27 Top Ways to Cut Sugar and Boost Your Health

Walking, and exercising in general, will at least take your mind off sweet cravings. Even a 15-minute walk will do the trick, according to a small study. Overindulging in sweet snacks is sometimes a coping mechanism for stress, but exercising is, too. Exercising also helps release endorphins, which trigger a positive feeling in the body and make you happy.

When you feel hungry, you may actually be thirsty. About 37% of people mistake hunger for thirst because thirst signals can be too subtle, according to clinical studies. So before you reach for the candy bars, try drinking some water.

You can try to experiment with ways to make water more appetizing. Add some fruit to the water to give it a natural flavor or make some tea. If you want (naturally) sweet teas opt for unsweetened dessert teas like cinnamon.

Low- or non-fat foods sound appealing. Fat is usually a bad word and nobody wants to consume a lot of it. Many companies remove the fat from their products, but in the process much of the flavor is lost too. To make them taste better, the companies fill them with artificial sweeteners or sugar. Low-fat foods may have fewer calories, but they tend to have higher sugar content. Read the labels. If you see many sugar and additive ingredients, put the product down and walk away.

Bread can be a sneaky source of sugar. It may not taste sweet, but that doesn’t mean it’s low on sugar. Sugar is often added to many packaged breads as a preservative to keep the product fresh and soft for as long as possible. Ingredients are listed by weight. So the farther down the list sugar is listed, the less of it is in the bread. Also, if you see names like corn sweetener, any type of syrup, cane juice, or honey, they mean “sugar.”