Ain't she sweet

I've been working as an RD for two weeks now and it occurred to me that I'm spending an awful lot of time covering food groups, sodium and sugar intake. Writing down diet recalls that typically include multiple cups of coffee with multiple spoonfuls of sugar along with multiple cans of soda, I wonder how hard it would be to follow the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended guidelines for added sugar intake. I'll come back to that in a sec, but first, some basics:

• naturally occurring sugars are those found naturally in foods = fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose)
• added sugar are those included in foods or beverages in processing or consuming = granulated sugar, honey, maple syrup, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, etc (here's a list of what to look for in an ingredient list for added sugars)
•  The average American consumes about 22 tsp of added sugar a day (20% more than we ate in 1970) and is an added 350 calories (source)

Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, ice cream, chocolate, maple syrup on my yogurt are probably in my top 10 favorite foods, but it's an interesting challenge, can I eat as healthy as the numbers I spout out to my patients? Or am I also falling to the hidden calories of my food?

The challenge: For 5 days (Monday Oct 13-Friday Oct 17) eat within or less than the daily guidelines for added sugar intake. WHO's recommended guideline is 6 tsp total for an adult, American Heart Association (AHA) recommends no more than 6 tsp (24 grams)  for women and 9 tsp (36 grams) for men per day (I'll let the guys out there decide which number they follow). There are 4 grams of sugar per teaspoon in case anyone wants that math for when you read the nutrition label.

So where is added sugar in your life?

• Sugar is listed under total carbohydrates on the nutrition facts label (hopefully if and when the new one comes out "added sugar" will be included in that separate designation)
• Sugar, or other names of it (found here) are also found in the ingredients list. Sugar alcohols do not have to be legally listed on the ingredient list, look for words that end in "ol" like sorbitol
• Major sources of added sugar in our American diet: soda, energy drinks, candy, baked goods, fruit drinks (not the 100% fruit juices), dairy desserts
• Sugar is also added to foods like pasta sauce, bread, soy sauce, granola, cereal and peanut butter! Check the ingredient list

 What does this mean for me and doing this challenge?

• Buying plain yogurt and adding vanilla extract and ripe bananas for sweetness
• As "added sugar" is not a label on the nutrition facts yet, if the ingredient list includes any sugar or any of the related words, I will count all the sugar into my total (e.g. flavored yogurt typically is higher in sugar than plain yogurt b/c of the jam made with fruit = eating plain yogurt and adding my own sweetness through fruit)
• Lots of whole foods
• No sweets
• Eating all my food with added sugar this weekend before the fun starts (I'm just kidding, freeze what you can and feel free to push the challenge off until your fridge is no added sugar friendly!
• Reading labels, for instance, the two jars of jam I bought...

The purple label is for the jar on the left and it has cane sugar listed as an ingredient as well as sugar in the orange zest (yes, count the ingredients in parentheses, it was used to make ingredients). While the bottom label is made with fruit juice concentrates. If you look at the sugar content though, the top one is actually less sugars for the same amount of jam ;) So pick your battles, the goal is 6 tsp (24 grams in one day, or 9 tsp if you're a man)! This could also mean I'll be making peanut butter sandwiches with slices of apples or bananas in place of jam since my bread also contains sugar...it's all about balance!

So who's with me? I'll try to update each day of the challenge with more tips and tricks for decreasing your sugar amount (and for someone that likes sugar in her coffee, 1 packet = 1 tsp).