I found the article to be very interesting. It doesn’t surprise me that American’s over consume sugar, especially when you take into consideration the rise in popularity of energy drinks, which like sodas are known for their high amounts of sugar. Soft drinks were mentioned often, and I used to be a big Coca-Cola drinker for quite some time, until recently for the past year and a half I’ve stayed away from soft drinks mainly because I don’t really need the added sugar, and would prefer a less sugary drink such as Gatorade or water. Soda will probably be a tough food item for many to drop simply because of its relative cheap cost and availability, add in the fact that it is addictive and it will be that much harder to cut back or eliminate the habit.
Sugar is the cause of many different diseases (if people eat too much) such as: diabetes, heart diseases, and teeth decay. According to the article “cutting back on sugar likely won’t be easy for many people,” said Lona Sandon, a dietitian at Dallas’ University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.” I agree because in the U.S. many people eat too much candy when they are just toddlers. In addition, the U.S. publics are overwhelmed with soda commercials that popularize the drink to teenagers as source of energy. During the Child’s doctor visits the nurse gives them some lollipop or other kind of candy. Also, in the Day Care when the kids answer a question correctly from the teacher they might be reward it such as candy. The children seem like they addicted to candy when they are in the young age. It is very hard for them to refuse the candy. I think the best way is “Cut Way, Way Back on Sugar…” People should start from the beginning. It means “Don’t give children candy or some things very sweet”. Give them different kind of fruits and vegetables.
Sugar is a health culprit that many Americans don't realize effects their diets. The article names these items to mainly include sodas,candy,and baked goods. To curb America's appetite for sweets there are two options. 1.)An industry change. Manufacturers can impose in-house changes to modify and regulate the amount and types of sugar used in their products. They can also list the breakdown of the sugar content between natural occuring sugars and added sweetners. This proposed label should also include layman terms of the content and how it is factored in to the recommended diet. For example: This product contains 39 grams of added sugar which equals almost 8 teaspoons or 1.5x the recommended amount of sugar. 2.)Individual Accountability. Personal responsibility is a value that American society promotes. Individually we should take into account our added sugar intake. We should incorporate changes into our diet and make conscious decisions about our eating choices. As adults we can skip desserts and limit sweetened beverages. Parents can choose not to introduce their children to highly sweetened items such as candy, soda, certain juices and beverages, and snacks. This is a method I utilize for my toddler, with the reasoning he won't miss what he doesn't know. This course of action is similarly used in households that choose to be vegetarian or vegan. The possibility of a social consciousness towards added sugars is possible, but it is a change of mind that can only start at home.
"Take a good hard look at your diet," said Johnson professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington. "Figure out where the sources of added sugars are and think about how to cut back on that."
What am I consuming each day? What is in my kitchen? As I go through the food in my refrigerator, on my counter and in my cabinets, I note each item with sugar and just how much sugar it has in it. Read carefully to see how fast this poison sneaks up on you.
A typical Saturday breakfast would include two small cinnamon rolls with 22 grams of sugar and two cups of cranberry juice consists of 68 grams of sugar. Just for breakfast, the sugar intake is 90 grams.
Mid day is here and I grab two small chocolate chip cookies. That's 12 grams of sugar.
Dinner's done, everything is cleaned up and I'm ready to relax. A nice bowl of ice cream with hot fudge sounds yummy… Wake up call!!! One bowl of ice cream with two dabs of hot fudge is a whooping 114 grams of sugar- My late night "snack".
I know this food is sweet, but I don't realize just how sweet it is until I actually hold myself accountable and tally it all up. At the end of the day, I’ve taken in 216 grams of sugar opposed to six grams. I will think twice next time I order extra hot fudge!!
Who doesn’t love sweets? Whether it’s indulging a piece of candy, drinking a bottle of soda or starting your day with a cup of coffee, which has at least one teaspoon of sugar. We all have our sweet tooth.
Finding food that has no sugar at all is almost impossible. We all like to eat food that has flavor and tastes good in our mouth.
If you take a look at the ingredients of everything we eat, it has some type of amount of sugar in it. So it is hard to only consume 6 teaspoons of sugar a day personally.
