Oh, you sneaky little thing you! I didn’t know you had so many things up your sleeve!
We’ve all heard about how bad sugar is for you….but sugar isn’t so sweet when we really look into it. Sugar is smart…..she’s hidden, she’s deceptive, and she’s evil for our overall health!
Well…..
The FDA is proposing new guidelines that will really be beneficial to spotting those hidden sugars in the foods we love. You can read more about that here. As a “nutrition geek,” I’m totally excited for these changes!
Basically in sum, this will require information on “added sugars” which will help consumers be able to identify how much sugar is naturally occurring relative to how much sugar is then added to a product. They are proposing this to be added to the food labels on all products. There will be a column for “sugar”, then directly below, “added sugar.” Woohoo!
On average, Americans get 16% of their total calories from ADDED sugar! Wow! That’s about 320 calories on a 2,000 calorie diet.
These added sugars are in pop, energy drinks, fruit drinks, baked goods, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, etc…..the list goes on.
Hmmmph….
Although the USDA does not have specific requirements for sugar intake, natural sugars (fruits, dates, figs, etc.) are encouraged to be part of your daily intake, in moderation. Added sugars however, you have to watch for in excess. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 100 calories (6 teaspoons) per day from added sugar and no more than 150 calories (9 teaspoons) for men.
4 + 7% x 3 + 18 = ??!!??!
To give you an idea of the equation….one can of pop has 35 grams added sugars (8.75 teaspoons or 140 calories). Or, one sugar packet is equal to 2/3 teaspoons.
Eeeeks!
Now, tracking your sugar intake is pretty simple (you might need a calculator though!).
Rule of Thumb…..4 grams = 1 teaspoon
- Measure each sugar intake in teaspoons (usually the easiest)
- Multiply teaspoons by 4 in order to get total grams
- Multiply total grams by 4 in order to get your total calories from sugar
If you’d like to read more, here’s a great article by Livestrong on how to calculate.
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