There’s sugar in just about everything in the American diet – bread, desserts, juice and fruit, among a long list of other foods. If you're living with diabetes, sugar seems almost unavoidable while trying to create a diet suitable for healthy glucose levels.
But ridding your daily diet of unnecessary sugars is not impossible. In fact, it’s achievable if you ditch the diet mentality, according to nutrition expert Constance Brown-Riggs.
“Most people fail at diet and lifestyle resolutions because they associate ‘a diet’ with deprivation and take an all-or-nothing approach,” Brown-Riggs wrote on her website. “Adopting a healthier lifestyle doesn’t have to mean deprivation or struggle – not if you take the right approach.”
The right approach, she says, includes finding joy in exercise, making gradual health changes instead of big leaps and still eating the foods you love but in moderation.
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It can be hard to apply this mentality to a sugar detox because, yes, sugar is quite addicting. Your body may start to crave the sweet stuff once you start cutting added sugars from your diet, creating that feeling of deprivation for a few days.
With the right positive attitude, here are some tips to start cutting sugar from your diet for healthy diabetes management.
Read the label.
The most important thing is to know exactly how much sugar is in the foods you eat. Instead of grabbing your usual breakfast cereal, for example, go for the unsweetened oatmeal or shredded wheat cereal. If you need a bit of sweetness, add a fruit on top – doing it this way helps you keep track of what sugars you’re eating.
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Practice moderation.
Try avoiding anything with added sugar for a couple of days and see how it makes you feel. These foods include wheat and alcohol and, temporarily, fruits and dairy, according to shape.com. Instead, eat proteins like eggs, chicken and meat, vegetables, nuts and avocados.
Add healthy sugars back in gradually.
If you didn’t feel too deprived for those few days without added sugars, you can bring back healthy sugars to your diet – but still in moderation and according to your diabetes management plan. Try a fruit and a serving of dairy each day, says shape.com. After a while, try more fruit, whole grains, perhaps, and dairy. Once you get in a healthy routine, you’ll be able to completely avoid unnecessary sugars and only eat the ones beneficial to a healthy diet. However, if you start feeling faint or ill during this detox, don’t hesitate to reach out to your physician.
