Sweet as Sugar : )

When you hear the word sugar, does it have a negative connotation?  For many, it does...  But it doesn't have to!  With all of the negativity surrounding sugar because of it's ability to cause health problems such as diabetes, obesity, and tooth decay, it has earned a pretty bad rep.  While these things are undoubtedly real issues related to sugar intake, that doesn't mean we have to cut it out of our diet completely.

With all of the differences of opinion about including sugar in your diet, I thought I'd share some info to help clear up the rumors...

The Good:

1.  Sugar is natural!  It's comes from sugar cane, which is actually a species of grass.  Natural is a plus.

2.  It is used by our body as fuel and provides energy.

3.  It is included in the food guide pyramid as allowable in your daily diet.

4.  Sugars are found naturally in many fruits and vegetables.

The Bad:

Added sugars- this is where we get into trouble.  The sugars found in many food products have been added for flavoring.  Added sugars are also often found in foods with high calorie and fat contents.  Thus, consuming sugar may not be the primary issue- it's consuming large amounts of sugar accompanied by unhealthy fats.  Cookies, cakes, soft drinks, crackers, and the majority of processed, packaged foods have added sugars added that provide little to no nutrients... in other words, empty calories.  The whole point of eating is to provide our bodies with the nutrients needed.  As mentioned previously sugars are needed to provide us with energy and fuel, but only in moderation and in addition to other healthy sources of energy such as lean protein.

The key to including sugar in your diet is to do so in moderation.

• Try to balance your intake of natural sugars by choosing veggies and fruits with moderate sugar content, or compensating those of high sugar content with another that has little to none.


• Consume added sugars sparingly.  We have an allotted amount of discretionary calories for our daily intake.  This means we have a certain amount of calories to consume as we please once our nutrient caloric needs have been fulfilled.  Check out this article  for a great explanation of discretionary calories http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/discretionary_calories.html

To become more aware of the added sugars you consume, I have included the following list containing some of the many ways sugar may be named in an ingredients list...

• Brown sugar


• Corn sweetener


• Corn syrup


• Sugar molecules ending in “ose” (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose)


• High-fructose corn syrup


• Fruit juice concentrates


• Honey


• Invert sugar


• Malt sugar


• Molasses


• Raw sugar


• Sugar


• Syrup

Food For Thought!

1 tsp of sugar = about 4 g and 16 cal

Lets say we drink a 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew...

The nutrition label lists the sugar content of this drink to be 31 g of sugar per 8 oz.

 A 20 oz bottle contains 2.5 servings.

2.5 x 31 = 77.5

Therefore you consume 77.5 g of sugar per 20 oz bottle.

Now convert this number to teaspoons using the conversion above...

77.5/4 =  19.375

A 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew contains nearly 20 tsps of sugar!!!  Wow!  That's definitely food for thought!