I am sure there are so many ways to eat less sugar. Like Professor Johnson a nutritionist at the University of Vermont says “Figure out where the sources of added sugars are and think about how to cut back on that.” For example I make smoothies every morning with a banana and watermelon. I use to add a teaspoon of sugar but recently stopped because by not adding that much sugar it tastes better with just its natural fruit sugars. All you have to do is make one little changes at a time. And before you know it you can cut back on a lot.
Be smart about what you eat and you will feel great. Your body is your temple so take it with care.
The article is accurate in my opinion; the difficulty related to sugar consumption is that many of us grew up consuming large amounts of it. My mom added sugar to everything; the obvious foods like cake and pies, and she also added it to vegetables to improve the taste. Our dinner drink, and thirst quencher, kool aid, contained tons of sugar, and we would occasionally add sugar to water. In my community, sugar was essential to all meals.
Although sugar was a major component in my diet, I believe if it is consumed in large quantities it could be detrimental to one’s health. As a kid, my metabolism was fast, and the excess sugar was quickly used for energy, but as an adult with a slower metabolism the sugar excess causes weight gain.
Another reason I chose to cut back on sugar consumption is because I have diabetic family members. Observing the administration of insulin shots convinces me to reduce my sugar consumption.
Through my personal experience, I’ve discovered that processed sugar consumption causes my weight to increase, but the sugars that exist in fruit have no such affect. With that observation, I have decided to eat plenty of fruit, drink diet soda, and use splenda when I need a sweetener.
The article stated “cutting back on sugar likely won’t be easy for many people”, and that is true. I think providing information on the adverse health effects is a good start for discouraging consumption.
I often wondered why my 5 year old son wouldn’t eat anything unless it was drowning in ketchup. Then, I looked at the label; one tablespoon of ketchup is equal to one packet of sugar (15 calories, 4g sugar).
I was startled when I read the bottle of my fat-free Catalina salad dressing – it had about the same amount of sugar in it as my son’s ketchup. Pulling out every bottle in the fridge, it seems that everything had similar sugar content; yogurt, soy milk, barbeque sauce, salad dressings, and marinades. Sugar is in everything! It’s in the bread basket. It’s on the wine rack. It’s hiding in the cabinets inside of cereal boxes and granola bars – even foods that are advertised as being healthy, like dried fruits, and protein shakes, and trail mix – sugar is there.
And we haven’t even gotten to desserts.
So if my recommended allowance of sugar is a measly six teaspoons, I would have fulfilled that if I drank that Grande Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks this morning. And that’s how a lot of us are getting our day started.
How do we scale back? For starters, I think we need to get consumers on a low sugar craze – just like we did with the flashy FAT FREE and LOW CARB alerts on food packages. People go nuts over trying to be healthy – look how en vogue organic produce and free trade coffee is.
Sure, fads burn out and aren’t the best way to go about changing people’s lifestyles, but maybe laying off the sugar for a while would adjust our taste buds to not crave deceptively sweet things.
But first, I have to convince my son that chicken nuggets taste just fine without all that ketchup.
In some way or another, most of the foods that Americans enjoy have something in it that's bad for you. Whether it be too much sugar or too many added preservatives. Who doesn't get a craving for a midnight snack filled with cookies or cakes, ice cream or pies? We know that these things are not necessarily good for us as we consume them, but we still choose to consume them nonetheless. We live in a FAT AMERICA! But it is only us that can do something about it. "A man in his early 20s who walks more than three miles a day could consume 288 calories, or about 18 teaspoons of added sugar." With that being said, all we really have to stay conscious of is being ACTIVE if we make the decision to continuously consume things that may harm us. You can't eat a whole heap of sweets and drink a ton of soadas AND be a couch potatoe on top of it. I'm scared to look in my refrigerator and look at the labels on things because in the end, in all honesty, I am still going to consume a little of everything that is in my fridge- I just have to be more cautious when doing so.
