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**As an aside:**

There are proper and improper usages of the word 'and.' If the word's being used **solely** to lengthen sentences, there might be a problem.

The purpose of the word 'and' is to connect paired clauses. This can be useful grammatically and rhythmically.

*Her hair was long, **and** she pinned it back with barrettes. *
*Her hair was long **and** unwashed. *
*Her hair was long, **and** she wished again, as she had every day for the past week, that she could hack the entire mess off. *

Those all make sense. They are a natural use of the word 'and' because they join logically paired ideas.

*Her hair was long, **and** she grabbed her car keys.*

That is not a good use of the word 'and.'

**/end aside.**

How can 'and' be used sparingly? Id say simply cut it out in all instances where it is not needed (example: joining two independent clauses.). (The question is odd, in that reducing the use of 'and' seems like a simple problem to solve... )

If the concern is that the writing becomes stilted or choppy as a result, then spend a little time learning other parts of speech to lengthen sentences.

*In a moment of quiet, she realized her hair had grown longer than it had been in years, due, no doubt, to the ashram's pervasive philosophy of renouncing worldly values including any adherence to conventional standards of beauty.*