Added sugar. In today’s Standard American Diet (SAD), people eat too much of it. It’s there lurking in the majority of processed foods, not just the obvious cookies and candy. And it has devastating consequences: weight gain, moodiness, bad skin, poor energy, hypertension, diabetes and more. You need to know how much added sugar you’re eating everyday.
Added sugar intake should be limited to no more than 6 teaspoons a day as recommended by the American Heart Association. It’s important to note here that is not recommended that you eat 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day – only that you eat no more than that. Added sugar is NOT a necessity in one’s diet.
So, how do you know how much sugar a packaged, processed food has? Read the label!
Here’s how:
- Take note of the serving size.
In this example, 1/2 cup is a serving size. - Take note of the servings per container.
In this example, there are 4 servings. - Next, find the grams of sugar per serving.
4 grams = 1 teaspoon
In this example, there are 26 grams of sugar per serving.
26 grams = 6.5 teaspoons
That is 6.5 teaspoons per 1/2 cup serving. If you were to eat the whole package/container of whatever food this is, you’d consume 26 teaspoons of sugar – 4 times the recommended limit!
How does it add up?
Ingesting the limit of 6 tsp per day
6 tsp x 365 days = 2190 tsp / year
2190 tsp = 8760 grams = approx. 19.3 pounds of sugar
1 gram of sugar = 4 calories
8760 grams x 4 calories = 35,040 calories
This number of calories will translate differently for individuals based on their age, activity level, metabolic rate, etc. In any case, it does not translate to positive effects on the body. On average, American average much more than this.
So, just think, what would limiting or even eliminating added sugar in your diet mean for you?