Growing up as a kid I remember having sugar on everything. We had this blue sugar dispenser on the table and it was always filled to the rim. I would come down in the morning and have cereal for breakfast. It didn’t matter what kind it was but I was always adding sugar to it. I think it’s funny now that we are a more educated people about sugar that we have started to disguise it so it seems like we aren’t getting as much. Remember Super Sugar Crisp cereal? They call it Super Crisp now. I guess they thought that people would buy it more often if they removed the word sugar from it. The name changed but the amount of sugar stayed the same. And let’s be honest. Sugar makes everything taste better. Doesn’t it? I mean, come on. Diet Dr. Pepper taste nothing like regular Dr. Pepper yet the Coca Cola bottling company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to convince us that it does. It’s just a ploy to get people who don’t buy soft drinks because of the sugar content to go out and buy pop. Diet pop. And since they don’t buy sodas to begin with they never know badly it really tastes. It’s the dooping of America. Here’s a suggestion. Leave the sugar content alone and let us enjoy great flavored foods. If the FDA wants us to lose weight, cause most of us need too anyway, educate us on the proper use of exercise. Too many Americans, especially our kids, just flat out don’t know how to exercise. They have way too many things to occupy their time now-a-days. Playstation, wii, cellphones, The Cartoon Network, just to name a few. It’s just as bad for adults too. Facebook, My Space, oh and don’t forget we have careers. We just need to exercise more. Get out of the house. Go play as my mother used to say. And we did go and play. Seems like after all these years she may have just been right after all.
Im not surprised the least bit at our sugar intake, everything has sugar in it! You look at the back of any nutrition label and read the ingredients listed, chances are your going to see high fructose corn syrup. Its in everything we enjoy basically. You can throw out all your sodas, soft drinks, capri suns, snapples..almost anything you could think of.
This article made a neccessary point at the end when stating that "If people drink their daily calorie needs in soft drinks, they will be maintaining their weight, but won't be getting any nutrients", that quote right there should force people to get out an be productive..whats the point of chugging an energy drink if your not going use it, at least for a little. Studies have shown that all you techincally need is 7 strong minutes of cardio each day to stay healthy. This obviously means pushing yourself but if you chug a redbull before hand it proably wont be that hard.
In high school, i was pretty bad with soda, when i say bad i mean buying a couple liters of mountain dew at the beginning of the day and at the end they would be gone. The results of doing that are devasting, which is way i eliminated soda from my life all together, well sometimes the soda bug bites me but for the most part im cured.
Just from eliminating soda from my life, i lost around 15-20 pounds in the process. Now this did come with a change of eating habits all together but i could easily notice the results. Its unfortunate really that something sooooo good as mountain dew could be so detrimental to your health.
I guess the key to the article was pointing out two main things, moderation of your sugar intake, and exercise. Sounds easy, but its not! Good article, could be a eye opener for some.
My first thought when reading this article is why has it taken so long for the American Heart Association to release this information. The American public has been pressured into having a healthier diet but it has been a struggle. Some times things just have to click in a person's head before they realize what needs to be done. Providing more detailed information to the public is much better than the scares of diabetes, heart attacks and death. Those tactics hit you hard at first but slowly fade until it comes full circle.
Before I read this article I was unaware of the total amount added sugar intake that was reccommended by the AHA. I usually tried to monitor my sugar intake based on how many snacks and sodas I had per day. There is nothing scientific about my process. It is more so if nothing is going wrong then I must be doing something right.
As for sodas and other sugary beverages I try to avoid them as much as possible. I may enjoy a soda every so often when I visit a fast food restaurant. I do not buy sodas at the grocery store or at sit down restaurants. At home I tend to drink Ocean Spray, apple and orange juice and water. There was a period of time when I did drink energy drinks but that has subsided.
The idea of eliminating junk food completely is something that I have trouble seeing myself doing. I have gotten a lot better at cutting down how many snacks I eat. Snacks are something that I believe you need on a daily basis but it depends on what snack it is and how much of it you eat.
This article somewhat reinforces the belief system I already use when it comes to sugar and my health. It also opens me up to things I was unaware of previously.
This is a great article to prove Americans consume way too much sugar everyday.
If only the sugar amount was posted on the front of packages, just like "low fat" and "fat free" are. Not many people take the time to look at all the ingredients on the back of a package when they are food shopping.
I think that it is hard to keep track of everything I eat in one day and all of its nutrients.
I try to look at the fat content and fiber. I am sure I am not the only person that will find it difficult to keep track of their sugar intake along with everything else.
If people take it one day at a time and write down their sugar intake, even just for a few weeks, they will have a much better idea on how much sugar they consume regularly. People will be able to cut back on sugar if they are aware.
This will help with peoples weight and more imporantly their health.
