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If you had to take a wild guess at how much your daily sugar intake is, what would you say?<\/p>\n Would you think 10 teaspoons might be a lot?<\/p>\n Think three times that.<\/p>\n Those figures average to 2.7 pounds (1.2 kilos) a week \u2013 about 30 teaspoons of sugar a day!<\/p>\n The shame of sugar is that most people are eating much<\/em> more than they actually believe.<\/p>\n Some professionals, like Simon Capewell, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Liverpool, are even saying that “sugar is the new tobacco<\/a>” because of\u00a0its addictive qualities that seem to be leading us into a health disaster.<\/p>\n Since 1990, consumption of sugar in Britain has increased by 31%.\u00a0And, according to Euromonitor, now we eat 93.2 grams per person a day \u2013 nearly four times the recommended limit!<\/p>\n It is no surprise that health scientists, and even the UK\u2019s Chief Medical Officer, have been lobbying to tax sugar in processed foods<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before we start colouring outside the sugar lines, let’s get back to you and why you really should care about your daily sugar intake.<\/p>\n Whether it is for yourself or for your client, one of the first things we need to get clear on is the difference between existing, or natural, sugars versus<\/em> added sugars.<\/p>\n Naturally occurring sugars are those found naturally in foods such as fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose). They exist within the food or drink.<\/p>\n <\/a>The added sugars are the ones you need to care about.<\/p>\n The most common added sugars are regular table sugar and high fructose corn syrup.<\/p>\n \n Sugar of this sort is so popular that it goes by at least 65 names!<\/strong><\/p>\n Click HERE to get the PDF with the full list.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/p>\n Because we don’t truly realise just how much sugar we are consuming, it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with those names so you’re able to recognise a bad actor when you read a food or drink label!<\/p>\n The American Heart Association makes it very clear that added sugars contribute zero nutrients, but add calories that can lead to extra pounds or even obesity, thereby reducing heart health.<\/a><\/p>\n In 2014,\u00a0the World Health Organization (WHO) issued some guidelines<\/a>\u00a0calling for a reduction of daily sugar intake with the objective to decrease the amount of added sugar.<\/p>\n Their advice is to\u00a0limit added sugars to 5% of your total daily calories, which is equal\u00a0to 6 teaspoons (25 grams) for an adult of normal body mass index (BMI).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Similarly, the UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition<\/a> recommends that \u201cfree sugars\u201d should be no more than 5% of your diet.<\/p>\n \u201cFree sugars\u201d are sugars that have been added to food as well as those naturally present in honey, syrup, and unsweetened fruit juices (those high-sugar foods that your body absorbs faster). The sugar found in milk and dairy foods (called \u201clactose\u201d) is not considered a \u201cfree sugar\u201d.<\/p>\n All things considered, it certainly can be a challenge to know just how much sugar is \u2018hidden\u2019 in the food you eat.<\/p>\n Here are 5 favoured, inconspicuous offenders that contain high sugar:<\/p>\n Sure, there are many more, but that will get you started with some popular items.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a simple formula to keep in mind when reading labels.<\/p>\n 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon of sugar<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Stay alert and aware with that quick math when you read your food labels.<\/p>\n One thing you can be sure of \u2013 nothing good.<\/p>\n It doesn’t help that the UK tops the European league table<\/a> in sales of sweets, cakes, and biscuits.<\/p>\n Besides sugar being called “the new tobacco” and considered\u00a0an addictive drug, we all know how habit forming it can be.\u00a0Because it has a\u00a0heroin-like effect<\/a>\u00a0that lights\u00a0up the pleasure centers in your brain, you\u00a0might think of it like\u00a0a broken traffic light, flashing all 3 colours at once.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Because your pleasure centres have now been taken over, overriding your hunger signals. Talk about hijacking your brain!<\/p>\n It has been shown that sugars are the only<\/em> cause of tooth decay in children and adults<\/a>. Tooth decay is the most common non-communicable disease in the world, affecting 60-90% of school-age children and the vast majority of adults.<\/p>\n High sugar intake contributes to an array of severe health conditions<\/a> like coronary heart diseases, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.<\/p>\n There are also studies that\u00a0confirm a strong link between consuming a lot\u00a0sugar and the suppression of the body\u2019s immune system.<\/p>\n It also plays a key role in the development of many types of cancer as well as obesity and hypertension.<\/p>\n Sugar is everywhere.<\/p>\n We can’t\u00a0let sugar run our life nor ruin our health. You can break the sugar habit beginning right now: here’s the first most important steps<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Armed with what you now know, you can begin with awareness, especially when it comes to reading nutritional labels. Watch out for those sneaky, hidden, added sugars. They will pull you down as fast as you can eat those Fruit Loops and down that Monster drink.<\/p>\n For the sake of your health, well-being, and energy sustainability steer clear of all that excess sugar.<\/p>\n One of the simplest ways to banish sugary foods in your house is to not buy them. When you\u2019re at the supermarket fight that junk food<\/a> by getting into the habit of reading labels as you load up your trolley.<\/p>\n What about you? How much added sugar are<\/em> you consuming? If you have tallied it up, are you surprised? Let us know in the comments below. Please share this with someone who could benefit from the sweet information above!<\/p>\n \n Related Continuing Education Trainings:<\/strong><\/p>\n Is Fructose Making You Fat?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Craving Control: How Taste Makes Us Overeat<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Why Is Sugar So Hard To Resist? \u2013 Part 1<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/p>\n If you had to take a wild guess at how much your daily sugar intake is, what would you say? Would you think 10 teaspoons might be a lot? Think three times that. Americans\u00a0average 156 pounds (71 kilos) of sugar per year. The average Briton ingests 150 pounds (68 kilos) of sugar every year. Australians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"daily](\"https:\/\/thehealthsciencesacademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/How_Much_Sugar_Is_Too_Much_Sugar-The-Health-Sciences-Academy-300x225.png\")
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<\/p>\nSorting out the sugars<\/h2>\n
How much sugar is too<\/em> much sugar?<\/h2>\n
Where are the sneaky sugars?<\/h2>\n
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What does an excess of daily sugar do to your body?<\/h2>\n
Don’t let sugar run nor ruin your life<\/h2>\n
![\"The-Health-Sciences-Academy-Alejandra-Ruani-small1-right\"](\"https:\/\/thehealthsciencesacademy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/The-Health-Sciences-Academy-Alejandra-Ruani-small1-right.png\")
Alex Ruani, Doctoral Researcher,<\/strong> is the Chief Science Educator at\u00a0The Health Sciences Academy<\/a>, where her team of accomplished scientists and PhDs are training a new breed of over 100,000 highly-specialised nutrition professionals who are leveraging the latest personalisation strategies to help their clients. She is a Harvard-trained scientist and UCL Doctoral Researcher who is fanatical about equipping health professionals with the latest science-based tools so they can succeed in their practices \u2013 from identifying the unique nutrient needs to building highly personalised nutrition programs. Besides investigating and teaching the latest advances in health and nutrition biochemistry, Alex makes it easier to be smarter with her free email updates<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n
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