Can You Guess How Much Sugar You Consume?

A visitor coming to North America could well think that we run on sugar, coffee and tea. Sugar is in almost every manufactured food product. It is believed that the average North American eats or drinks an average of 5 lbs of sugar a month, which is 60 lbs of sugar a year!

The recommended amount of sugar we consume should be limited to 6 to 12 tsp. a day. Sugar is found in almost everything we eat: ketchup, cereal, juices and almost all packaged foods. To give you an idea how fast the sugar adds up in a day, the following are a few foods and the amount of sugar they contain:

• Fruit flavored sweetened carbonated beverages contain 7 to 11 tsp. of sugar while the cola type contains 10 tsp. – basically your whole daily allotment!
• 2 Cookies made of two biscuits with filling is 3 to 5 tsp. sugar 
• The same 2 Cookies with filling but lower fat version also include 3 to 5 tsp of sugar 
• Children’s cereals 1 cup contains 2 to 5 tsp of sugar 
• Fruit flavored yogurt ¾ cup has 5 tsp of sugar

Many of the “low-fat” products available today have just as much or more sugar than the regular products. What is important to realize is that sugar is a simple carbohydrate and some of the sugars are immediately converted to energy while the rest of the sugars are converted to fat.

Most foods high in sugar are mainly empty calorie foods. They contain no or very little nutrition for your body but consume a large part of your calorie allotment per day.

If you are a high sugar consumer, start to reduce the amount you eat or drink each day. Set a goal for the month and then break it down into smaller goals for each week to cut down and then completely go off of soft drink/soda pop. Many people lose 10 to 15 lbs over a few months with just that simple step.

As you cut down on the sugar and limit desserts and sweets to once or twice a week and special occasions you will notice that your taste buds will change. What was once normal will be really sweet. Other foods will have greater appeal. When this occurs you know you are well on your way to reaching your goal.

If you find sugar cravings really hard to deal with, consider a weight loss plan that deals with cravings like the Tahitian Noni® Tahiti Trim® Plan 40® Health and Weight Management Plan. For more information about this plan go to our web page: Tahiti Trim® Plan 40®.