This article really opened my eyes to how much Americans overconsume sugar on a daily basis. According to the American Heart Association, Americans are eating 22 teaspoons a day, while men should be consuming no more than 9 teaspoons daily, and women no more than 6. This is not helping our notorious status as the fattest country in the world.
The biggest problem with trying to cut way back on our sugar intake is that our culture allows, and usually even encourages, us to consume soft drinks and sweets. How many of us cannot get our day started without a red bull? Or how many of us cannot go see a movie in the theater without a bag of candy and a gigantic soda?
Our culture is constantly advertising products to the public that are packed with sugar. America is covered with Coke and Pepsi ads, and everyone knows the popular slogan, "Red Bull, it gives you wings!" Soft drinks are the number one source of added sugar in America, and that's because billions of dollars are spent by these companies to get us to drink their products.
Also, Americans become addicted to having sugar in their daily diet as a result of growing up with sweets always being a reward. Little kids are raised indulging in sugar-packed foods and drinks, having dessert after every meal as a reward for eating all of the vegetables. Children associate sweets and soda with pleasure, and these habits commonly follow into their adult life.
Currently, men are consuming more than twice their recommended amount of daily sugar intake, and women are consuming more than three times their recommended amount of sugar. If we don't make any drastic changes to this statistic, our country will continue to be known as the fattest in the world, and we will also be plagued with diabetes as well as tooth decay. Simply attempting to change our diets will not be enough to fix our sugar addiction. We will have to change the source of the problem, the American culture.
This article was very intresting. It doesnt surprise that the American people over use sugar. Especially how much soda, energy drinks, coffee, and sweet tea we drink. Also we tend to have bad eating habits. Myself included. I tend to eat to much fast food. After watching the movie Supersize Me I told myself I would never eat fastfood again. That never happened.
The article is true and alarming. All our lives we have been told that yogurt, grain cereal, and low fat milk are good for us, but hey, look how much sugar are in those items. Apples, grapes, banannas -- same misconception. What do we do and how do we regulate the intake of so much sugar in our diets? Personally, I think the answer lies with our food industry. If the makers of most food products would either cut back on so much added sugars and sweeteners, would we miss it? How about making a law that states a warning must be on the front of the food item, like cigarettes? Can you see it now, "American Heart Association Warning: Eating this product may cause tooth decay, obesity, high blood pressure, added calories, and even death". Granted, that may be taking it a little far, but the reality is that if we, the consumer, start cutting back on candy, soda's, energy drinks, and other high sugar and fructose substanses, we only increase our chances of living a healthier lifestyle. I believe the early settlers (not-withstanding the high salt intake inssue they had) had it right when the meals consisted of a protein, bread, and water in between long days of working on a farm and getting the recommended exercise we needed to survive. Oh, the glory days!!!!!!
This article honestly was no surprise at all to me. Just take one look around a crowded room and nearly half of the people are overweight.
In our high stress, over worked, under paid society people strive for something to keep them going. Some choose exercise and a proper amount of protein in their diet, but for most of us it’s simply easier to grab a Coke and go. And then 2 hours later you begin to come down off your sugar high and grab another, then another, and so on.
Sugar, just like caffeine, is an endless cycle of dependency. Unfortunately for most of us it’s one that we will never beat. I don’t see the American public standing up and saying no to sugar anytime soon. But, I believe it’s important for us to all be informed on the negative affects it causes.
over the years, many Americans do not look at the ingredients on the can or soda bottles. these drinks contains a high level of sugar and some articficial sweetening liquid that effects us slowly. it was very important to exercise, after a large consumption of sugar. i think we must educated the public on the importance of drinking water.
There are so many things to look at when trying to take care of your body, fiber, fat, saturated fat, carbs, and the list goes on. So I can see how sugar is usually over looked, most of the time if people are health consious they focus on the fat and saturated fats. I think Americans as a whole need to eat less processed food and meats and more fruits and vegatables. They are better for your body in many different ways.
Soda can definately be an issue. It is so hard to say no when it is there. But there are so many other options, crystal light is a good one. It is tasty and mostly all water.
I think there needs to be more articles out there about sugar to get the word out about how important it is in everyones daily diet.
