15 Ways to Eat Less Sugar—Without Missing It

A life without any sugar is a life we don't want to live. And thankfully, experts say you don't need to eliminate it entirely from your diet. But decreasing your intake is something most of us should be doing. "I'm not of the view that we should be draconian about this," says Richard Mattes, M.P.H., Ph.D., RD, professor of nutrition science at Purdue University. "Sugars do add palatability. And the most nutritious diet, if it's not palatable, will have no health benefit—because people won't eat it."

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest that adults limit added sugar intake to less than 10% of their daily calories. That amounts to 50 grams or less of added sugar on a 2,000-calorie eating plan. Knowing that, these strategies can help you eat less sugar and find a balance that works for you.

1. Utilize the Added Sugar Information on Food Labels

"Always check the Nutrition Facts panel to see how much added sugar is in a product—like cereal or yogurt—and compare it to other brands," says Renata Micha, Ph.D., RD of Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. "Between two or three options, you can aim for the one that has less added sugar," she says. You should also consider how the added sugar in foods fits into your daily consumption.

2. Target Top Sugary Sources

In the U.S., most added sugar comes from the following five sources: sweetened beverages; desserts and sweet snacks; sweetened coffees and teas; candy and other sugars (jams, syrups, toppings); and breakfast cereals and granola bars. Figure out which category you tend to get the most added sugar from and start from there. You'll get the greatest reduction in overall sugar and a boost in health benefits.

3. Look for High-Quality Carbs

Many packaged products—tortillas, granola bars—fall into a nutritional gray zone. They may be made with whole grains (healthy) and still contain lots of sugar (not so healthy). Even more stealthily, the front of the package may declare "no added sugars," but the manufacturer has replaced this nutrient with something else, such as refined starches that have no fiber and affect your body in ways similar to added sugars. "So it's important to assess overall carb quality, not just sugar alone," says Micha.

One simple way to do that: use the 10-to-1 metric. This means for every 10 g of total carbohydrate that a product contains, 1 g or more should be fiber. (It's based on the ratio of total carb to fiber found in whole wheat.) Micha and her colleagues discovered that when they applied this trick to U.S. supermarket foods, it quickly identified items with higher-quality carbs that also happened to be lower in sugar. And they were healthier in general—lower in sodium and higher in protein, fiber, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B, vitamin E, zinc and iron.

Pictured recipe: Strawberry, Basil & Lime Infused Water

4. Don't Drink Your Sugar

You know that soda is a sugary drink, but other sugary beverages may slip past your nutritional radar. Coffee drinks like a bottled Frappuccino can have 34 g of added sugar, and one 20-ounce sports drink packs as much as 48 g—which is just about 100% of your daily limit. (For comparison, a can of Coke has 39 g.) "Sports drinks serve a purpose for elite athletes, or let's face it, when we're sick with the flu or prepping for a colonoscopy. But for everyone else, just choose water," says Nancy Farrell Allen, M.S., RDN, a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. And let's not forget cocktails. Alcohol itself contains no or very little sugar, but when you add the coffee liqueur to your 'tini—that's when the grams can go through the roof.

By eliminating even one sugary beverage a day and instead sipping water with a squeeze of lime or orange for flavor, you can dramatically reduce your sugar intake—especially given that sweetened beverages are the single largest source of added sugar in the American diet, says Micha. You could also try drinking seltzer in fun flavors, infusing your water with fresh fruit or eating an apple or orange alongside a glass of ice water.

5. Take Your Time

All of our experts recommend weaning yourself off sweetness slowly. Do you add sugar to your coffee or tea? Then use a little less tomorrow. A few days later, dial it back a bit more. Your taste buds will adjust to lower sweetness levels in food as you reduce your added sugar intake. After a while, you may perceive certain foods as being too sweet and avoid them or eat less of them.

6. Be Wary of Packaged Bars

We love the grab-and-go convenience of them, but granola and energy bars supply a lot of the added sugar in our diets. So scan for ones that are low in sugar and as minimally processed as possible (short ingredients list of recognizable whole foods). They often taste just as good and can save you 5 g to 15 g of added sugars (that's between 1 and 4 teaspoons of sugar) per bar! Even better, put a handful of nuts, seeds and oats, plus some unsweetened coconut flakes and a few dark chocolate chips (11 of them only have 2 g of added sugar) in a travel container for a snack that's packed with protein, fiber and other nutrients and very little added sugar.

