A Simple Way To Shed A Few Pounds
Watch your sugar intake. When I was a kid I had no idea that drinking 2-3 cans of soda in one day meant that I had consumed over 150 grams of sugar or that drinking a 20 ounce soda was the equivalent of 16 teaspoons of sugar. I couldn’t think of any reason why not to indulge in my favorite sweetened beverage whenever it was available (mostly at pizza parties and slumber parties), and my parents didn’t mind because I was a kid then. But, what my parents and I didn’t know was that the indulgence would lead to habit, and habit would lead to obesity as I grew older.
Sugar is of growing concern to public health officials and the FDA. Its not that sugar is a toxic chemical that should be avoided as such, otherwise soda companies would be in bigger trouble. The problem is overconsumption. If your not diabetic, the AHA recommends:
- 36 grams per day or 9 teaspoons for men
- 20 grams per day or 5 teaspoons for women
- 12 grams per day or 3 teaspoons for children
These are estimates for average, generally healthy populations. Sugar consumption actually varies with individual daily caloric intake. The USDA suggests that no more than 8 percent of daily calories should come from sugar.
If your wondering how much you should cut back on think about how much sugar is in that one can of soda. Soda has 40 grams of sugar per can. Cream soda has around 49 grams of sugar per can. If your interested in losing a few pounds a good way to start is by cutting out the sodas. It will make your nutritional weight-loss efforts that much more effective.
References:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyDietGoals/Sugars-and-Carbohydrates_UCM_303296_Article.jsp
Read the full article at: http://melaniemitro.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-many-grams-of-sugar-should-i.html
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