee is delicious but it is also a stimulant, and if you need it to get through your morning you might be using it to pick yourself back up from that blood sugar crash. Remember, if your breakfast is very carbohydrate-heavy that immediate spike in blood sugar will cause a big crash in energy later on and leave you looking for that second cup of java to help get your energy levels back up.

4. You’re “starving” in the afternoon.

We’ve all been there, 3:00 pm rolls around and you’re so hungry that you are verging on angry (i.e. hangry) and you are willing to eat just about anything you can get your hands on. So, you either rush out to the local coffee shop and grab yourself a treat, or you raid the pantry when you get home and eat everything in sight. People often ask what to eat as an afternoon snack to help avoid this raging hunger, however, the cause of this hunger is often due to what you ate earlier in the day, not at that exact moment. If your breakfast, or your lunch, were not large enough or did not contain enough protein and fat, it can lead to an afternoon crash which will leave you eyeing up every snack you can find.

5. You’re sleepy during the day.

Of course, there are many factors that can contribute to fatigue during the day (poor sleep, staring at your computer screen, busy schedule, etc..), however, your breakfast can also be a contributing factor. If you find yourself spacey during your meeting or just want to take a nap after lunch it’s important to take a look at how your meal choices might be contributing to this. Opting for a savory breakfast over a sweet one is a good way to avoid that afternoon crash in blood sugar which can leave you feeling overly fatigued.

6. You always need a late-night snack.

I know what you’re thinking; “How is my late-night snack in any way related to what I ate for breakfast?”. The truth is, it might not solely be related to your breakfast, but it is certainly related to what you ate earlier in the day. It is important to remember that your blood sugar is affected by all of your meal choices, and your breakfast sets the tone for the entire day. Your breakfast choice will affect your blood sugar, which will affect your lunch choice, which will affect your blood sugar again, which will affect your dinner choice, which will affect your blood sugar again, which will affect your need for a late-night snack. When you start your day with a high sugar breakfast or a breakfast rich in simple carbohydrates, such as a smoothie, cereal and milk, bagel and cream cheese, or yogurt and granola, you can set your blood sugar on a roller coaster that will affect your food choices all the way to your evening snack.

The Bottom Line

By ensuring that your breakfast is a well-balanced meal with carbohydrates, protein, and fat you will better set yourself, and your energy levels, up for success. Although your breakfast choice might be made of real food and considered healthy (i.e. a smoothie or bowl of oatmeal), if you are experiencing one or any of the issues, it is a good sign that your breakfast choice is not working well for you. Remember, there is no perfect meal or perfect diet, so what works for one person might not work for you. Instead, it is important to take a step back, look at the big picture and see what is, or is not, working for you individually. Often just switching up your breakfast to something savory with extra fat and protein, or simply eating a bit more, can help address many of these common issues that people struggle with on a daily basis.

Fat is one of the most misunderstood foods out there and vegetable oil specifically tops the list. Vegetable oils have long been touted as “heart-healthy” oils that are said to help “lower cholesterol” and support overall health, unfortunately, this is one of the biggest myths in the nutrition community. In fact, vegetable oils may actually be one of the most damaging and dangerous foods in our diets, so here is a complete overview of why you need to ditch vegetable oils immediately.

What is vegetable oil?

The term vegetable oil is used for oils that have been extracted from seeds including canola oil, corn oil, soy oil, grapeseed oil, and safflower oil. In fact, the term “vegetable oil” is often used as a blanket term for these oils, and therefore when you buy “vegetable oil” at the grocery store you are often buying a combination of these seed oils based on what they have available. The term vegetable oil is simply used to imply that the oils are not made of animal-based fats, however, the unfortunate part is that although the term vegetable is often associated with health, vegetable oils are anything but, it just happens to be good marketing.

How are vegetable oils made?

Vegetable oils were essentially non-existent until the early 1900s when new industrial processes allowed them to be extracted. Consider this; have you ever seen an oily vegetable? Clearly, the answer is no. Unlike natural fats like butter or olive oil, vegetable oils can’t be extracted by pressing or separating, these seed oils require extensive processing to extract their oils. The process of creating vegetable oils involves chemical extraction, degumming, refining, bleaching, deodorizing, and hydrogenation in the case of margarine and spreads. Plus, many vegetable oils actually contain additives and preservatives in order to help extend shelf life. In fact, this video shows exactly how highly processed canola oil actually is, despite the narrator desperately trying to spin it in a positive light.

Why Vegetable Oil is Unhealthy

The first and most obvious problem with vegetable oils is simply that these oils are not fit for human consumption. Before industrial processing, humans simply consumed naturally occurring fats in the form of items such as butter, ghee, tallow, lard, coconut oil, or olive oil. Although many people are still concerned about saturated fat, they need not be, as this is one of the biggest and most damaging nutrition myths out there, and the saturation of these fats is actually their most beneficial part. The fat content of the human body is predominantly saturated and monounsaturated fat, with very little polyunsaturated fat. Essentially, all of our cells are made of saturated fat, and although the body requires fat in the diet, it requires the right type and amounts of fat to support the rebuilding of cells and hormones.

One of the main concerns with vegetable oils is their high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, also known as PUFAs. Polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and oxidize very easily. Omega-6s are the PUFAs found in vegetable oils, and although they are essential to human health, in excess are dangerous and inflammatory. Over the past hundred years, the consumption of PUFAs has skyrocketed due in large part to the consumption of vegetable oils and products that contain them. The ideal ratio of consumption of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids is somewhere in the range of 1:1 to 4:1, however, that ratio has increased as high as 20:1 in some cases dramatically increasing inflammation and impairing gut health.

Additionally, vegetable oils are incredibly fragile and can easily be damaged by exposure to light, heat, and air, making them a poor choice for cooking oils. Unfortunately, that is exactly what most households and restaurants use them for; used in deep-fryers, sauté pans, and processed and packaged foods all over the world.

Plus, since vegetable oils are chemically produced it will likely not come as a surprise that they are full of chemicals. Vegetable oils, specifically vegetable oil products like margarine or spreads often contain added preservatives, emulsifiers, colors, flavors, and sodium. These food additives might help the oils from spoiling, but in the end, they will end up spoiling you.

List of Vegetable Oils

Although some items will simply be labeled “vegetable oil”, others might come in a more specific format, however, they should all be avoided as much as possible:

• Canola Oil
• Corn Oil
• Cottonseed Oil
• Grapeseed Oil
• Soybean Oil
• Safflower Oil
• “Vegetable” Oil
• Margarine
• Shortening
• Any fake butters or spreads

How to Avoid Vegetable Oil

In addition to bottles of canola, corn, soy, and safflower oil, vegetable oils can be found in almost every processed food product from salad dressing to granola bars. Therefore, not only is it imperative to avoid buying vegetable oils or vegetable spray for cooking, it is important to read the ingredients on everything you buy. Instead, opt for natural cooking fats like butter, ghee, tallow, lard, coconut oil, or olive oil for cooking and dressings. When buying liquid oils such as olive oil or avocado oil, look for versions sold in a dark glass bottle as light can turn oils rancid, and ensure they are stored in a cool, dry place away from heat sources.