I found the article to be very interesting. It doesn’t surprise me that American’s over consume sugar, especially when you take into consideration the rise in popularity of energy drinks, which like sodas are known for their high amounts of sugar. Soft drinks were mentioned often, and I used to be a big Coca-Cola drinker for quite some time, until recently for the past year and a half I’ve stayed away from soft drinks mainly because I don’t really need the added sugar, and would prefer a less sugary drink such as Gatorade or water. Soda will probably be a tough food item for many to drop simply because of its relative cheap cost and availability, add in the fact that it is addictive and it will be that much harder to cut back or eliminate the habit.
ReplyDeleteSugar is the cause of many different diseases (if people eat too much) such as: diabetes, heart diseases, and teeth decay.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article “cutting back on sugar likely won’t be easy for many people,” said Lona Sandon, a dietitian at Dallas’ University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.” I agree because in the U.S. many people eat too much candy when they are just toddlers. In addition, the U.S. publics are overwhelmed with soda commercials that popularize the drink to teenagers as source of energy.
During the Child’s doctor visits the nurse gives them some lollipop or other kind of candy. Also, in the Day Care when the kids answer a question correctly from the teacher they might be reward it such as candy.
The children seem like they addicted to candy when they are in the young age. It is very hard for them to refuse the candy.
I think the best way is “Cut Way, Way Back on Sugar…” People should start from the beginning. It means “Don’t give children candy or some things very sweet”. Give them different kind of fruits and vegetables.
Sugar is a health culprit that many Americans don't realize effects their diets. The article names these items to mainly include sodas,candy,and baked goods.
ReplyDeleteTo curb America's appetite for sweets there are two options.
1.)An industry change. Manufacturers can impose in-house changes to modify and regulate the amount and types of sugar used in their products. They can also list the breakdown of the sugar content between natural occuring sugars and added sweetners. This proposed label should also include layman terms of the content and how it is factored in to the recommended diet. For example: This product contains 39 grams of added sugar which equals almost 8 teaspoons or 1.5x the recommended amount of sugar.
2.)Individual Accountability. Personal responsibility is a value that American society promotes. Individually we should take into account our added sugar intake. We should incorporate changes into our diet and make conscious decisions about our eating choices. As adults we can skip desserts and limit sweetened beverages. Parents can choose not to introduce their children to highly sweetened items such as candy, soda, certain juices and beverages, and snacks. This is a method I utilize for my toddler, with the reasoning he won't miss what he doesn't know. This course of action is similarly used in households that choose to be vegetarian or vegan.
The possibility of a social consciousness towards added sugars is possible, but it is a change of mind that can only start at home.
"Take a good hard look at your diet," said Johnson professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington. "Figure out where the sources of added sugars are and think about how to cut back on that."
ReplyDeleteWhat am I consuming each day? What is in my kitchen? As I go through the food in my refrigerator, on my counter and in my cabinets, I note each item with sugar and just how much sugar it has in it. Read carefully to see how fast this poison sneaks up on you.
A typical Saturday breakfast would include two small cinnamon rolls with 22 grams of sugar and two cups of cranberry juice consists of 68 grams of sugar. Just for breakfast, the sugar intake is 90 grams.
Mid day is here and I grab two small chocolate chip cookies. That's 12 grams of sugar.
Dinner's done, everything is cleaned up and I'm ready to relax. A nice bowl of ice cream with hot fudge sounds yummy… Wake up call!!! One bowl of ice cream with two dabs of hot fudge is a whooping 114 grams of sugar- My late night "snack".
I know this food is sweet, but I don't realize just how sweet it is until I actually hold myself accountable and tally it all up. At the end of the day, I’ve taken in 216 grams of sugar opposed to six grams. I will think twice next time I order extra hot fudge!!
Who doesn’t love sweets? Whether it’s indulging a piece of candy, drinking a bottle of soda or starting your day with a cup of coffee, which has at least one teaspoon of sugar. We all have our sweet tooth.
ReplyDeleteFinding food that has no sugar at all is almost impossible. We all like to eat food that has flavor and tastes good in our mouth.
If you take a look at the ingredients of everything we eat, it has some type of amount of sugar in it. So it is hard to only consume 6 teaspoons of sugar a day personally.
