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

I have just gradually reduced the amount of sugar I add to hot drinks by a quarter teaspoon every week until I got down to none. (. Did only have ons spoonful anyway ) same applied to on porridge etc. taste buds adjusted fairly well, but do sometimes add candarel or honey to porridge if I crave a sweet taste

I'm trying to stay away, as much as possible, from refined sugar. I try to make sure that any sugar in our diets is natural, e.g. in the apples we eat.

This has meant a lot more home cooking and baking, e.g. spaghetti sauce and biscuits are the two most obvious changes for me.

I buy a lot less convenience food these days.

I am making the boys pancakes on Tuesday though and there will be maple syrup!

I avoid putting sugar on my cereal now and avoid having it in tea and coffee

I for sure want to give up sugar as a family! I have been paying close attention to how much sugar is in our food and making sure to buy less processed/ready made food as this often has lots of added unnecessary sugar

It would be nice to cut out sugar, however I haven't the time to read every packet. We do try and cook from scratch which limits the amount of sugar. Fruit juice one glass only with a meal and all other drinks milk or water.
Unfortunately we do like baking and puddings so we use sugar for cakes and custard, however by cooking them ourselves we can reduce the sugar in the recipe and often it still tastes as good.

The only problem with sugar alternatives is that they are so expensive and on a budget sorry sugar wins.

Regular brushing and limited snacking between meals helps the teeth stay healthy

I cut out sugar from tea and coffee about a year ago. It was disgusting to drink at first but now if someone accidently puts sugar in my tea it tastes horrible and I much prefer without sugar, and it's healthier!

I don't think we have a very high sugar diet - no fruit juice/squash/fizzy pop and not much processed stuff - but I would like to cut back on carbs.

I do bake occasionally and, although I've never used a sugar substitute, I'd be open to doing so. I occasionally bake vegan and/or gluten free stuff to accommodate people's dietary requirements so why not?

I have tried to cut down on sugar and can now drink hot drinks without it, super proud of myself because I've had 2 sugars in my tea/coffee for approx 30 year! I drink lots of cuppas throughout the day at work and at home and decided I need to cut it out and I'm trying to eat healthy, sugar does not fit in with my new found more healthy me. I've swapped my sugary cereals for porridge with honey and fruit or natural yoghurt with fruit and I've lost weight without even trying, bonus :-)

I am really careful to read the labels and check for sugar and all those 'hidden sugars', you don't expect, like baked beans !!!!!!
There is always plenty of choice in the fruit bowl, and I encourage my children to eat.
When we cook, we choose to make savoury products, like bread (they love to be able to knead the dough and then make different shapes). When we do make cakes it is best to make low sugar ones like scones or use artificial sweetener

I've been thinking about reducing my refined sugar intake as well as the rest of the family. We've decided to stop adding sugar to our hot drinks, that's a start!
We pay more attention to nutritional info labels too, which means that we cook more meals from scratch (how was suried at the amount of sugar in some jars of pasta sauce for example...)

I have thought about giving up sugar because I have heard and read so much recently about the damage it can cause to health but giving it up seems too hard because I eat a lot of sugar even without actually adding it myself to drinks/food. I am trying to reduce the amount of sugar I consume by checking labels and cooking from scratch more. I haven't really bought artificial sweeteners because I think they taste synthetic so I am trying instead to sweeten food with honey where I can.

to add again, I've just made some scones this morning with about a 1/3 less sugar in them (still haven't got round to buying any artificial sweetener) and actually, they taste great. I'm going to experiment with just putting less sugar in stuff and see what tastes good/what tastes vile...

I've decided that a little sugar is better than artificial stuff, the trick of making it just a little is to decrease the sweetness gradually

1. Have you been thinking about giving up or eating less sugar? Yes I now no long take 2-3 teaspoons in my tea and reduced one to half in coffee.

1. If yes, why? Do you have any tips/tricks you have for helping to beat sugar cravings? Do nothing as it did bother my taste buds for few days then get used to it & forget about it, if someone accidental add suger in my tea, I find it hard to finish it off as it filled me up too much.

I'm constantly thinking of reducing my sugar intake but I find it really hard. It's not the obvious that causes a problem (though I do firmly believe cake is the meaning of life) but the sugar in bread and things like that. We've switched to whole wheat pasta and brown rice recently and avoid any preprepared food.

Yes I have been thinking of reducing my sugar intake, and am trying, but I too find it very addictive, and once I start eating something with sugar, it's like a switch has been triggered in my brain, and I don't think rationally any more - all my good intentions are gone. It's like I'm a different person for a few minutes almost. A bit scary. I try to limit access to products with sugar so that I buy only very small quantities of sweets or whatever at one time. I avoid artificial sweeteners as much as possible, because those have the same effects on me, and I think they also have other side effects that I'm not aware of.

We have made a conscious decision to cut down on sugar as a family and we all feel better as a result. We are dairy free anyway because my little girl has a dairy allergy but trying to help her make healthier treats has been hard but we've found that adding sweetner as a substitute can help, but also, using fruit or fruit based products to give that natural sweetness can help.
I have personally found that I am craving less food as a whole after a month of cutting out sugar, which probably shows how much I was having in the first place! I don't have that 2pm crash of energy at work and now I make homemade snack bars with dried fruit, oats and a sweetner just for taste!
More people should give up just a bit of sugar and it might make a difference, but just give it a while, you may feel the need to eat more sweet things so try and replace it with natural sweetness in fruit or fruit smoothies

Yes, I've been thinking of reducing the amount of refined sugar I eat. Mainly because I hate the post-sugar lows. I find a handful of nuts helps to break craving cycle. I've also used chromium supplement in the past to help regulate my blood sugar but as am breast feeding not currently using.

I don't take any sugar in hot drinks anymore

last year the whole sugar debate passed me by as I couldn't see anything wrong with sugar. This year speaking to a friend who is cutting out sugar as one way of controlling her illness, it has opened my eyes to just how bad it can be.

then i bought Davina's book and we have started to cut down on sugar.

I am not trying to cut down on sugar but when life allows I do try to cook from scratch as much as possible.
I bake fairly frequently and sometimes reduce the sugar in recipes.
I'm really unsure about sweeteners though. In fact I choose diluting juice with sugar as opposed to sweeteners as to be they are 'chemicals' with poss unknown effects. I'm
Conscious that sugar might damage their teeth though and it can be hard to spot the drinks with sugar as most seem to use sweeteners.

I'm actually trying for a baby again and although I'm very skinny, I still had cysts in my ovaries (symptoms of pcos in overweight women). Doctors didn't advise me on diet change but reading around I knew this was what I needed to do, so I changed my diet around, ate primal and what do you know? Number of cysts reduced drastically.

I have been trying to make things myself like cakes and not putting as much sugar in, also going for sugar free cordials and quitting sugar out of my tea

I have 2 cans of pop a day! i tried stopping for a week but it absolutely killed me!

i try not to eat sugar because when i do i crave more so if i give it up completely i feel better.