Here are 10 tips and tricks to help you kick sugars butt!

1. As mentioned above, don’t go cold turkey. The more you eat, the more your brain craves. Going cold turkey can lead to bingeing and starting the process all over again. Instead, go slow. For example, if you eat several Oreos every night, try cutting that serving in half. The next week go to every other day. The week after that, once every three days. From there, once a week until you don’t need it at all.

2. 1-1 Ratio

I especially recommend this with alcoholic beverages like wine. Half wine, half seltzer water. Replace half of your sweetened yogurt with half plain yogurt. Half of your sweetened coffee creamer with plain creamer. You get the idea.

3. Figure out what sugar you can’t live without and ditch the hidden sugars in the things you don’t necessarily need. Don’t waste it on hidden sugars in salad dressing, soda, cereal, peanut butter, condiments, etc.

4. Make dessert “rules.” Or, another one of my favorite sayings, “plan your indulgences.” Plan your dessert around special occasions. Or pick a lower sugar replacement. Maybe a chocolate covered yogurt bar instead of cheesecake.

5. Keep trigger foods out of your kitchen..

Cookies, cakes, ice cream, candy, etc… If it’s a trigger, it should be worth traveling for.

6. Avoid adding additional sugar when cooking. When making spaghetti sauce, leave the sugar in the cabinet. Substitute apple sauce in recipes.

7. Know the “other names” for sugar. Brown sugar, corn syrup, dextrin, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, high-fructose corn syrup, galactose, glucose, honey, hydrogenated starch, invert sugar maltose, lactose, mannitol, maple syrup, molasses, polyols, raw sugar, sorghum, sucrose, sorbitol, turbinado sugar, and xylitol

8. Ditch sports bars and drinks. Period. Franked-foods are no bueno in the sugar department.

9. Be careful with cereal. I know, I know. It was the “health food” of the 90’s. But just say no when possible. If you’re really big on cereal, look for bands with 8 grams of sugar or less or if possible, unsweetened.

10. Don’t skip meals. Night time sugar binges frequently happen because you didn’t get enough of the right nutrients during the day.