I am sure there are so many ways to eat less sugar. Like Professor Johnson a nutritionist at the University of Vermont says “Figure out where the sources of added sugars are and think about how to cut back on that.” For example I make smoothies every morning with a banana and watermelon. I use to add a teaspoon of sugar but recently stopped because by not adding that much sugar it tastes better with just its natural fruit sugars. All you have to do is make one little changes at a time. And before you know it you can cut back on a lot.
Be smart about what you eat and you will feel great. Your body is your temple so take it with care.
The article is accurate in my opinion; the difficulty related to sugar consumption is that many of us grew up consuming large amounts of it. My mom added sugar to everything; the obvious foods like cake and pies, and she also added it to vegetables to improve the taste. Our dinner drink, and thirst quencher, kool aid, contained tons of sugar, and we would occasionally add sugar to water. In my community, sugar was essential to all meals.
ReplyDeleteAlthough sugar was a major component in my diet, I believe if it is consumed in large quantities it could be detrimental to one’s health. As a kid, my metabolism was fast, and the excess sugar was quickly used for energy, but as an adult with a slower metabolism the sugar excess causes weight gain.
Another reason I chose to cut back on sugar consumption is because I have diabetic family members. Observing the administration of insulin shots convinces me to reduce my sugar consumption.
Through my personal experience, I’ve discovered that processed sugar consumption causes my weight to increase, but the sugars that exist in fruit have no such affect. With that observation, I have decided to eat plenty of fruit, drink diet soda, and use splenda when I need a sweetener.
The article stated “cutting back on sugar likely won’t be easy for many people”, and that is true. I think providing information on the adverse health effects is a good start for discouraging consumption.
I often wondered why my 5 year old son wouldn’t eat anything unless it was drowning in ketchup. Then, I looked at the label; one tablespoon of ketchup is equal to one packet of sugar (15 calories, 4g sugar).
ReplyDeleteI was startled when I read the bottle of my fat-free Catalina salad dressing – it had about the same amount of sugar in it as my son’s ketchup. Pulling out every bottle in the fridge, it seems that everything had similar sugar content; yogurt, soy milk, barbeque sauce, salad dressings, and marinades.
Sugar is in everything! It’s in the bread basket. It’s on the wine rack. It’s hiding in the cabinets inside of cereal boxes and granola bars – even foods that are advertised as being healthy, like dried fruits, and protein shakes, and trail mix – sugar is there.
And we haven’t even gotten to desserts.
So if my recommended allowance of sugar is a measly six teaspoons, I would have fulfilled that if I drank that Grande Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks this morning. And that’s how a lot of us are getting our day started.
How do we scale back? For starters, I think we need to get consumers on a low sugar craze – just like we did with the flashy FAT FREE and LOW CARB alerts on food packages. People go nuts over trying to be healthy – look how en vogue organic produce and free trade coffee is.
Sure, fads burn out and aren’t the best way to go about changing people’s lifestyles, but maybe laying off the sugar for a while would adjust our taste buds to not crave deceptively sweet things.
But first, I have to convince my son that chicken nuggets taste just fine without all that ketchup.
In some way or another, most of the foods that Americans enjoy have something in it that's bad for you. Whether it be too much sugar or too many added preservatives.
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't get a craving for a midnight snack filled with cookies or cakes, ice cream or pies? We know that these things are not necessarily good for us as we consume them, but we still choose to consume them nonetheless.
We live in a FAT AMERICA! But it is only us that can do something about it.
"A man in his early 20s who walks more than three miles a day could consume 288 calories, or about 18 teaspoons of added sugar." With that being said, all we really have to stay conscious of is being ACTIVE if we make the decision to continuously consume things that may harm us. You can't eat a whole heap of sweets and drink a ton of soadas AND be a couch potatoe on top of it.
I'm scared to look in my refrigerator and look at the labels on things because in the end, in all honesty, I am still going to consume a little of everything that is in my fridge- I just have to be more cautious when doing so.
Growing up as a kid I remember having sugar on everything. We had this blue sugar dispenser on the table and it was always filled to the rim. I would come down in the morning and have cereal for breakfast. It didn’t matter what kind it was but I was always adding sugar to it.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s funny now that we are a more educated people about sugar that we have started to disguise it so it seems like we aren’t getting as much. Remember Super Sugar Crisp cereal? They call it Super Crisp now. I guess they thought that people would buy it more often if they removed the word sugar from it. The name changed but the amount of sugar stayed the same.
