Avoiding sugar every day: 5 things you need to know

New guidelines on sugar consumption from the World Health Organization specifically target"freesugars" those that are processed and added to foods, as well as those that are naturally occurring in honey, syrups, and fruit juices.

• Sugar intake should be reduced to 5-10% of calories, WHO says

Free sugars increase the fluctuations of insulin levels and cause moreinflammation ata cellular level, which promotes heart disease and stroke.

When it comes to staying away from sugar in your daily life, here's what the Calgary Eyeopener's medical contributor Dr.Raj Bhardwaj tells his patients:

1) Eat outless

If you've everwonderedwhyrestaurant food tastes better than a home-cooked meal, part of the reason is the added fat, salt, and sugar! The more you prepare your own food, the more control you have over your own health.

2) Don't drink fruit

Eat fruit, don't drink it. This includes juicing diets, which remove the protective fibre on fruitsbut leave the sugars behind.

3) Avoid the 'middle' of supermarkets

When you grocery shop, tryspending most of your time on the perimeter of the supermarket that's where you'll find fresh baking, dairy, meat,fruits and veggies.

The aisles are where all the processed foods, condiments, snacks, pop and other sugary food are.

4) Learn to read food labels

Watch out for words like glucose, fructose, sucrose, brown sugar, honey, corn syrup, maple syrup, molasses, fruit puree and juice.

When you're reading labels, remember the number four four grams of sugar makes one teaspoon. And your goal is fewerthan 12 teaspoons per day.

5) Beware 'no added sugar'

Products thatclaimto have "no added sugar" they're usuallysweetened with concentrated fruit juice and asign that the company is trying to manipulate you.

Often, there is a lot of added sugar in foods you typically think of as salty: BBQ sauce, ketchup, pre-packaged pasta sauces for example, and in things you think arehealthy, like muffins,granola bars, cereals and yogurt.