A sugar detox means removing sugar from your diet, and the health benefits of doing so are huge.

I’m talking - improved blood sugar levels, hormonal balance and gut health, a clearer head and skin, fat loss (especially the central obesity kind), and more efficient detox organs.

But a sugar detox can be tough. Even withdrawal symptoms may appear: irritation, headaches, increased nervousness. The body does not need refined sugar though. It needs glucose, which can be easily obtained from whole foods like – brown rice, quinoa, legumes, vegetables, fruits.

Sugar detoxing - if you've done it before you'll know that it can be mentally taxing, so make sure you've got some "sweet replacement" to sustain this healthy move.

Here’s 5 tips to help you remove refined sugar from your diet without sweet deprivation.

5 Sugar Detox Tips to Prevent Sweet Deprivation

1. Create Meal Plans 

It's helpful to know what you’re having for breakfast, lunch and dinner in advance. This way you avoid last minute trips to food shops when you're feeling hungry and likely to hit the sugar bandwagon. A nutritionally balanced plan will also help to keep you satisfied until the next meal.

Meals including healthy protein, carbs, fat and plenty of fibre will automatically support stable blood sugar levels.

You're probably familiar with the feeling that accompanies a drop in blood sugar - yes, the body screams out for sugar to drive blood sugar levels back up. Avoiding this is important whether you're on a sugar detox or not.

So planning ahead with the right meals can help to avoid blood sugar problems. There’s also a tendency for us to experience and give into more sweet cravings when we feel hungry, dis-organised or stressed. Meal planning helps to prevent all of these triggers.

2. Use Fruit to Sweeten Your Day

Small amounts of whole fruit are a healthier sweet option.

Fruit contains fructose but it has nutrients and fibre unlike refined sugar.

What are the best fruits to eat on a sugar detox? All kinds of berries are very low in natural sugar, but they also taste deliciously sweet.

Tropical fruits like bananas, mango and pineapple are nutritious but they are also very high in natural sugars. If you're on a sugar detox you may therefore want to avoid these fruits temporarily.

If you’re struggling to lose weight or suspect you have a candida / yeast overgrowth in your gut, you might want to temporarily remove or cut back on these higher sugar content fruits too.

3. Replace Refined Sugar with Healthier Sweet Substitutes

You’ll want to take care not to overdo it here, but foods like honey, maple syrup, dates and coconut sugar are good replacements for refined sugar in baking. They're best avoided if you're on a sugar detox but if you really need something sweet then these are some better options.

And if you find a dessert or cake recipe that you want to try, think about the best substitute to use in place of the “sugar” ingredient.

4. Read Ingredient Labels on Food Products

Doing this alone will cut down your refined sugar intake considerably, if you buy a lot of packaged and processed food. Hidden sugar is in most packaged food these days.

Avoid anything that doesn’t say “no added sugars” or “contains naturally occurring sugars” on the label.

5. Choose Less Sugary Alcoholic Drinks

When it comes to a sugar detox, strictly speaking alcohol should be eliminated as it contains lots of hidden sugar.

But if you have to have a drink, opt for drier varieties of wine and avoid pouring any sugar-containing mixers into your drinks to help limit unnecessary sugar intake. There's also a lot of great alcohol free drinks but do check for hidden sugars if you want to go non-alcoholic.

For more on detoxing, check out my other blog posts:

10 Reasons to Adopt Daily Detox Eating & Lifestyle Practices

10 Ways to Promote Daily Detoxification of Body & Mind