And let’s be honest. Sugar makes everything taste better. Doesn’t it? I mean, come on. Diet Dr. Pepper taste nothing like regular Dr. Pepper yet the Coca Cola bottling company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to convince us that it does. It’s just a ploy to get people who don’t buy soft drinks because of the sugar content to go out and buy pop. Diet pop. And since they don’t buy sodas to begin with they never know badly it really tastes. It’s the dooping of America.
Here’s a suggestion. Leave the sugar content alone and let us enjoy great flavored foods. If the FDA wants us to lose weight, cause most of us need too anyway, educate us on the proper use of exercise. Too many Americans, especially our kids, just flat out don’t know how to exercise. They have way too many things to occupy their time now-a-days. Playstation, wii, cellphones, The Cartoon Network, just to name a few. It’s just as bad for adults too. Facebook, My Space, oh and don’t forget we have careers.
We just need to exercise more. Get out of the house. Go play as my mother used to say. And we did go and play. Seems like after all these years she may have just been right after all.
Im not surprised the least bit at our sugar intake, everything has sugar in it! You look at the back of any nutrition label and read the ingredients listed, chances are your going to see high fructose corn syrup. Its in everything we enjoy basically. You can throw out all your sodas, soft drinks, capri suns, snapples..almost anything you could think of.
ReplyDeleteThis article made a neccessary point at the end when stating that "If people drink their daily calorie needs in soft drinks, they will be maintaining their weight, but won't be getting any nutrients", that quote right there should force people to get out an be productive..whats the point of chugging an energy drink if your not going use it, at least for a little. Studies have shown that all you techincally need is 7 strong minutes of cardio each day to stay healthy. This obviously means pushing yourself but if you chug a redbull before hand it proably wont be that hard.
In high school, i was pretty bad with soda, when i say bad i mean buying a couple liters of mountain dew at the beginning of the day and at the end they would be gone. The results of doing that are devasting, which is way i eliminated soda from my life all together, well sometimes the soda bug bites me but for the most part im cured.
Just from eliminating soda from my life, i lost around 15-20 pounds in the process. Now this did come with a change of eating habits all together but i could easily notice the results. Its unfortunate really that something sooooo good as mountain dew could be so detrimental to your health.
I guess the key to the article was pointing out two main things, moderation of your sugar intake, and exercise. Sounds easy, but its not! Good article, could be a eye opener for some.
My first thought when reading this article is why has it taken so long for the American Heart Association to release this information. The American public has been pressured into having a healthier diet but it has been a struggle. Some times things just have to click in a person's head before they realize what needs to be done. Providing more detailed information to the public is much better than the scares of diabetes, heart attacks and death. Those tactics hit you hard at first but slowly fade until it comes full circle.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read this article I was unaware of the total amount added sugar intake that was reccommended by the AHA. I usually tried to monitor my sugar intake based on how many snacks and sodas I had per day. There is nothing scientific about my process. It is more so if nothing is going wrong then I must be doing something right.
As for sodas and other sugary beverages I try to avoid them as much as possible. I may enjoy a soda every so often when I visit a fast food restaurant. I do not buy sodas at the grocery store or at sit down restaurants. At home I tend to drink Ocean Spray, apple and orange juice and water. There was a period of time when I did drink energy drinks but that has subsided.
The idea of eliminating junk food completely is something that I have trouble seeing myself doing. I have gotten a lot better at cutting down how many snacks I eat. Snacks are something that I believe you need on a daily basis but it depends on what snack it is and how much of it you eat.
This article somewhat reinforces the belief system I already use when it comes to sugar and my health. It also opens me up to things I was unaware of previously.
This is a great article to prove Americans consume way too much sugar everyday.
ReplyDeleteIf only the sugar amount was posted on the front of packages, just like "low fat" and "fat free" are. Not many people take the time to look at all the ingredients on the back of a package when they are food shopping.
I think that it is hard to keep track of everything I eat in one day and all of its nutrients.
I try to look at the fat content and fiber. I am sure I am not the only person that will find it difficult to keep track of their sugar intake along with everything else.
If people take it one day at a time and write down their sugar intake, even just for a few weeks, they will have a much better idea on how much sugar they consume regularly. People will be able to cut back on sugar if they are aware.
