Are you addicted to sugar? Try our quick quiz.

• Do you always say "yes" to a sugary treat?
• Do you have a regular sweet snack?  (Hello, box o’ chocolates and "The Bachelor")
• Do you crave a sugar hit for an afternoon energy boost?
• Do you get mood swings and headaches if you skip the sweet stuff?

If you answered “yes” to any of these it’s safe to say that you’re addicted to sugar. And it’s no wonder. Sugar is seriously hard to avoid. It’s in just about everything we eat, from tomato sauce to bread. 

But don’t feel too bad. According to Sophie Robson, Accredited Practising Dietitian at Nutrition Australia, our bodies are evolved to crave sugar and the energy it provides. In our caveman-past we needed to store as much energy as possible to last a long time between eating, or to escape predatory animals in the wild – neither of which we do much of these days! As a result we do tend to eat more sugar than we need. 

While it’s relatively easy to skip the sugar in your coffee, it’s not so easy to avoid hidden sugar. The cereal you eat for breakfast, the morning tea muffin and the dressing in your lunchtime salad are all laden with it. Did you know that in a regular can of soft drink there is more than 10 teaspoons of sugar?  

The impact of a nation with a sweet tooth is becoming increasingly obvious. We can exercise all we want, but our bulging waistlines and skyrocketing rates of diabetes and heart disease has come from somewhere. And because all that extra energy we’re consuming is stored as fat in our bodies, the finger is pointing at sugar.

Sugar occurs naturally in many foods such as fruit and dairy products. But it’s the added sugar in processed foods that is causing big headaches for our health professionals. Sugar is added to improve the flavour of many foods, but it’s also added to low-fat foods to improve the texture. So beware – just because it’s low in fat doesn’t mean your fat-free yogurt isn’t packed with kilojoules.

According to the 2011/2012 National Nutrition Survey over a third of our total energy intake comes from junk food. These foods are low on nutrition but high in fats, sugars, alcohol and salt. These "discretionary" foods include:

• Alcohol, 
• Cakes, 
• Muffins, 
• Confectionary, 
• Muesli bars, 
• Pastries, 
• Sweet and savory biscuits,
• Soft drinks and flavoured mineral waters.

The result of all this extra sugar? In short, too many kilojoules. But, according to Nutrition Australia, the real problem is when you combine the high rates of sugar consumption with not enough fruit and veg in our diets, plus large portion sizes. Sophie Robson stresses that it’s the types and amounts of foods we eat, not just individual nutrients like fat or sugar, that we should focus on to reduce our risk of weight gain and lifestyle-related chronic diseases. 

Change your diet

So what should you do if you’ve got an addiction to sugar? According to the Heart Foundation, we need to eat a wide variety of foods, fruit and veggies, legumes and wholegrains, while cutting back on junk food. 

Authorities recommend we should aim to keep our added sugar intake to around 10% of our daily energy intake, which is around 12 teaspoons a day (maximum) for the average adult, but who can keep count? 

So start with the obvious culprits. Soft drinks. There’s no way around it – you’ll need to go cold turkey. Replace your sugary kick with a glass of cool sparkling water, if it’s bubbly refreshment you’re after.

After you’ve tackled soft drinks, it’s time to take on junk food like lollies, cakes, muffins, chocolate, chips and biscuits. Clear out your pantry and avoid those shopping aisles. You’ll need to go cold turkey, but take it bit by bit.  Find out which of your regular snacks has the most sugar, and replace it with something else – a handful of nuts, a piece of fruit, perhaps.

Here are some more tips from Health Direct:

• Replace the sugar in your hot drink or on your cereal with honey, or alternatively, gradually reduce the amount you add until you can cut it out altogether;
• Skip the jam or Nutella on toast and try sliced banana or low-fat cream cheese instead;
• Read the nutrition labels at the supermarket, and buy the products with less sugar; 
• Reduce the amount of sugar you add in your baking;
• Choose canned fruit in juice or water – not syrup; 
• Choose wholegrain breakfast cereals with no added sugar.

Eventually you should try to cut out all these empty calories from your diet. And then? You’ll feel full of energy, guaranteed. But if you’re struggling with cutting out sugar, read our guide to some natural alternatives to refined sugar.

If you’d like more information about the changing your diet, you should have a chat to a dietician. You can find one close to you, here. And, if it’s time for you to get off the couch, check out a health and fitness centre nearby.