Foods with sugar content include most cereals, breads, fruit punches, soft drinks, candies, energy drinks, sauces, muffins, granola bars, salad dressings as well as many other baked products. For this reason, it is always ideal for you to look at the ingredients in each product before making a purchase. However, there are lots of things you can eat on a no sugar diet to decrease sugar intake.
Foods to eat under sugar-free diet
General guideline
If you are on a sugar-free diet, avoid the intake of processed foods and instead concentrate on consuming whole foods. You can achieve your weight loss goals by eating whole foods and good fat; all you need to ensure is that you consume fewer calories than you need to burn. Some exceptional choices of foods to eat while on a sugar-free diet include eggs, fresh dairy products and grass fed meats.
Some foods you need to consume are peas, lentils, brown rice, beans, popcorn, quinoa, barley, oats as well as polenta among many others.
Below are other foods you need to learn more about
1. Non-starchy vegetables
These types of vegetables are your best bet for weight loss. These vegetables are rich in nutrients, have few calories and will leave you feeling full for longer. You need to include non-starchy vegetables in your daily diet. They include spinach, kale, leafy greens, onions, cucumbers, mushrooms, cauliflower, bell pepper, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and asparagus.
Your diet still needs minor starchy vegetables. The best ones include regular potatoes, winter squashes and sweet potatoes. These will offer nutrients without raising your blood sugar levels.
2. Plain dairy products
These dairy products contain zero sugar and they are very nutritious as they offer protein, calcium, as well as healthy carbohydrates. Some examples include cheese, milk and yogurt.
3. Low sugar fruits
Fruits contain sugar, but some have more sugar than others. Low sugar fruits are also packed with antioxidants, fiber, minerals and vitamins, which are ideal for health. Some of them include mandarins, berries and apples.
4. Complete protein foods
Proteins will keep you full for longer. This prevents hunger and cravings before meal time. Some rich sources of complete protein include fish, poultry, eggs, meat, hard cheese, sausages, cottage cheese, plain yogurt, smoked salmons, nut butter, nuts and tofu.
5. Foods containing healthy fat
Healthy fats will help the body in the absorption of fat soluble antioxidants. These antioxidants are available in fruits and vegetables. When absorbed, you will feel fuller for longer. Some sources of healthy fats include avocados, nuts, olive oils, nut butter, balsamic vinegar and vinaigrette.
6. Other foods
You can also consume unsweetened fresh fruit juices or even sweets that have been sweetened with fruit juice (fresh). You can also include gelatin and unsweetened jellies in your diet. For beverages, you can consume unsweetened tea, milk, coffee or hot chocolate. You also need to you take plenty of water.
Foods to avoid under sugar-free diet
For your sugar-free diet to be effective, you need to learn of the foods you need to avoid. Most foods to avoid fall in the sugar and flour categories. These foods contain useless calories and hence should be avoided. Most of the foods listed below contain simple carbohydrates that are easily broken down. This leads to the feeling of hunger and hence more unnecessary eating.
1. Sugars
These are foods rich in sugars you need to avoid. They include cakes, sugar cane, candy, beet sugar, brownies, chocolate, cookies, corn syrup, granola bars, glucose, honey, ice cream, jellies, jams, molasses, maple syrup, specialty coffee, sucrose, sweetened cereals and table sugar.
2. Flours
There are some foods containing flour you need to avoid. By avoiding these flour based foods, you are able to ensure that your sugar-free diet is effective.
These flour based foods include cakes, bagels, cereals, cookies, corn flour, corn cereals, crackers, croissants, dinner rolls, donuts, English muffins, fried food, lasagna, pasta, pizza, pretzels, rice flour, rice noodles, rice cereals, sandwich rolls, tortillas, white bread, wheat bread and white rice.
Advantages and disadvantages of no sugar diet
Advantages
Like with all other diet plans, this too comes with its benefits and disadvantages. The biggest benefit of such diets is that they are suitable for individuals with diabetes, food allergies and even blood sugar problems. This diet also eliminates the need to keep track of the amount of calories you consume. This diet will eliminate useless calories from your diet.
Disadvantages
On the other hand, according to critics the greatest disadvantage of the diet is the difficulty one faces when trying to completely cut off sugar based foods. In the diet hound website, it is said that most foods contain at least one type of sugar making it hard for one to adhere to a strict sugar-free diet. In order to do it effectively, one needs time to be able to go through food labels of every type of food they purchase. The other down side of the plan is the fact that it recommends incorporating of exercise, but does not come with a specific exercising plan.