Sugar Surprise:
How Much Sugar Are You Really Eating?

Health professionals all over the country are urging people to limit their consumption of refined sugars in order to help fighting rising health conditions such as diabetes, obesity as well as certain kinds of cancers and other diseases. But how can we tell how much sugar is in our foods...?

Health professionals all over the country are urging people to limit their consumption of refined sugars in order to help fighting rising health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, as well as certain kinds of cancers. The USDA strongly recommends people to consume not more than 10% of their calories from sugar.

Imagine that somebody eating a 2000 calorie portion per day would already consume an equivalent of about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. Seems simple math doesn't it? Unfortunately, it's a little more difficult than you may guess. The rude reality is that the average American for example consumes around 20 teaspoons a day. Figures in the European Union are providing less extreme numbers, but the tendency is about the same.

It can be confusing to find out how much sugar you are really consuming. Especially as lots of it will come in natural forms such as fruit, and fruit juices. This is not bad, because mainly fruit sugar itself is non-refined sugar and thus somewhat healthier than refined sugar. However, trying to calculate the real figures of total sugar intake becomes more difficult this way.

The easiest method to eliminate this problem is simply to back off the juice and stop worrying too much about the sugar you take in from whole fruits (unless you have diabetes or hypoglycemia, of course). Juices are pretty much pure sugar yet they are better for you than soda because along with the sugar comes loads of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. When buying fruit juices in the supermarket take a look at the label, that only fruit sugar is contained and no additional refined sugar has been added.

However, even this sugar will still cause you to gain weight so it is better to limit, not totally cancel, juice to a couple of times a week and drink only a 6 ounce serving size a day. As far as the whole fruit is concerned, if we would be able to only getting the sugars we need from eating just fruits and vegetables, then we'd be better off and would have a more limited risk of catching any chronic diseases.

But in real life, who has the time and money to do so? We need to look for compromises, and it´s always better to follow a 80% diet plan, then to not follow a 110% diet plan!

So back to our problem. How can we tell how much sugar is in our foods? First of all, simple advice: read the labels! I know, this suggestion is not ground braking and won´t bring me the Publizer Price. But all too often we neglect this simple rule. The first place to look at on the label is the sugar section. This is the area of the label that contains the information about "Total Carbohydrate". A quick and easy to remember solution to convert the sugar grams to teaspoons is to divide the total number of grams by four.

For example, if your food label shows that the food contains 16 grams of sugar per serving unit, divide that by four and you will get four teaspoons of sugar per serving as a result. Now that you have learned this little trick you will be surprised how quickly that sugar adds up. Remember... your goal is to not exceed around 12 teaspoons per day or less. Not that easy, is it?

The next point to consider and to be aware of are the hidden sugars on the ingredient list. This is the bloody thing, there is more sugar in our meals, than officially labeled as "Sugar". Following are some disguises of sugar:

- Sucrose, Fructose, Dextrose, Molasses, Maple Syrup, Turbinado, Sorbitol, Amazake, Carob powder and High fructose corn syrup

Keep an eye out for these names on the ingredient list of your food labels and food packages. You will be amazed, how just picking up a can of baked beans shows up molasses, sugar, and fructose which are all driving the daily sugar input up.

Everybody, or better said: every body needs calories. However there are many calorie sources. If you can manage to keep sugar to less than 10% of your total calories intake, you will already have gone a long way towards managing your weight and health. Limit the obvious sugars, especially the refined ones such as can be found in sweets, sodas and most soft drinks. On the other hand also look into some of the common foods you buy and see if there are any sugar surprises within the package labels that you have found.

Meri Raffetto is a Registered Dietitian and a recognized professional in the area of nutrition and wellness. To learn more about her visit <A href=http://reallivingnutrition.com>Balance Weight Loss Program</A> and sign up for her free monthly newsletter to receive nutrition tips, inspirational stories, and healthy recipes.

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