How Much Sugar You Should Really Be Eating Each Day
- Dietitian.Lauren Hmede
- Aug 26, 2019
- 2 min read
Introduction:
Sugar is the common additive used to enhance taste and to extend shelf-life.It is founded hidden in many products.
Most of us get much more sugar in our daily diets than we probably should. And that can pave the way for several different health problems from weight gain to tooth decay.
Natural Sugar vs. Added Sugar
Sugar is a carbohydrate food derivative and it is required for energy.
Natural sources of sugar can be founded in fruits and dairies for example with an additional nutrients like fiber, minerals, vitamins and antioixdants.
While added sugar into processed food have non-nutritional value, they only add calories to your food. Added sugar goes by a slew of different names on ingredient lists, including (but not limited to) honey, cane syrup, molasses, fruit juice concentrate, and most anything ending in "ose," like sucrose.
The goal is to limit added sugar intake in order to protect our health from several problems as we mentioned earlier.
So, How Much Should You Actually Be Eating?
The daily recommendations for added sugar provided by the American Heart Association are an upper limit. This means that there is no minimum amount you need to take in each day, but there is a maximum.
Women should limit sugar intake to no more than 6 teaspoons per day, which provides about 100 calories.Men should limit sugar intake to no more than 9 teaspoons, or about 150 calories.
As Men have more lean body mass than women so their calorie needs are higher, therefore recommendations for both are different.
As a basis for comparison, the average American adult consumes 22 teaspoons per day.
To look at it another way, the U.S Departement of Health and Human Services states that added sugars should account for no more than 10 percent of the calories you eat. If you are on a standard 2,000-calorie diet, this means that you should be eating no more than 200 calories from sugar, or 50 grams. (Like all carbohydrates, sugar contains 4 calories per gram.)
In order to loower added sugar intake you may have some small steps to do:
First thing, you can start drinking water or seltzer instead of sweetened beverages or sodas.
Choose salsa, hot sauce or mustard over ketchup
Choose low sugar breakfast cereals Easy ways to start are drinking water or seltzer
Choose canned fruits with wtaer instead of syrup
Go for natural sugar sources like fruits
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