Americans Must Find Better Options for Sweet Cravings
Americans must become more creative with their resolutions for sweet cravings, avoiding treats with added sugars. For the first time ever, the American Heart Association has released specific guidelines for daily limits of added sugars. Their recommendations are a significant reduction from the current average daily dose that Americans consume.
Based on the national nutrition survey, which gathered data from 2001 to 2004, Americans consume an average of 355 calories and over 22 teaspoons of sugars daily. For the first time, the American Heart Association has released specific recommendations for daily added sugar consumption. They recommend women cut their added sugar intake to six teaspoons and men reduce theirs to nine teaspoons a day. When considering a 12-ounce can of soda has nearly eight teaspoons of sugar, this may seem to be an unattainable goal. However, Dr. Rachel Johnson, lead author of the release, and professor for the University of Vermont said, “We’re trying to make reasonable recommendations around the amount of sugar in a diet that enables people to achieve or maintain a healthy weight.”
According to Dr. Johnson, some of the main culprits contributing to American’s high intake of added sugars are sodas, alcoholic beverages, candy, desserts, juice drinks, ice cream, and yogurt. She said added sugars contribute empty calories to the diet and add no nutritional value. It seems recognition is one of the main issues leading to the higher intake of added sugars. Many added sugars are disguised in the ingredients of a product, and listed as things such as syrup or sucrose. Added sugars, which are commonly used, include corn syrup, glucose, honey, maltose, malt syrup, molasses, sucrose, and syrup. Some of the main culprits of high sugar addition foods are cereals, sauces, dressings, dried sweetened fruits and breakfast bars.
While the American Heart Associations’ new recommendations may seem somewhat daunting, they are reasonable and necessary for a healthy diet. The goal can be attained while sweet cravings are still being met. To help reduce added sugar consumption, according to Dr. Johnson we should cut out all sweetened beverages and reduce consumption of processed foods. Cutting sweetened drinks out of the daily diet completely for some may prove to be impossible. However, there are ways to break the sugared drink habit slowly. While withdrawing from the sugar drinks someone could substitute artificial sweeteners for sugar in their drinks. Introducing more fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains and seeds will help to add nutritional aspects to a diet while curbing sweet cravings as well.
Dr. Johnson said, “Try to use the added sugars with foods that will enhance the diet, for instance a sugared whole grain breakfast cereal or a sugar sweetened dairy product… they’re improving the flavor of the food in a healthy diet opposed to things that don’t carry any other nutritional value, like soda or candy bars.”
Dr. Johnson explained her stance, stating the extra calories from added sugars are contributing to the rise in obesity throughout America, and along with weight gain comes a rise in heart disease. Since 1970, the average persons’ added sugar intake has risen to an extra 76 calories a day. While Dr. Johnson said, the added sugar consumption has been linked primarily to obesity. It has also been linked to other negative health conditions, including risk factors for heart disease.
While cutting back on sugar intake may result in a few extra steps or considerations, it could lead to a healthier life. There are simple natural options to curb sweet cravings, and options to sweet syrups. Be creative and remember to look for the masked verbiage in the labeling of products.