Reduce your Sugar Intake [and I don't mean just add Splenda]!

Reducing your daily intake of sugar can significantly reduce your overall daily intake of calories as well as, perk you up throughout the day. Now when I say reduce your sugar intake, I don't mean just add splenda [or your favorite artificial sweetener]. Although aspartame and it's counter-parts are deemed safe for human consumption some people would rather not use them or consuming them results in a negative side effect (ie. headaches). 

Let's try and learn to like things that are less sweet. If you think about it, the foods that most American's crave are donuts, cookies, cakes and all the other similar baked/ packaged foods. Why don't we crave fruits and vegetables? hhmm. Definite food for thought.

So how can you begin to reduce your sugar? Check out some of the Smart Snacker tips below:

Use Spices and Herbs
- Cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom to enhance flavors

Add Fresh Fruit
- Mix fresh fruit into unflavored oatmeal and yogurt, make your own toppings for pancakes and waffles by pureeing fresh fruit and adding a bit of water and vanilla extract

Consider honey or molasses
- These taste sweeter than table sugar and using them may help you reduce total sugar content of a recipe

Cook your fruits and vegetables
- This will sweeten them more so than if they were served raw

Eat bitter foods
- By adding bitter foods more frequently (arugula, endive, broccoli rabe, collards, kale and mustard greens) it will make your naturally sweet foods (fresh fruit) taste even sweeter

Catch some Zzz's
- Being tired and irritable causes people to crave sugary foods

Participate in frequent eatings
- Don't let more than 4 hours pass before you eat something; doing so will cause a fluctuation in your blood sugar and send you straight to the candy jar

Don't go cold turkey
- Try to limit your sugar gradually; if you cut cold turkey it could cause you to not feel well


So how much is too much? According to the most recent 2010 guidelines established by the American Heart Association, no more than 25 grams of added sugar a day for women and 37.5 grams for men