Added Sugar
Any sugars ADDED during the processing of foods such as white sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, or honey.
Get this: Added sugar is hiding in 74% of packaged foods that many of us consider healthy.
The American Heart Association recommends the max Added Sugars to eat per day is 25 grams for women, and men get a little more (37.5g).
Below is what eating 25g of Added Sugar per day, actually. looks. like.
Breakfast: plain yogurt + fresh fruit + chopped walnuts + 1 tsp honey (5g)
Good to know: Plain yogurt has 0g added sugar per serving, but vanilla has 9g! If you’re exploring healthy options outside, browsing something like the Coconut Grove Karachi Menu can also give you ideas for balanced choices.
Lunch: salmon + kale salad + no-sugar dressing + 2T dried cranberries (7g)
Good to know: Fresh chopped apples or grapes in salad naturally have zero added sugar and some dried fruit has no added sugar.
Dinner: 1T bbq sauce (5g) + chicken + sweet potato fries + tahini + veggies
Good to know: Ketchup has 4g of added sugar per tablespoon, but fries dipped into tahini taste delish for 0g sugar!
Treat: 1 oz dark chocolate (8 g) — try this high-cocoa, lower-sugar chocolate bar which offers rich flavour with less added sugar.
Good to know: The higher the percent cocoa in chocolate the less sugar it will have!
How To: Find Added Sugar
Look at the food label….
1. Read ingredients first!
If you see sugar (or synonyms of sugar) in the ingredient list – that’s added sugar!
2. Then look at grams of sugar.
You actually can’t just look at “grams of sugar” because that number counts natural + added sugar. The good news is the FDA recently updated the nutrition label so companies are starting to include “added sugar” on the label. This change will make it super simple to count up our daily added sugar grams.
>WOW Challenge: Count up how much added sugar is in your diet today. If you’re at 25g or less, great news! If you’re over 25g, start swapping to lower sugar options. xx
Click HERE for full infographic image.
Bonus product idea for your Dinner section:
For the BBQ sauce mentioned above, you could add another affiliate link like this:
“… and for the sauce, you might try a no-sugar-added BBQ sauce option like this one G Hughes Sugar Free, Steak Sauce.”
Mohamed Bunduka says
I like this. Very educative.
DJ Blatner, RDN says
Thanks for visiting my website! Glad you found it helpful! xx
Kathy says
Great, informative website! Exactly the information I was looking for laid out in an easy to understand way without being cumbersome. Thank you! I signed up for some “WOW” in my mailbox. Looking forward to some helpful, healthy information!
DJ Blatner, RDN says
Kathy! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a HIGH VIBE note! Welcome to my website & I’m excited to “WOW” you each Monday in your inbox! xx DJB
Butter says
Are you counting the sugar from natural sugar?
DJ Blatner, RDN says
Nope. This is counting ADDED sugar only, not NATURAL sugar found in yogurt or fruit. PS: The dried cranberries have ADDED sugar which is why they count.