With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s hard to resist all the exciting sweets and treats that fill the festive season.
1 min. read
A mother smiling at her daughter
With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s hard to resist all the exciting sweets and treats that fill the festive season. From cookies and cakes, to candy canes and hot chocolate, sugary treats just seem too good not to eat! While it’s important to treat yourself on occasion, eating too much sugar can impact your health.
Although sugar doesn’t directly increase your cancer risk, eating lots of sugar can contribute to having excess weight, which can increase your risk of cancer.
Here are six tips to help manage your sugar intake over the holidays:
Read nutrition labels
Sugar is sneaky-- it hides under multiple names on nutrition labels! A tip to keep in mind when grocery shopping is to look for ingredients ending in “ose”, as those ingredients are usually sugars.
Rethink your drink
Drink water instead of pop or juice. If you find cutting juice from your diet difficult, try diluting it with sparkling water.
Be ready for cravings
Prevent mid-afternoon energy crashes by keeping healthy snacks on hand. Opt for nuts, low-fat yogurt or some fruit instead of the leftover holiday sweets.
Check your condiments
Cut down on sauces like ketchup, barbecue sauce, honey mustard and plum sauce. These sauces are usually high in sugar.
Reduce sugar in recipes
Halve the amount of sugar used in your recipes this season. This works for most dishes and desserts.
Choose whole foods over processed foods
Avoid buying pre-packaged foods. These usually contain high amounts of sugar. Control your sugar intake by using whole foods and opting to prepare things yourself.
For more tips on how to reduce your sugar intake this holiday season, visit cancer.ca to read more.
Although sugar doesn’t directly increase your cancer risk, eating lots of sugar can contribute to having excess weight, which can increase your risk of cancer.
Here are six tips to help manage your sugar intake over the holidays:
Read nutrition labels
Sugar is sneaky-- it hides under multiple names on nutrition labels! A tip to keep in mind when grocery shopping is to look for ingredients ending in “ose”, as those ingredients are usually sugars.
Rethink your drink
Drink water instead of pop or juice. If you find cutting juice from your diet difficult, try diluting it with sparkling water.
Be ready for cravings
Prevent mid-afternoon energy crashes by keeping healthy snacks on hand. Opt for nuts, low-fat yogurt or some fruit instead of the leftover holiday sweets.
Check your condiments
Cut down on sauces like ketchup, barbecue sauce, honey mustard and plum sauce. These sauces are usually high in sugar.
Reduce sugar in recipes
Halve the amount of sugar used in your recipes this season. This works for most dishes and desserts.
Choose whole foods over processed foods
Avoid buying pre-packaged foods. These usually contain high amounts of sugar. Control your sugar intake by using whole foods and opting to prepare things yourself.
For more tips on how to reduce your sugar intake this holiday season, visit cancer.ca to read more.