or figs when cooking meals i moved to using sugar substitutes like agave at work we now order with a company that only delivers us a soup a salad and a sandwich and which is guaranteed to be less than 600 calories i have cut out any aerated drinks stopped all desserts make all my coffee and tea sugarfree when going to other peoples homes i have become adept and saying no to the big desserts realising that nowadays hosts are fairly sanguine in the face of a guest who is watching what they eat there is really only one situation in my life where the battle against sugar is never going to be won and that is in my parents kitchen no matter the force with which my position is argued the reality is that my mother and father are of the singular idea that parental love is best delivered in the form of a sugary snack to withhold the sweet stuff would in their eyes be breaking the candied umbilical cord that keeps their only child firmly attached to the familial wombsugar cues is sugar required in the diet sugar gives energy and no other nutrient whatsoever national institute of nutrition nin therefore says sugar provides empty calories nin suggests we consume sugar sparingly not more than 4 tsps of sugar in the diet from all sources having some amount of sugar in the diet is not harmful but when you consume excessive amounts it increases your risk for obesity diabetes and heart disease table sugar is a readily available source of energy and it helps increase the energy content of meals beyond that it has very little benefit to us indians consume a predominantly carbohydrate rich diet hence we get plenty of our steady glucose supply from our meals throughout the day added sugar is not necessary for a healthy balanced dietbenefits from skipping sugar diets high in sugar are linked to diabetes heart disease weight gain and tooth decay people who are overweight people with diabetes hypertension or have high lipid levels especially triglycerides may benefit from excluding sugar completely from the diet however a diabetic must ensure that he has steady intake of more complex and some simple carbohydrate sources in the diet to prevent a hypoglycaemic episodesuitable substitutes refined brown or coarse sugar jaggery honey glucose molasses corn syrup fructose presumed to be healthy alternatives for sugar all of these have a very similar effect on your blood sugar level the end result of all these supposedly healthy substitutes is glucose it would be wrong to replace refined sugar with brown or organic sugar thinking that it is healthy ripe fruits dates manuka dried grapes or raisins are suitable substitutes if calories is an issue in obese individuals or effect of sugar on blood sugar is an issue in people with diabetes one may opt for sweeteners sukhada bhatteparalkar registered dietician specialist in diabetes management