Cut Out the Sugar
One of the best things you can do for your teeth is to consume less sugar. But did you know that sugar comes in many forms and goes by a multitude of names? It’s true! If you want to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet, you’ll need to be educated about its guises and vigilant about finding its hiding places in our food.
The easiest way to slash sugar from your diet is to cut the sweets and sugary drinks. Instead of desserts, choose fruit and instead of sodas, fruit juices, flavored teas or energy drinks, choose water. It’s really that simple.
Make sure you read the labels on packaged foods. You’ll be surprised how often one of these aliases are named in foods that don’t even taste that sweet (like bread or salad dressing).
- Agave nectar
- Barbados sugar
- Barley malt
- Beet sugar
- Blackstrap molasses
- Brown rice syrup
- Cane juice crystals
- Cane sugar
- Caramel
- Carob syrup
- Castor sugar
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Corn syrup
- Corn syrup solids
- Crystalline fructose
- Date sugar
- Demerara sugar
- Dextran
- Dextrose
- Diastatic malt
- Diatase
- Ethyl maltol
- Evaporated cane juice
- Florida crystals
- Fructose
- Fruit juice
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Galactose
- Glucose
- Glucose solids
- Golden sugar
- Golden syrup
- Grape sugar
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Honey
- Icing sugar
- Invert sugar
- Lactose
- Malt syrup
- Maltose
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
- Muscovado sugar
- Organic raw sugar
- Panocha
- Raw sugar
- Refiner’s syrup
- Rice syrup
- Sorghum syrup
- Sucrose
- Sugar
- Treacle
- Turbinado sugar
- Yellow sugar
As you reduce the sugar in your diet, add more protein and healthy fats. This will slow down the release of blood sugar and help you feel full and satisfied longer. Great sugar-free foods for a quick protein burst include: nuts, eggs and turkey. For healthy fats go for avocados, seeds and heart-healthy oils like olive or coconut.
We want to help you protect your smile for a lifetime. Give us a call if you have questions about your dental health or would like to set up an appointment for treatment.
