When I was heavier, I couldn’t eat enough sugar. Cookies, chocolate, cake, fudge were part of the daily plan. No matter how much sugar I ate, I was never satisfied. Like many of you, I truly felt addicted to sugar, and worked hard to get off of it. I read Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity
As I’ve lost weight, I’ve been incorporating more and more whole foods, and have been slowly reducing the sweets. I think the bread and white rice that were also big favorites back in the day were triggering sugar cravings and binges. I eat very little food with added sugar nowadays.
So I’m not surprised that the average american eats the the equivalent of 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day. mostly from soft drinks and candy, adding an additional 355 calories to their diets. Women should eat no more than 6 teaspoons, according to the American Heart Association, and men no more than 9.
If you eat them, removing soft drinks and candy bars as a way to reduce your sugar intake is a good place to start. But how many of us know how much sugar is in the food we eat?
It isn’t easy to know. Nutrition labels tell us a lot, but they don’t separate out the amount of natural sugars in food and the added sugars, and it’s those added sugars we need to watch out for. And nutrition labels give you amounts in grams. I can’t really envision a gram (damn that metric system), so it helps me to know that 5 grams=1 teaspoon.
Sure, we know that doughnut has lots of added sugar, but you’d be surprised where else it shows up. Frozen foods, for example. You have to read the ingredient list to know what’s really in there, and you may feel like you need a degree in chemistry to figure it out.
The Harvard School of Public Health recommends in this article that sugar not be in the first 3 ingredients (I would say 5, if at all), and provides this list of sneaky sugars:
- Agave nectar (yes, it’s a sugar!)
- Brown sugar
- Cane crystals
- Cane sugar
- Corn sweetener
- Corn syrup
- Crystalline fructose
- Dextrose
- Evaporated cane juice
- Fructose
- Fruit juice concentrates
- Glucose
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Honey
- Invert sugar
- Lactose
- Maltose
- Malt syrup
- Molasses
- Raw sugar
- Sucrose
- Sugar
- Syrup
Anything that ends in “ose” or “itol” is a sugar, too.
What other sugars have you found lurking in your food?
Bonus video: Stephen Colbert reacts to the news that we may be facing a sugar shortage.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Sugar Shortage – Marion Nestle | ||||
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Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit
August 31, 2009 at 9:30 am
I haven’t had many problems with this since I went to the dentist and had my sweet tooth removed.
Wendy
August 31, 2009 at 10:30 am
Dang, who’s your dentist? I always wondered: is the sweet tooth in the front or the back?
Diane Fit to the Finish
August 31, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Great information, because there are hidden sugars in foods. Especially if you don’t know to watch out for them!
I had a big problem with chocolate when I was morbidly obese, but over time, managed to tame the beast!
Foodie McBody
August 31, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I’ve said before that in many ways being diagnosed with diabetes this year was a curse AND a blessing. I think it was the only thing that could have “cured” me of my sugar/carb cravings. For me it was all about the carbs, but I also remember that sugar was a many times daily occurrence- candy bars, desserts, “snacks” — you name it. I was super addicted and had no idea.
Wendy
August 31, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Sad to say, I know people with diabetes who can’t stop feeding the sugar beast. Even having a diagnosis like diabetes wasn’t enough to change their behavior. Good for you for being able to do it!
She-Fit
August 31, 2009 at 7:01 pm
22 teaspoons? Now that is a crazy average.
Sounds like you are on the right track with your sugar intake which is not an easy thing to change.
Great tip on checking if it’s in the first 3 ingredients.