Reducing sugar intake will greatly help in weight loss and improve health. In the low carb, low fat, high fibre, high protein diet, limited sugar is an essential part of low carb. The health issues and its link to weight gain are discussed in the chapters “What about Sugars” and “More about Sugars”.


Artificial Sweeteners – An alternative to Sugar? and Is it Safe?

Sugar can be found in many processed food, drinks, cakes and cookies, even bread, and often in food preparation. Many people's option is to go for artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, neotame and acesulfame potassium. These five artificially derived sugar sweeteners have been approved for use in the United States by the The Food and Drug Administration (FDA).


Artificial Sweetener, also known as Sugar Substitute, is a food additive which attempts to duplicate the effect of sugar in taste, but often with less calories. Artificial sweeteners do not affect blood sugar. They're considered "free foods" — because they don't count as a carbohydrate, a fat or any other exchange. They are usually found in diet sodas and “no sugar” processed products. There is ongoing controversy whether artificial sweeteners are health risks. And there is a maximum safe limit to consume in a day or over a lifetime, set by the FDA.

In addition artificial sweeteners do not eliminate or reduce your sugar cravings. Instead, you are even more dependent on sweet things.


What to Do?


To reduce sugar cravings, fruits that are mostly sweet will not help too. Go for sour fruits (lemons, grapefruits, limes, soursop) and not so sweet fruits with lots of fibres (green pears, pineapples, green apples).


My success came from reducing my sugar intake a little at a time. When you reduce sugar bit by bit, you will one day find most things too sweet for you. You may even wonder how on earth you could consume those foods before.


People who do a drastic change or try to stop completely or switch to artificial sweeteners are mostly not successful in stopping their sugar cravings. Because they need a will power that is as strong as steel.


I still take some sugar only when it is necessary for the food to have it. Whenever suitable, I replace with natural organic honey. Otherwise I can live without it.