TUF Tips
Keep the Sugar Away.
Health pros are advising clients to minimize their refined sugar intake to quell the increase in obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and numerous other health risks prevalent in our society. No more than 10 percent of our calories should come from sugar. Therefore, someone on a 2000 calorie/day diet should have no more than 12 teaspoons of sugar daily. Though this sounds simple, it is not quite so. Unfortunately, most of us consume 20 or more teaspoons per day.
Sugar comes from a number of sources, some of which are natural, including fruit and fruit juices. (On a side note, as an adult, the only beverage our bodies really need is water. Juice, milk soft and hard drinks are not essential for healthy living….put the margarita down) The only way to tell how much sugar is in your food is to read the labels. The first place to look is under the total carbohydrates section of your food label. Subtract the dietary fiber from the total carbs and this number tells you how much of the food you are eating turns to sugar in your body. So despite the label which might state total carbohydrates 30g, dietary fiber 6g, sugars 4g, there is more than 4g of sugar in your food, there is 24g. Any carbohydrates that you ingest that are not dietary fiber are converted to sugar and function like sugar in the body.
So if you want to convert sugar grams to teaspoons divide the number of grams by four. For example, if your food label shows 12 grams of sugar, divide that by four and you will get three teaspoons of sugar per serving. Now that you know this conversion you will be amazed how quickly your sugar intake adds up. Remember…your goal is around 12 teaspoons per day or less. The next thing to be aware of is hidden sugars on the ingredient list. Here are some forms of sugar that we glaze right through:
- Sucrose
- Fructose
- Maple Syrup
- Molasses
- Dextrose
- Turbinado
- Amazake
- Sorbitol
- Carob powder
• High fructose corn syrup
Look out for these ingredients. You will be surprised looking at even a can of baked beans shows molasses, sugar, and fructose which are all driving the sugar content up.
Keeping sugar to less than 10% of your calories will work like gangbusters as a means to manage your weight and health. Limit the obvious sugar filled foods, such as sweets and sodas but also look into some of the common foods you buy and see if there are any sugar surprises that you have found.
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By James Andrews
