REMEMBER when sugar wasn’t such a bad word?
When having dessert was just fun?
Well, if you are like thousands of others this January, you’ve made a commitment to cut lots of things in pursuit of getting/staying healthy this year.
Sugar is one such “cut”.
Sounds easy – just don’t eat sugar or keep it within 10% of your total daily caloric intake and you win, right?
While there is nothing wrong with the occasional splurge, sugar can have a negative effect on your health AND your energy levels.
“Added Sugars” are defined as sugars added during the processing or packaging process. Most of the time you don’t even know they’re in there.
Naturally occurring sugars in things like fruits, veggies and dairy are much more nutritious than added sugars because they come with important vitamins and nutrients, as well as fiber and protein that help to slow digestion and give you a more steady source of energy.
One simple way to begin the process of weeding out “added” sugars is to learn the many (more than 44) names for sugars added during processing.
You may already know the most often used names:
High fructose corn syrup, caramel, beet sugar, dextrose, fructose, honey, maltodextrin and turbinado
The American Heart Association recommends that women try to keep their sugar intake to 25 grams per day. Men at 36 grams per day but, on average Americans eat a whopping 68 grams per day.
Here are some of the names sugar hides behind:
Agave Nectar / Barley Malt Syrup / Beet Sugar / Brown Rice Sugar / Brown Sugar / Cane Crystals / Cane Juice Syrup / Corn Sweetener / Corn Syrup / Corn Syrup Solids / Crystalline Fructose / Date Sugar / Dehydrated Cane Juice / Dextrose / Evaporated Cane Juice / Fruit juice / Glucose / Glycerol / Golden Brown Sugar / Golden Syrup / Grape Sugar / Honey / Honey / Invert Sugar / Lactose / Malitol Syrup / Malt Sugar / Maltose / Maple Sugar / Molasses /Raw Sugar / Rice Syrup / Saccharose / Sorghum / Sorghum Syrup / Sucrose / Syrup / Treacle / Turbinado Sugar
Do you read your labels?