BEWARE OF DISCRETIONARY SUGAR

LA Times has a very timely article on one of the sins of American eating habits – loading up on Sugar.

BACKGROUND

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines advise us to limit our total intake of added sugars, fats and other “discretionary calories” to between 5% and 15% of total calories consumed every day.

STUDY

The report finds that from 2005 to 2010 we got 13% of our total calories from added sugar alone. Not only does sugar cause us to gain weight, but sugary items often displace fruits, vegetables and other foods that contain essential nutrients. Adults tended to eat the most sugar in their 20s and 30s, with consumption falling steadily over time. African Americans got more of their calories from added sugars — 14.5% for men and 15.2% for women — than whites (12.8% for men, 13.2% for women) or Mexican Americans (12.9% for men, 12.6% for women). And poorer people added more sugar in their diets.

Added sugars do not include the sugars that occur naturally in fruit and milk. As the name implies, added sugars are used as ingredients in prepared and processed foods and drinks. For the sake of the analysis, other forms of added sugar included brown sugar, raw sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, malt syrup, pancake syrup, fructose sweetener, liquid fructose, anhydrous dextrose, crystal dextrose and dextrin.

YOU WANTS MORE DETAILS?

This

from a professor of endocrinology in UC explains the biochemical route that sugar takes and how it destroys our body.

SO WHAT?

One simple message – for a healthier life, Cut out added Sugar as much as possible.

Sugar-sweetened soda is the single biggest source of added sugars in the American diet.

Beverages overall accounted for only one-third of added sugars consumed by adults. It is even worse in kids.

For your kids, avoid sodas like a plague. Support soda bans in schools.

When you head out to eat, choose water over fruit juices (which are spiked with sugar) or artificial beverages (especially for kids)

Avoid sugary breakfast like donuts and high sugar cereals, in favor of oatmeal, grits, bread with PB, fruits etc.

Remember the old grandmas adage “What is good of the tongue is usually bad for the body”