7. Swap Your Yogurt for Skyr

This Icelandic-style yogurt is made using different types of cultures than the standard kind you may be used to, giving it a thick, creamy consistency and less sour taste. Some of the flavored varieties of skyr may have about one-third less added sugar than other flavored yogurts—which can be quite high in sugar. For a low-sugar option, top plain skyr with fresh fruit.

8. Get Enough Sleep

The average adult needs between 7 and 9 hours a night—yet more than 35% of Americans get less than that. Missing out on zzz's can impact your hunger hormones, making you crave sugary foods (and salty ones too). A 2022 study published in the Journal of Sleep Research found that sleep deprivation reduces blood levels of leptin, a hormone associated with eating satisfaction and increases the concentration of ghrelin and adiponectin, which are associated with hunger. The authors concluded that chronic sleep loss can contribute to weight gain. This may be especially true when you consume sugary foods for a quick energy boost.

9. Trick Your Palate

Studies have shown that sweetness can be amplified by concurrently stimulating your other senses, says experimental psychologist Qian Janice Wang, Ph.D., an associate professor of Consumer Psychology at the University of Copenhagen. One strategy to try: Sniff cinnamon, vanilla, cherry, almond, caramel, pineapple, pomegranate, strawberry or banana before a meal or with your food. It can make you think what you're eating is 5% to 25% sweeter than it would taste without one of these aromas. "The smell-taste interaction together forms this perception of flavor. And that's because when we smell something, the mind is already forming expectations that it's a sweet food," explains Wang. "So if you have cinnamon-vanilla oatmeal every day, and you gradually reduce the sugar, by the end it may be enough to have the cinnamon and vanilla without the sugar."

10. Avoid Sneaky Sources

Sugar isn't just added to make foods taste better. It also acts as a preservative that extends shelf life and prevents staleness, makes pastries tender by preventing gluten formation and encourages fermentation by providing food for yeast, allowing breads to rise, among other qualities. For these reasons, food manufacturers add sugar not just to traditionally sweet foods, but to tons of savory ones, as well. Check out our list of sneaky sugar sources that can easily add up. Another reason to read and compare labels!

Pictured recipe: Raspberry Swirl Brownies

11. Use Less Sugar in Your Baking

"Recipes for things like cookies and cakes often call for more sugar than is necessary—so you can play around and see how much you can simply leave out," says EatingWell recipe tester and developer Laura Kanya, who suggests removing a small amount and going from there. She was able to use one-third less sugar in her Raspberry Swirl Brownies compared to a typical brownie recipe. The cocoa and pureed raspberries add richness and natural sweetness. "Sugar does impact the moistness, texture and browning of baked goods, so you may notice a difference there," adds Kanya.

12. Roast Your Veggies

Rather than steaming or sautéing vegetables and relying on dressings and sauces (which often contain added sugars) to jazz them up, dress them lightly with olive oil and pop them in a 450°F oven. Roasting caramelizes the natural sugars and makes them taste sweeter and more intense, says sensory scientist and dietitian Sung Eun Choi, Ph.D., RDN, an associate professor in the Department of Family, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences at New York's Queens College.

13. Add It on Top of Baked Goods

When baking with less added sugar, sprinkling a small amount of coarse sugar on top of muffins, quick breads and cookies delivers that extreme burst of sweetness and crunch with each bite, so you're less likely to miss the sugar within the cookie or muffin.

14. Bake with Natural Sweeteners

Replace some of the sugar in baked goods with mashed bananas or other fruits, such as unsweetened applesauce, blended dates, cooked sweet potato or prunes. This will also add moisture and some extra vitamins, minerals and fiber. "We used pineapple to sweeten our Pineapple Morning Glory Muffins—slashing the sugar content in half compared to similar muffins," says Kanya. "And grating it incorporates the fruit into the batter."

15. Trade Flavor for Sugar

The more taste you're able to eke out of every recipe, the less sweet stuff you'll need. "Our Cider-Sweetened Apple Pie contains less than half the added sugar of a typical recipe," says Kanya. "How did we do it? By reducing already sweet apple cider into a concentrated syrup." It counts as added sugar, but the difference is we don't need to use as much sweetener overall because the syrup's intense flavor fools your taste buds into thinking the pie is sweeter than it actually is. You can apply this same technique to other recipes and experiment with reducing different juices.