Talk to Canderel about eating less sugar and you could win a £300 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

We've been asked by Canderel to find out about Mumsnetters' experiences and opinions on reducing sugar intake.

Canderel say "At Canderel, We’re all about sugar alternatives that still let you indulge yourself. With the average UK person consuming more than their recommended sugar allowance (10% of their daily calorie intake per day)*, we’d like to know how we can help your family manage your sugar intake. Be SweetSmart, swap to Canderel"

Below are a few points to get you started, but feel free to add any other comments you have:

1. Have you been thinking about giving up or eating less sugar?
2. If yes, why? Do you have any tips/tricks you have for helping to beat sugar cravings?

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £300 John Lewis voucher.

Please note, Canderel may use your anonymous comments on social media, so please only comment if you're happy with this.

Thanks & good luck,
MNHQ

PS - Our standard terms & conditions apply.

• Source

1. Have you been thinking about giving up or eating less sugar?

Yes - I get frustrated with myself.

1. If yes, why? Do you have any tips/tricks you have for helping to beat sugar cravings?

I eat grapefruit, drink ltd of water and try and train my brain to prefer savoury food.

We are generally quite good in that we don't eat processed foods, add sugar to hot drinks or drink fizzy drinks, but I do have a sweet tooth and enjoy sweet snacks like chocolate, biscuits, cakes and desserts. My oldest daughter is 18 months and we have consciously kept sugar out of her diet. She is perfectly happy with fruit for pudding, so we have that too so that she doesn't feel she's missing out. It means sweet things are limited to when she's gone to bed, by which time the craving has usually passed.

The quickest way for me to cut down on sugar was to switch from drinking tea (which I always had with 2 sugars!) to drinking peppermint tea. It's harder to reduce the amount of 'hidden' sugar, as it is often an ingredient in lots of foods-we do have low sugar baked beans though.

I am trying to reduce my sugar intake as I worry about long term health consequences like diabetes, and I don't want to add to my collection of fillings!

I like a little sweetener in my tea as a pick me up, and use it in cooking such as if making a sugar free jelly. In baking I find using 1/2 sugar and 1/2 sweetener is a good compromise.

I use sweetener in place of sugar but I prefer one which does not contain aspartamane. I find no difference in taste and it does help with weight loss.

I try and snack on fruit rather than chocolate. Cut out all fizzy drinks. Eat Low GI foods so I'm not getting constant sugar highs and lows.

Not a fan of sweetners as they taste too artificial

I don't really think I need to cut down on sugar, I already try and stay away from sugar laden products and have a good awareness of what sugar is in. Fresh fruit keeps my sweet tooth at bay,a nd every so often I'll have some high quality dark chocolate which really gives me a fix. I find normal chocolate way too sickly sweet now.

I'm doing low carb at the moment which I also want to do for life (or switch over to primal) as I feel so much better and my body's immune system and health has improved drastically. When I say low carb, I mean literally 20-30g total carbs per day. Whenever I bake, I always use natural sweeteners like stevia or a sugar alcohol like erythritol.

I use the app "My fitness Pal" to try and ensure that I don't go over my liit with any sugar or cals or fat. I find the main think is it makes me think before I put the offending article into my mouth !
Its good to see a Varity of different products on sale with sugar substitute in now.
Finally of I can drink coffee without sugar but not tea so Canderel is my obvious choice to help.

1. Have you been thinking about giving up or eating less sugar?

I try to follow a low carb 'just eat real food' way of eating. Christmas was a write off but I'm back on the zero sugar now.

1. If yes, why? Do you have any tips/tricks you have for helping to beat sugar cravings?

I have PCOS and insulin resistance issues so sugar isn't my friend. I find that going cold turkey for a few weeks shakes the sugar cravings. I then reintroduce some berries and natural sweetner choices (stevia or a birch xylitol) in small amounts.

I have done it in the past - initially very diffficult,but once over the first couple of weeks it feels OK. I did it to loose weight, and was very effective

I was recently shocked at the amount of sugar we consume as a family & we eat really well. Its little things like raisins, tons of fruit & other things that you think are good but are bad for teeth etc.

We have cut down on sweet treats & offering more veg / crudités as snacks.