This will help with peoples weight and more imporantly their health.
This article really opened my eyes to how much Americans overconsume sugar on a daily basis. According to the American Heart Association, Americans are eating 22 teaspoons a day, while men should be consuming no more than 9 teaspoons daily, and women no more than 6. This is not helping our notorious status as the fattest country in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with trying to cut way back on our sugar intake is that our culture allows, and usually even encourages, us to consume soft drinks and sweets. How many of us cannot get our day started without a red bull? Or how many of us cannot go see a movie in the theater without a bag of candy and a gigantic soda?
Our culture is constantly advertising products to the public that are packed with sugar. America is covered with Coke and Pepsi ads, and everyone knows the popular slogan, "Red Bull, it gives you wings!" Soft drinks are the number one source of added sugar in America, and that's because billions of dollars are spent by these companies to get us to drink their products.
Also, Americans become addicted to having sugar in their daily diet as a result of growing up with sweets always being a reward. Little kids are raised indulging in sugar-packed foods and drinks, having dessert after every meal as a reward for eating all of the vegetables. Children associate sweets and soda with pleasure, and these habits commonly follow into their adult life.
Currently, men are consuming more than twice their recommended amount of daily sugar intake, and women are consuming more than three times their recommended amount of sugar. If we don't make any drastic changes to this statistic, our country will continue to be known as the fattest in the world, and we will also be plagued with diabetes as well as tooth decay. Simply attempting to change our diets will not be enough to fix our sugar addiction. We will have to change the source of the problem, the American culture.
This article was very intresting. It doesnt surprise that the American people over use sugar. Especially how much soda, energy drinks, coffee, and sweet tea we drink. Also we tend to have bad eating habits. Myself included. I tend to eat to much fast food. After watching the movie Supersize Me I told myself I would never eat fastfood again. That never happened.
ReplyDeleteThe article is true and alarming. All our lives we have been told that yogurt, grain cereal, and low fat milk are good for us, but hey, look how much sugar are in those items. Apples, grapes, banannas -- same misconception.
ReplyDeleteWhat do we do and how do we regulate the intake of so much sugar in our diets? Personally, I think the answer lies with our food industry. If the makers of most food products would either cut back on so much added sugars and sweeteners, would we miss it?
How about making a law that states a warning must be on the front of the food item, like cigarettes? Can you see it now, "American Heart Association Warning: Eating this product may cause tooth decay, obesity, high blood pressure, added calories, and even death".
Granted, that may be taking it a little far, but the reality is that if we, the consumer, start cutting back on candy, soda's, energy drinks, and other high sugar and fructose substanses, we only increase our chances of living a healthier lifestyle. I believe the early settlers (not-withstanding the high salt intake inssue they had) had it right when the meals consisted of a protein, bread, and water in between long days of working on a farm and getting the recommended exercise we needed to survive. Oh, the glory days!!!!!!
This article honestly was no surprise at all to me. Just take one look around a crowded room and nearly half of the people are overweight.
ReplyDeleteIn our high stress, over worked, under paid society people strive for something to keep them going. Some choose exercise and a proper amount of protein in their diet, but for most of us it’s simply easier to grab a Coke and go. And then 2 hours later you begin to come down off your sugar high and grab another, then another, and so on.
Sugar, just like caffeine, is an endless cycle of dependency. Unfortunately for most of us it’s one that we will never beat. I don’t see the American public standing up and saying no to sugar anytime soon. But, I believe it’s important for us to all be informed on the negative affects it causes.
over the years, many Americans do not look at the ingredients on the can or soda bottles. these drinks contains a high level of sugar and some articficial sweetening liquid that effects us slowly. it was very important to exercise, after a large consumption of sugar. i think we must educated the public on the importance of drinking water.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things to look at when trying to take care of your body, fiber, fat, saturated fat, carbs, and the list goes on. So I can see how sugar is usually over looked, most of the time if people are health consious they focus on the fat and saturated fats. I think Americans as a whole need to eat less processed food and meats and more fruits and vegatables. They are better for your body in many different ways.
ReplyDeleteSoda can definately be an issue. It is so hard to say no when it is there. But there are so many other options, crystal light is a good one. It is tasty and mostly all water.
I think there needs to be more articles out there about sugar to get the word out about how important it is in everyones daily diet.