Ask Leah! The Ingles Dietitian

Sponsored: Kicking the sugar habit

Sponsored: Kicking the sugar habit

Q: I am working on having balanced meals and improving my health, but I have a real “sweet tooth” that I need to tame. Any suggestions?

A: Some people do better if they eliminate everything with added sugar from their diet, so no cookies, candy, baked goods, sweet tea, regular sodas etc. --- basically a “cold turkey” approach. 

Others like to establish the practice of having a small amount of a sweet treat one time per day or once a week, e.g. a small square of chocolate once a day or a serving of a dessert once a week. 

Other people like to switch from sugar to non-nutritive (aka artificial or high intensity sweeteners) so instead of sugar in coffee or tea using sucralose (Splenda) or other “artificial” sweeteners and using those in baking as well. 

Still others use a combination of these strategies. 

You could also try and get your sweet fix from foods with naturally occurring sugars like fruit. Try having a serving of fruit as a dessert or a sweet treat.

Related Items

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN

Ingles Markets Corporate Dietitian

twitter.com/InglesDietitian

facebook.com/LeahMcgrathDietitian

800-334-4936

Smokey Mountain News Logo
SUPPORT THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AND
INDEPENDENT, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISM
Go to top
Payment Information

/

At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

The Smoky Mountain News is a wholly private corporation. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. Your support of SMN does not constitute a charitable donation. If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us.