sugerHow much sugar should we consume? What kind of sugar is good? These questions are a hot topic today. The average daily consumption of sugar by Americans tends toward a whopping 150 to 300 grams! What does that mean? Well, sugar (brown or white), honey, or syrup are all 4 grams per teaspoon. However, a can of soda ranges from 40 to 80 grams. That is 10 to 20 tsp of sugar added per can!

Recommended added sugar in our total daily diet should be around 15 to 30 grams per day. Track your sugar and see what you and your kids are eating or drinking. Add it up and then ask your kids what they can remove from their diets. Think of easy ways to control that intake and not let the processed foods dictate the sugar in your family’s diet. Sugar is added into many processed foods as well…so check your labels. Food industries add sugar into bread, pasta, ketchup, pasta sauce and salad dressings, never mind the foods we think are unhealthy.

Remember, when teaching your children to read the labels dairy and fruit are good sugars but are not clearly separated on labels. For example, a cup of milk will list 12 grams of sugar but this is a good milk sugar. Also yogurt is tricky as it may have some fruit sugars that are healthy.
Research shows that veggies taste sweeter! YES!

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