If you are trying to lose weight, you do not need to stop eating sugar. However, when you are dieting you can think of it as working with a calorie budget. In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat. You will limit the amount of calories each day. It is best to spend your calories on foods that are high in essential nutrients.
Foods with sugar are usually high in calories and do not have much of a nutritional value. If you are trying to lose weight, you will be limiting how many calories you eat. It is better to eat foods that have more of a value, than to use your calories on foods with sugar that has little value. Steamed vegetables and leafy green salads are an example of foods that offer you a lot for very few calories.
Carbohydrates are made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. As a group they are known as “sugars.” Glucose is blood sugar and fructose is fruit sugar. Starches are also in the “sugar” group. A healthy diet should consist of 40-50% of the diet being carbohydrates. The best carbohydrates are those that provide important vitamins and minerals. This includes foods like beans, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Table sugar is found in most desserts and also a lot of snacks. These foods normally also contain a lot of fat. Desserts often have a high amount of sugar, which makes them higher in calories. These are foods you do not want to eat or do not want to eat a lot of if you want to lose weight. Sweetened beverages and non-diet soda contain a lot of sugar. You can consume a lot of calories just through these drinks. Therefore, you may want to cut back on how much soda you drink if trying to lose weight.
In the US, sugar often makes up 20% of a person’s calories each day. That is too many calories from sugar. That will not help you lose weight and is not good for proper health. When dieting you should also know that many low-fat foods are high in sugar. You can cut down on how much sugar you eat by keeping that in mind. Also when you are cooking try to cut back on the amount of sugar a recipe calls for.
Once in awhile it is ok to treat yourself. Have a couple cookies or a piece of cake. However, you really do not to limit the amount of sugars you consume if you are trying to lose weight. Spend your calories on healthful foods instead.