Sugar is hard to avoid because it's so common. There are the obvious sources, such as candies, cakes, and biscuits. The less apparent sources of sugar are vitamins, ketchup, and yoghurt. These items are all made with what is known as added sugar.
Additive sugar, as its name suggests, is a kind of carbohydrate that is added to food or drink to enhance its sweetness. It is customary in restaurants, home kitchens, food processing facilities, and even at the dinner table to add more sugar. Naturally occurring or artificially produced sources of added sugar include sucrose, dextrose, syrups, honey, table sugar, and sugar from fruit or vegetable juices.
The issue is that there is little to no nutritional value to these sugar sources. They are devoid of fibre, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and most definitely vitamins and minerals. However, there are four calories per gramme of added sugar.
In actuality, added sugar accounts for 270 calories consumed daily by the average American. Just removing one pound of extra sugar from your diet could result in a two-week weight loss. Not to mention, you could lower your chance of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Seems really simple, doesn't it? It really is. However, you can use the following advice as a guide if you need assistance finding your way to sweet success. The easiest ways to cut added sugar out of your diet are the ones listed above. The American Heart Association suggests keeping added sugar intake to less than 6% of total calories per day as an aim.
