Sugar Intake Amount & Recommendation

America is a country drowning in sugar. In fact, the amount of sugar we eat and drink every year has soared nearly 30 percent since 1983 and is likely a major contributor to the soaring rates of overweight and obesity in this country.

Even worse, since sugary foods often replace more healthy foods, nutrition experts say the influx of sweets indirectly contributes to diseases like osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancer — all of which are directly affected by what we eat.

Although the USDA recommends we get no more than 10 teaspoons of sugar a day, the average American downs about 34 teaspoons — more than three times as much.

Almost all of us have a sweet tooth, and the more we try to control it, the more we crave the sweetness and comfort of cakes, cookies, candy, regular soda, and other rich desserts. As much as you love it, it is now time to reveal an important and perhaps little known truth about sugar. Apart from sweetening your taste buds and satisfying your sweet tooth, sugar has no health benefits to offer you. Sugar is an unnatural substance that is produced as a result of an industrial process called refining (of sugar cane). While sugar cane itself has a lot to offer, in the refining process you lose out on all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other essential nutrients. So you are only consuming empty calories. Moreover, your body gets its necessary amount of daily sugar only by consuming normal food like fruits, vegetables, bread, etc. There is no room for added sugar.

Watch the video that shows how much sugar is in certain products. This will surprise you!

Beware - read food labels
According to the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, sugar is the number one food additive. It's found in a wide variety of packaged foods, from yogurts and cereals to salad dressings, pop, and ketchup - not just deserts. If sugar shows up as the first or second item on an ingredient list, you can be confident the product is likely very high in sugar. Sugar may be listed in the ingredients as: glucose, dextrose, fructose, maltose or sucrose. It's all sugar. Whatever you call it, too much sugar can be unhealthy.

How to limit your daily sugar intake?
Avoid processed foods, soft drinks (soda pop), sports drinks, fruit beverages, deserts, and candy. Limit your consumption of fruit juices - eat a piece of fruit instead. The fiber will help your body feel full and it will reduce the amount of carbohydrates you absorb.

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