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

We cut down on sugar in some things so I don't mind so much when the children have biscuits or chocolate etc. We've cut back on fresh juice, we make sugar free flapjacks (although they have raisins and banana in...), I try to get them to eat porridge and berries or something like weetabix as much as possible for breakfast. We don't add sugar to drinks or cereal, and I've never used an artificial sweetener, I think I'd just prefer to use a smaller amount of sugar or honey.

I have a terrible sweet tooth, but find dark chocolate satisfies me. I have treats like sugar free jellys and squirty cream or make my own desserts but using less sugar than suggested in the recipe. I tend to eat more sugar when tired or hungry, so I try to eat regular meals and a cup of white sugar free coffee keeps the pangs at bay if I have a sugar craving coming on. Occasionally I do give in and have a wicked jam donut just to get it out of my system, but processed food and low fat foods are best avoided as they do bulk them up with extra sugar.

I am quite llucky as I don't really have a sweet tooth but my DH does. I've swapped his sugar for sweetener - which he actually prefers and now that he is in training for Trailwalker he has asked me not to buy sweets in!

THe only drawback for me is that I love to bake - which when he is trying to avoid temptation means that I don't want to put it in front of him. I have started to chop up lots of lovely veg for him to pick at rather than sugary snacks - something both kids have had since they were tiny.

I want to lose weight so really need to give up more sugar. I already use sweetener in my tea but really need to find some other ways

I am a sugarholic, I eat about 3 chocolate bars a day, plus sugary drinks and just eat a lot more sugary things. I come from a family of diabetics so I know I have to cut down drastically and quickly unless I want to go the same way
Recently I have cut down my chocolate bar intake to just one a day (which is good for me!) and instead of having fizzy drinks every day I only allow myself them on the weekend now
And hot drinks instead of having 3 sugars , I have been replacing that with just 1 sugar and 2 Canderel tablets
I still have a long way to go but it's a start! :-)

I never have sugar in tea or coffee, I always read labels on everything to make sure low fat, vegetarian and low in sugar, I never add sugar to fruit etc so I never actually need to buy sugar, the only sugar I get is within the foods I eat which tend to be fresh ingredients, so fingers crossed I am doing all I can. I do have sweet tooth and enjoy the odd chocolate bar, but again i make sure never sugar loaded and never over 100 calories.

Substituting canderel for sugar is NOT healthy.
Canderel is mainly aspartame which has all sorts of adverse health effects.

Aspartame be is banned in the USA and should be banned here.

I don't think I'm going to win that voucher!

I have been trying to reduce the families sugar intake for some time, moreso because of the children and their dental hygeine etc.

I always buy products with "no added sugar" or sugar free for drinks. Have also converted from regular sugar to "fruit sugar", for hot drinks, baking etc, you only need half the amount and it is apparently a healthier option, and I personally cannot tell the difference. I have tried artificial sweeteners in the past, but find they leave an unpleasant after taste, but that's not the case with fruit sugar.

As a family we have just started looking at ways to reduce our sugar mostly from fruit and hidden sugars which is quite challenging. Its in a lot of unexpected places like tomato sauce and savoury flavourings

We've brought the IQS books reduced the amount of fruit we eat thats high in sugar and are considering switching to Stevia

Have thought about canderel but not sure of the ingredients

I've always been a massive savoury fan so I am far more worried about my salt intake than my sugar!

I would love to be able up give up sugar but I don't smoke, don't drink and try not to consume caffeine so sugar is my only vice but I think I'm totally hooked...

I'm still breast feeding my 22 month old dc and find I need lots of snacks - and these are mostly sugary I'm afraid to say...

But, the more I have the more I want - I just with I could have the willpower to avoid them all together ( like in my pre- pregnancy days when I ate healthily and got fit in order to be in the best possible shape to conceive and lost 2.5 stone in 6 months... ) x

i tend to check nutritional information a lot more as there are lots of hidden sugars in foods! I've switched to canderel for cerials, tea and also for baking!

We have been buying low sugar food for the past three years - there are many alternatives to everyday products that have less sugar, such as soya milk, soya yoghurts, stevia sweetened chocolate etc.

I have stopped drinking Pepsi and started drinking Pepsi Max which is sugar free

I absolutely need to cut down on sugar but I have a very sweet tooth so find it difficult.

I've found it much easier since I've had dd who's now nearly 2 as I make decent decisions for her so to lead by example I try and do the same.
I avoid tea/coffee though as I could have three teaspoons of sugar in them.
I have swapped bars of chocolate for hot chocolate options to still give me a sweet kick but at least a third of the calories.

i have tried to eat less sugar, it isnt very successful at the moment though. i try to eat a piece of fruit rather than a chocolate bar

In my ongoing attempts to lose weight, I am trying to eat less sugar. But sometimes it can be incredibly difficult.

Labels on products can confusing and unclear. There are long lists of ingredients listed which can become meaningless for busy parents when shopping. Possibly unhealthy items could be listed in bold to make easier reading.

Also, manufacturers tend to make many products incredibly sweet. I bought Muller's yogurts as they are only 99 calories a pot, yet found them to be too sweet for my tastes.

My tips for eating healthier foods are to change some of the unhealthy options for fruits of all sorts. They are sweet enough for most tastes, and the addiction to sugar eventually disappears.

I have a really sweet tooth so find it very hard. I have been motivated by trying to make my DCs' diets healthier though.

We have made small changes like buying only natural yoghurt and using a type of jam sweetened with grape juice concentrate rather than sugar. Still has lots of fruit sugars though of course!

But mostly I just try and keep our shopping basket full of whole foods, snacks are fruit/veg sticks/nuts etc. We don't regularly have juice in the house, I see it as more of a treat now and we mostly stick to water.

But we do buy treats as well, as I don't want it to be forbidden and exciting - it's just that we buy less of it now and when it's gone it's gone.

I've just swapped to sugar-free everything, and the things I just have to have sugar in or on, I use Canderel of course!

its not to bad really, i just avoid it, it is quite hard on the pocket to buy things with less or no sugar as the cheaper options always seem much more expensive once you ad it all up.

We've decided to bin jars of pasta sauce after seeing in a programme how much sugar was in them, we now mix a tin of chopped tomatoes with some passata, mixed herd, garlic etc, it so much cheaper as well. I've also switched us to having a low sugar yoghurt instead of a chocolate bar after dinner

1. There is very little sugar in my diet as I feel much better when I don't have it However, we're trying to cut down DH's calories so we are currently looking at the sugar in his diet.

1. To help DH we have switched to unsweetened almond milk (he is allergic to ordinary milk). I cook most things from scratch so there is no sugar in any of that other. There is sugar in things I bake but I've reduced that to the minimum amount. Luckily he likes 85% dark chocolate which has very little sugar in it and he only has a small amount of it - the plus side is that it has lots of antioxidants so it's not "empty calories". For porridge adding cinnamon can eliminate the need for sugar.

I only buy sugar free drinks

me and my boyfriend attempted the harcombe diet which cuts out carbs and sugar, i could not believe how bad the sugar cravings were as due to us going cold turkey we both gave up, the headaches, shakes were just too much. It did make us realise how addicted to sugar we are. We have cut down on buying processed food and tend to make from scratch more without added sugar, we have dropped the chidlren's intake of sweets which as getting out of hand over christmas to one small treat a day now

I have gradually reduced my sugar and that works really well :)