Honestly, the best way to lower your intake of sugar isn’t to replace it with a different sweetener. In most cases, you’ll find its not an adequate ‘replacement’ because psychologically, looking for a direct analog (or super close in taste at the minimum).
It’s the habit that needs to change, not the way you scratch the itch. I’m not a fan of absolutes, so I don’t think an intention of “no more refined sugar. Period.” is practical or reasonable. But cutting down how much you intake by reducing the frequency, that’ll do wonders for you.
This method is what kick started my journey down this same path. You can still have sugar (yay!), but you most likely won’t want to very often after not too long (wtf?).
It is so mind bottlingly crazy how much sugar is in literally everything from breads to sauces. Once I cut down how much sugar I was taking in (by cutting down how often I had a sweet drink of any kind, one drink at a time), I could taste the sweetness in food at restaurants, savory stuff from the bakery…I couldn’t escape it.
Now, I’ll have a couple of sweet drinks in a day. I control how much sugar I put in by not buying sweet drinks and instead making stuff at home. Coffee, flavored water, etc.
Long story short…
There is NO great methadone for refined sugar. If you want to reduce how much you’re ingesting, reduce the frequency. Be kind to yourself by setting reasonable, bite-sized goals so that the achievement encourages you to continue on and make more progress.
I’m ‘old school British’ with my drinks, in the sense that I have far too much tea in a day. I’ve gradually reduced the amount of sugar, and now I’m down to one sometimes less than one teaspoon per mug (larger than a traditional cup though more common I suppose). I have most certainly noticed the same effect, as it has reduced my sugar dependency overall; I can taste sweetness in things much better now, and this only took a little while. Barely noticeable of an effort.
Honestly, the best way to lower your intake of sugar isn’t to replace it with a different sweetener. In most cases, you’ll find its not an adequate ‘replacement’ because psychologically, looking for a direct analog (or super close in taste at the minimum).
It’s the habit that needs to change, not the way you scratch the itch. I’m not a fan of absolutes, so I don’t think an intention of “no more refined sugar. Period.” is practical or reasonable. But cutting down how much you intake by reducing the frequency, that’ll do wonders for you.
This method is what kick started my journey down this same path. You can still have sugar (yay!), but you most likely won’t want to very often after not too long (wtf?).
It is so mind bottlingly crazy how much sugar is in literally everything from breads to sauces. Once I cut down how much sugar I was taking in (by cutting down how often I had a sweet drink of any kind, one drink at a time), I could taste the sweetness in food at restaurants, savory stuff from the bakery…I couldn’t escape it.
Now, I’ll have a couple of sweet drinks in a day. I control how much sugar I put in by not buying sweet drinks and instead making stuff at home. Coffee, flavored water, etc.
Long story short…
There is NO great methadone for refined sugar. If you want to reduce how much you’re ingesting, reduce the frequency. Be kind to yourself by setting reasonable, bite-sized goals so that the achievement encourages you to continue on and make more progress.
Anything in moderation; nothing in excess
I can definitely resonate with this.
I’m ‘old school British’ with my drinks, in the sense that I have far too much tea in a day. I’ve gradually reduced the amount of sugar, and now I’m down to one sometimes less than one teaspoon per mug (larger than a traditional cup though more common I suppose). I have most certainly noticed the same effect, as it has reduced my sugar dependency overall; I can taste sweetness in things much better now, and this only took a little while. Barely noticeable of an effort.