SUGAR

2 teaspoons of sugar in coffee
each morning probably won't
hurt healthy diet,
unless it grows throughout the day.

Americans consume an average
of 20 teaspoons of sugar every day.
On average, limit added sugars to no more
than six teaspoons daily eat about 1,600 calories

12 teaspoons if you eat 2,200 calories a day
18 teaspoons if you eat 2,800 calories

Cola every day adds nine teaspoons of sugar to diet.

Fruit drinks are no bargain either.
12-ounce glass of a fruit drink
adds 12 teaspoons of sugar to daily total.

If you switch to 100% juice,
such as orange or grapefruit,
more nutrition and no added sweetener.

Is it just the sugar in your coffee your worried about?
If you chase your morning coffee with a donut,
just another 2 teaspoons of sugar from the cruller.

Have 8-ounce container of fruit yogurt with lunch,
spooning 7 teaspoons of sugar,
cup of ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert adds
6 teaspoons of sugar to daily intake.

Can't live without the 16-calories-a-teaspoon sugar
in your coffee, balance it with a healthy diet.

Listing grams of sugar
in a recipe or on a food label could be misleading.
Why?

Sugars are carbohydrates:
They occur naturally in foods
such as milk, fruits, some vegetables,
cereals, breads, and grains.

That's why a cup of skim milk
contains 15 grams of carbohydrate
--14 of them from "sugar."

Judging a food solely on its sugar content
may be misleading because, for example,
fruit is naturally full of sugar but should be
a regular part of your diet.

When analyzing a recipe,
it's hard to tease out how much of the sugar
is "natural" rather than added.

To make it even more
of a label reading and baking challenge,
some sugars have to be added to foods in order to contribute
to the volume and tenderness of baked good items.
(The yeast in breads NEEDS sugar to give
dough its rising power.)

Sugar functions as a preservative and thickener in foods.
But working toward a diet that's moderate
in sugar isn't a bad idea,
since it's estimated that Americans, on average,
scoff up over 45 pounds of added sugar a year.
(The problem with averages is that this means that many of us
are eating more than 45 pounds a year -- yikes!)

To find out where all that sugar is coming from,
read the label or recipe and start hunting
for these buzz words:
brown sugar, corn sweetener,
corn syrup, glucose, fructose,
high-fructose corn syrup, honey,
invert sugar, molasses, raw sugar,
sucrose (table sugar), and syrup.

When these sweeteners are added to a food or recipe,
they deliver calories but little nutrition.

If any of these sugars appear
first or second or many of them are listed among
food label ingredients, the odds are that the food
will be a high sugar roller.

If you enjoy these foods, balance them in moderation
with foods lower in sugar as part of a healthy diet.

When cooking and baking at home,
try cutting back gradually
on the sugar that's called for in the recipe.

The rule of thumb for cakes and cake-like cookies
is to reduce the sugar to half a cup
for every cup of flour called for in the recipe.

For muffins and quick breads,
you need at least one tablespoon sugar
for every cup of flour.

For yeast breads,
use only one teaspoon of sugar
for every cup of flour used.

If you're a yogurt eater,
you can cut back the seven teaspoons
of added sugar in fruit-flavored yogurt
by buying a carton of non-fat
plain yogurt and adding real fruit
(and just a smidgen of sugar if you need it).
Bypass the three teaspoons of sugar
in chocolate milk by adding
a small amount of chocolate syrup
to plain skim milk.

Try unsweetened cereal such as
shredded wheat and add dried fruit
for sweetness and nutrition.

Substitute 100 percent juices
for sugar in sauces
to add sweetness and nutrition.
The opportunities are endless.

Keep healthy

Alternatives to Sugar
Anise
Licourice
Stevia