By Seven Weaver Producer
News 3 On Your Side, John B. Amos Cancer Center
eeteners-natural or artificial-saturate our food supply, appearing in everything from beverages, cereals and yogurts to processed meats, condiments and even spice blends. Now, the growing epidemic of obesity is shining a spotlight on sugar as a possible contributor to America's weight problem.News 3 On Your Side, John B. Amos Cancer Center
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Stumble It!Sugar-Can't Live With It Or Without It
Taming Your Sweetness Gene
It helps to know where your sugar comes from. Pay attention to what you eat; added sugar shouldn't contribute as much as sugar from natural sources. If it does, here's how to strike a better balance:
* Read labels. Choose foods with the least amount of sugar (four
grams of sugar is about one teaspoon).
* Watch out for sugar in unexpected places like peanut butter,
salad dressings, condiments and deli meats.
* Choose water or unsweetened drinks over regular soft drinks.
Limit juice to one or two half-cup servings a day.
* Scour labels for sugar aliases. Look for: beet sugar, brown
sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, maltodextrin, molasses, sucrose and turbinado sugar.
* Don't eat sweets when you're hungry. Instead, enjoy them as
after-dinner treats (think old-fashioned dessert!) to savor and enjoy in small amounts when you're less likely to overindulge.
* Don't deny yourself. Instead of resisting, downsize. Take half
the amount you normally would so you won't feel deprived.
Too Much of a Good Thing. Consider that sugars added to foods have increased tremendously over the years, so that Americans now eat more than 23 teaspoons of added sugar every day, mostly in the form of sugary beverages like soft drinks. That adds up to more than 400 calories a day.
The Bottom Line. The key to managing sugary foods, like most things, is to not overdo it. Monitoring when and why you eat sweets can help control your cravings and let you gradually decrease your intake. And then you just may enjoy the sweets you do eat that much more.
Adapted from July 2008 Environmental Nutrition Newsletter and written by Diane Welland, MS, RD www.environmentalnutrition.com
