I first wanted to start with the American Heart Associations recommendation for daily sugar intake. For women it is 25 grams or 6 teaspoons a day. This is really just a guess because everyone is different and white sugar adds no actual nutritional value to your body so is there really a need? Not at all and it would be amazing if we could just easily give it up. But it is essentially like a drug. We love the stuff! Most people eat far beyond the recommendation though and that is why type 2 diabetes and obesity is so prevalent. I'm not here to ask you to give up sugar completely (unless you can, then more power to you)but to be aware of how much you are probably consuming. Here are some foods that have a lot of sugar in them but are often considered healthy: Milk. Ugh. I can't even decide where to begin with this one. Remember the Got Milk commercials? Those started when the dairy farmers started to lose money because less people were buying milk. Possibly because we were paranoid of the mad cow disease that had recently hit the UK or because people were trying to avoid fat. But the dairy farmers demanded the USDA to help them so they came up with the Got Milk campaign. And it probably worked to convince a lot of people just how important drinking milk is. Except its not. A single glass of 2% milk contains 12 grams of added sugar. The campaign recommended you give your kids at least 2 to 3 glasses a day which amounts to 24 to 36 grams of sugar. Add in all the other sodas and snacks they eat and they have far outdone themselves in sugar. Can you tell I don't drink milk? I personally have not had a glass of milk in more than 7 years. I buy almond milk with reduced or no sugar. My calcium and vitamin D comes from whole foods and supplements. I take vitamin D supps almost daily but especially in the winter. Orange juice and other juices. While you may think orange juice is healthy because its a healthy fruit, but juices contain so much sugar. A glass of orange juice contains anywhere from 9 to 25 grams of sugar. The "lite" orange juice from Kroger is just watered down orange juice so get your moneys worth at least and get the 100% orange juice and water it down yourself. I've been doing that for my 3 year old ever since I started giving her orange juice which isn't very often. I myself have just completely stopped drinking it. Opt for a whole fruit instead. And I promise if you start to water down your o.j. you will train your taste buds to not care and eventually won't even bother drinking it anymore. Low fat or diet foods. These are like the wolf in sheep's wool. You need to read nutrition facts labels because they usually will replace the lack of taste with a ton of sugar. Peanut butter. One of my favorite foods. So satisfying! But if you buy peanut butter from cheaper brands you are more than likely buying mostly processed peanuts loaded with sugar. Look for a brand that only has the peanuts and maybe some salt. The cheap brands contain hydrogenated vegetable oils and you do not want that.
Sugar hides in foods under lots of other names: *high fructose corn syrup *sucrose *glucose *dextrose *corn syrup *syrup *cane sugar *raw sugar
So is there a healthy sugar? Well, with the research I have done the best kind of sugar I have found is coconut sugar because it actually contains nutrients but it is just as "bad" other sugars in that too much can also cause health issues in the long run. Of course there's the zero calorie plant based sweetener stevia but some people, like me, can't stand the after taste caused by the compound stevioside found in the plant. What can you do? #1 don't stress. #2 read nutrition facts labels #3 be aware of how much sugar you consume a day