The American Heart Association recommends that women eat no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar/day and men no more than 9 teaspoons/day. Americans on average eat 22 tsps/day = 350 calories/day = 1 pound every 10 days.
Where is all this sugar coming from? Processed Foods!
1 cup tomato sauce = 4 tsps sugar. Make your own….none.
1 serving fruit yogurt = 8 tsps sugar. Buy Plain, add fruit and cut the sugar in half.
“healthy foods” oat bran/ granola bars/flavored drinks….loaded with sugar.
1 can cola = 10 tsps sugar.
Of course sugar adds NO nutritional valve, but does result in weight gain!
Sugar leads to chronic diseases: diabetes, heart and liver disease.
Sugar is Habit-forming—the cycle is similar to drug addiction.
2 Things You Can Do Now!
- Shop the perimeter of the grocery store-fresh vegetables and fruits.
Fresh oranges are ½ the sugar of an 8 oz glass of orange juice. Processed foods are in the inner aisles-cereal, pre-made frozen foods, snacks, etc
- Read nutrition labels. Under “total carbohydrate” there is a line for “sugars.” This is total amount of sugar in grams: 4 grams = 1 teaspoon
Therefore: Women allowed: 24 grams/day of sugar
Men allowed: 36 grams/day of sugar
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