Sweet foods can be highly addictive, tempting you to eat even more. Such is the danger of sugar, but not the sugar that occurs naturally in foods. It's the processed sugar that's added to your foods that you need to avoid. As MayoClinic.com points out, weight gain has a variety of causes, but eating too much added sugar makes it more difficult to lose pounds or maintain a healthful weight.
About Sugar
Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that your body metabolizes for energy. However, it's nutritionally empty. It's also calorically dense because even a tiny amount of sugary foods and drinks have a lot of calories. According to the American Heart Association, 1 g of processed sugar has four calories.
Discretionary Calories
The calories you get from cookies, cakes, soft drinks and other sugary treats are called "discretionary calories." The U.S. Department of Agriculture compares these calories to a financial budget. Some bills are essential, such as rent and food, but some are not, such as theater tickets and new clothing. Similarly, you need to get most of your calories from foods that meet your nutritional needs. If you have any calories left over after you eat a healthful diet, those are your "discretionary calories." You can use these to eat what you choose -- fatty foods, alcoholic beverages and sugary treats. You don't have as many discretionary calories as you probably think. According to the USDA, most people, especially those who don't exercise, only have between 100 and 300 discretionary calories at their disposal.
Recommended Amount
According to the Centers for Science in the Public Interest, most people in the United States eat far too much sugar -- around 20 tsp. each day. Teenage boys could feasibly consume around 18 tsp. if they ate an otherwise healthful diet, but most eat around 34 tsp. each day. The USDA recommends that you get no more than 10 tsp. of added sugar each day or around 40 g. The USDA's recommendations give you roughly 160 discretionary calories to dedicate to your favorite candy or soft drink.
Other Recommendations
The American Heart Association takes a far more conservative approach to sugar consumption and advises most women to get no more than 100 calories per day from sugar, or around 6 tsp. Men can eat a little more sugar -- about 150 calories a day, or 9 tsp. If you're an adult female and follow the AHA's recommendations, you might not have the discretionary calories to blow on added sugar: A 12 oz. can of regular soda pop contains around 8 tsp. of sugar, about 130 calories.
Cutting Down on Sugar
When trimming sugar from your diet, the AHA encourages you to read the nutrition facts panel on the foods and drinks you buy. Remember that many types of sugar are added to food besides high-fructose corn syrup and granulated table sugar. When reading labels, look for maltose, sucrose, cane sugar, corn sweetener, raw sugar, syrup, honey and fruit juice concentrates as well. Purchase sugar-free beverages, and if you buy canned fruit, ensure that it's canned in water or its own juice, not syrup. When making cookies and cakes goods, decrease the amount of sugar in recipes by 1/3 to 1/2. Substitute sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose or saccharin are also fine when eaten in moderation, according to the AHA.
Member Comments