I eat a lot of dark chocolate to keep my sugar cravings at bay. I'm tiring to convince the children of this.

I love sugar and don't need to cut down on my intake as I already use the old adage of "a LITTLE of what you fancy does you good"

1. Have you been thinking about giving up or eating less sugar?

-Yes, every January it seems we run out of coffee and sugar - I buy only cane granulated and my preferred supplier runs out of stock. Is sugar a seasonal product? Every January I scour our cupboards & drawers for lost sugar sachets.

1. If yes, why? - Lack of supply prompts my drop in sugar use.

2b. Do you have any tips/tricks you have for helping to beat sugar cravings?
The first coffee + sugar hit of the morning is where I missed it most. (Same as smokers, worryingly) When the sugar sachets ran out I switched to a seemingly endless supply of sweetener sachets - but a) sweeteners didn't give me the sugar hit and I ended up supplementing with jam on toast; and - although I am sure this is unrelated - b) this year my shoulder started aching. It gave me a good reason to save the rest of the sweeteners for my DD.

I've stuck with the jam on toast to get a breakfast sugar hit, and now don't take sugar in hot drinks. This wasn't on my 'to do' list this year and I'm very pleased to have achieved this.

I've decided to give up sugar for lent - not for religious reasons, but just as a personal challenge. I definitely eat way too much and am really keen to reduce this. Avoiding things like cake, chocolate etc will be easy enough but it's all the hidden sugars in savoury foods that'll be harder to avoid.

One thing I don't do is add sugar to tea or coffee, so at least in that respect I won't need to make any changes.

just gradually reduce sugar in tea and food and you will be fine

My daughters are actually trying to get me to do paleo and I really want to start and reduce my sugar intake but each time an event always pops up, either a wedding, or a feast. I do want to start though, it's just a matter of when.

I have stopped having sugar in my tea. We try and have fruit instead of other junk, although we try to limit that too as there is sugar in fruit too.

Eating (a little bit!) dark chocolate is a good alternative - you still get the pick me up but it's healthier for you. It also contains serotonin which influences your mood :)

I havent refilled our sugar jar since it ran out at christmas so my oldest son has been unable to put the usual sugar on his cereal or in his tea, he grumbled at first but now has resigned to the fact that it's not that bad without, I use sweeteners in my hot drinks and have a jar of Canderel for baking and for sprinkling on cereal etc
I have also stopped buying sugary cereals and buy plain ones, I also bur sugar free drinks now as they say every little helps

Hi out of all the sweetners on the market Canderel is the best tasting! Have tried the new stevia which is natural sugar but it's just not sweet enough for me. I only have sweetener in coffee and only 1 or 2 a day but with Canderel it really tastes good.

I have tried to cut sugar out of my diet as I'm trying to lose weight. I have stopped putting sugar in my coffee and use sweetner instead, it tastes about the same. I do like drinking squash so we buy the no added sugar ones. I also check the ingredients on things more when I am in the supermarket it is really shocking how much sugar is in foods

Using plain yogurt and adding fruit rather than having flavoured yogurt with added sugar.

I often think about reducing our families intake of sugar or cutting out completely, im sure every family does but it is very hard.

one trick was with my hot drinks I didn't put any sugar in, I told myself to do it for 2 weeks and it was hard but I can now drink tea without, and coffee I have halved my sugar.
one of the other tips is shopping, we always buy far too much choice so now I tell myself only one fizzy bottle drink a week and the children have agreed to drink water when its finished until the next week, same with snacks and it does really work, having a bowl of fruit salad to hand at all times is good too.
I must admit I once made a cake using canderel, sorry but never again, the company needs to make cakes and eat them to really know how bad they taste!!

1. Have you been thinking about giving up or eating less sugar?

Periodically I cut back on sugar, but tend to slip back into bad habits again.

1. If yes, why? Do you have any tips/tricks you have for helping to beat sugar cravings?

Why? Because sugar is empty calories, risk of insulin resistance, family history of diabetes etc. Tips/tricks - don't use artificial sweeteners as you still feel unsatisfied. I swap to nuts and pickles as snacks to take the edge off until you get used to a lower sugar diet (though with the pickles you have to check the recipe to avoid sugary ones).