In 2009, at long last, the AHA (American Heart Association) finally declared war on sugar as the culprit in rising obesity rates. As you probably know, two out of every three Americans are overweight, and one out of every three is obese. Even though most Americans avoid eating dietary fat like it's poison, we're still getting fatter and fatter. Why? To paraphrase Bill Clinton, "It's the sugar, stupid!"
The AHA has been recommending a “general” but non-specific limit on sugar consumption since 2006, but only recently set upper limits on daily sugar consumption. The guidelines for women call for no more than 100 calories per day in the form of sugar, and the guidelines for men are no more than 150 calories per day. This refers to the consumption of sugar that’s addedto foods and beverages, and not to foods that have naturally occurring sugars.
The new guidelines represent a dramatic change from current daily sugar consumption practices. According to the USDA (US Department of Agriculture), it’s estimated that the typical American intake is around 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day, which is about 355 calories or a whopping 255 calories over the new guidelines. Most people, for example, don’t realize that just one can of sugar-sweetened soda adds 130 calories. It doesn’t sound like much, but the cumulative effect quickly adds inches and pounds to your body and increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes.
The problem is that the nutrition labels mandated by the U.S. government do not distinguish between the sugar that occurs naturally in food and the sugar that’s been added to food by the manufacturer to make it taste better. What’s a guy or girl to do? For now, you simply cannot rely on “healthy” or “natural” claims made on the packaging. These words mean nothing; they are just marketing hype. The one and only solution is to look at the ingredients label and see for yourself what’s in the recipe.
Unfortunately, the ingredients label is usually the smallest, most hard-to-find print on the package. Your job is to put on your glasses, lift flaps, and turn the product this way and that until you find the list. Your next task is to identify the predominant foods in the recipe. The key words here are “predominant” and “food,” and this is trickier than you might think. Water, for example, is not a food. Herbs and spices are not foods. Chemicals with hard-to-pronounce names may or may not be foods. Who knows? Try to figure out the first four recognizable foods because these are the ingredients that are used the most in the recipe.
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Nice Article,
I really feel that the problem here isn't sugar but the never ending trend of fear mongering that goes on by the media & groups like the AHA, USDA, etc! First it was the war against Fat then it was the "Low Carbs" route and now it is the road paved to Hell with Sugar. People still use BMI & the food pyramid as guidelines which are very inaccurate. BUT, I never hear anyone of these associations / administrations or doctors talk about proper progressive exercise routines, proper protein consumption and all-food diet moderation.
Sugar isn't evil, BUT, you are correct in saying that people need to be aware of when & how much they can enjoy without going overboard and where to find it on the label. I really think moderation & self education are the key with any food, whole wheat included. Plus, using anyone from Hollywood as a positive example about health & nutrition is a bad idea. Look where the organic hype got us...Nowhere!
2 - Arch Conservative
Other than the unnecessary and annoying Jennifer Aniston reference this was a good article.
Diet is just one side of the coin though. the other being physical activity. Our lives have evolved into routines of conveniency where we eat what's worst for us and rarely get any physical activity. Most of our jobs have become sedentary and when we're not at the office we're on the computer, watching TV or finding other ways to be lazy.
Anyone that cares about his or her own health can easily educate themself with regard to making healthier diet and exercise without the help of Jennifer Aniston or any other self-centered pop culture dolt. The education is the easy part.
The hard part making the lifestyle changes and sticking to them for good.
3 - Sylvia Klinger, RD
As a registered dietitian and consultant to the food and beverage industry, I have learned that a healthy diet isn’t about picking or rejecting a specific food or beverage. Rather, it’s about making informed, sensible and mindful choices based on individual needs. It’s about moderation, not elimination. When counseling obese patients, I make sure they are not only consuming a moderate amount of sugar, but also moderate amounts of fat, protein and carbohydrates to make sure it’s balanced and within their calorie allowance. Americans derive sugar (and total calories) from many places not just soft drinks. According to the ABA, sodas, sweetened beverages, sports drinks and energy drinks represent 5.5% of total caloric intake; this means that 94.5% of calories are coming from other foods and beverages. By simply reducing sugars in the diet it may not solve the obesity problem, especially if a reduction in total caloric intake is not achieved. If a person consumes more calories -- no matter the source -- than what they burn, weight gain is inevitable. By focusing on sugar alone we are missing the bigger picture. A healthy lifestyle is about moderation, balancing calorie intake and taking part in appropriate levels of exercise.