This is part of a series I’ve been creating for Azumio. Azumio is an app company dedicated to improve health and wellness by tracking sleep and steps, monitoring your glucose levels and heart rate, and providing exercise libraries and routines.
Sugar is everywhere. From the obvious like cereal, soda, and the endless amounts of sweet snacks, to the not-so-obvious like ketchup, spaghetti sauce, yogurt, and protein powder. While some sugar doesn’t hurt, too much of it can lead to weight gain, hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), dental issues, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, inflammation, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.
How Much Sugar Should You be Eating?
The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons (25 grams) for women and 9 teaspoons (36 grams) for men per day. Even with those recommendations, people are still eating a lot more than that. According to a study from the CDC, Americans eat an average of 19.5 teaspoons (82 grams) a day!
Sneaky Sugars
So how are we eating so much sugar? Sugar is in way more foods than you think, whether it’s artificial or in plants or produce. Sugar hides behind several different aliases, which can be much harder to recognize in processed foods. Some manufacturers also use multiple kinds of sugar so other non-sugary ingredients appear higher on the list (nutrition labels list ingredients by weight, heaviest first).
With the large amount of sugar in foods, it’s also really easy to become dependent on sugar and seek out more sugary foods, which can also lead to exceeding the recommended daily intake.
Learn more about the many names sugar hides behind at Azumio’s blog.