A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but 153 pounds of it a year just adds pounds to your physique and possible health problems. Maybe you don't consume that much added sugar, but that's the average amount per American, says Nancy Appleton, PhD author of Lick the Sugar Habit.
We aren't even talking about the table sugar you use sparingly; this 153 pounds of sugar is added to processed and restaurant foods, from the obvious candy and cookies to frozen entrees and seemingly healthy cereals.
Some sugar is fine, even for bodybuilders. One guideline suggests that sugars comprise 10% of your total daily calories. So if you consume 3,000 calories a day, 300 (about 75 grams) can be from sugars of all types, including the natural sugars found in fruit and milk. You can also benefit from simple carbohydrates (sugars) consumed within 15-30 minutes after a hard resistance training workout.
Beyond These limited amounts, however, sugar can sabotage your physique and your health. When sugar calories replace nutrient-dense foods, you lose out on vitamins, minerals, fiber and more. You may also feel hungry sooner and en up eating more, and more often. And when sugar calories push your total intake above your total calorie usage, excess calories can be stored as fat. Too much sugar can also cause highs and lows of insulin and blood-sugar levels, and may contribute to higher levels of blood triglycerides and lower levels of "good HDL cholesterol. Need more convincing to but back? Appleton lists 110 reasons in her book, Lick the Sugar Habit Sugar Counter.
Sugar or Spice?
The irony of this sweetening of America is that otherwise healthy foods are
often turned into confections when they can be just as tasty without sugar
added. Take oatmeal, for example, Appleton notes that Quaker Instant Oatmeal
in cinnamon and spice contains 16 grams, or 4 teaspoons, of sugar per packet.
If you microwave regular oatmeal, sprinkling in cinnamon before
you cook it, you'll have a breakfast that tastes better, with no added
sugar, for minimal added labor.
Consider ready-to-eat cereal. The original Cheerios still gives you whole-grain nutrition with just a sprinkling of sugar, but don't expect the same from its sugar spin off, Honey Nut Cheerios, for instance has 13 grams of sugar--- or 31/4 teaspoons--per serving.
Even a Weight Watchers frozen banana muffin has 17 grams of sugar, or 41/4 teaspoons. As we've said before, and as Appleton points out, low-fat and fat-free foods aren't necessarily low-calorie or low sugar.
To lick a sugar habit, you need to be aware of how much you already consume. Don't act like a Cinnabon here and a latte there don't add up, they do. Keep track of everything you eat for a day or two to find out how much sugar you really ingest.
Then consciously make wiser choices the sugar-free cereal instead o the sugar-sweetened, the whole-wheat English muffin instead of the banana muffin, the light yogurt instead of the sugared one, the plain iced tea instead of the sweetened beverage. When you look at food labels, don't just focus on fat--examine the sugar content, too.
