!44: Cheep Beechnut Baby Foods: 2011

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Processed Sugar, Do You Know How Much You Eat?

!±8± Processed Sugar, Do You Know How Much You Eat?

Sugar on the nutrition labels of products is measured in GRAMS. Do you know how many grams of sugar are in a teaspoon? There are 4.2 grams of sugar per teaspoon. Do you know how many teaspoons of sugar are in a cup? There are 47.9860695 teaspoons of sugar in a cup or approximately 200 GRAMS. And there are 453.6 GRAMS of SUGAR per POUND. To get a sense of how much process sugared is contained in our every day products, I went to a grocery store one afternoon with my spreadsheets I created. My spreadsheets track a product's brand name, the product type, serving size, calories per serving, sugar content, sugar position on the label, fat content, protein content, salt content, price per container. Some of the foods I looked at were children's cereals, yogurt, ice cream, ketchup, cookies, crackers, soda, spaghetti sauce and baby food. I selected a large grocery store and shopped as I collected my data so no one would question what I was doing. I didn't want to explain how I am hooked on this processed sugar theory I have believing processed sugar causes a great majority of our health issues. I looked at three different brands or more of similar products so I won't be accused of being biased.

I read an article that stated that we eat our weight in sugar every year plus 20 pounds and that back a few decades ago our sugar consumption was only 20 pounds per year. Could this be true? I started doing the math. I randomly selected 150 pounds. So 150 pounds times 453.6 grams divided by 365 days per year equal 186.41 grams of sugar per day. Is it feasible to eat this much sugar in a day? Here is what I found:

1. Children's cereal on average equals 12 grams of sugar with an approximate serving size of ¾ Cup, cereal brands and types, Post' Golden Crisp, Kellogg's Apple Jacks, General Mills' Lucky Charms.

2. Raisin Bran has 19 grams of sugar, 1 Cup serving.

3. Soda had 40 grams of sugar, 12 ounce can, soda brands, Pepsi, Coke, RC.

4. Kellogg's Pop-Tarts have 16 grams of sugar per one pastry.

5. Plain nonfat Yogurt has approximately 15 grams of sugar per one cup serving, yogurt brands and types were Mountain High Plain Fat Free, Horizon Original Organic/Nonfat and The Greek Gods Nonfat Plain

6. Strawberry yogurt has approximately 28 grams of sugar, brands and types were Danon Blended Strawberry, Yoplait Strawberry Original 99% Fat Free, VOSKOS Greek Style Strawberry, serving size ranged from 6 ounces to one cup.

7. Cookies have 10.67 grams of sugar; brands and type were Nabisco Chips Ahoa, Mother's Chocolate Chip and Pepperidge Farms Soft Baked Chocolate Chunk. Serving size ranged from 1 - 2 cookies.

8. Spaghetti sauces have approximately 7 grams of sugar per ½ cup serving. Brands and types were Prego Traditional, Ragu Traditional and Classico Tomato and Basil.

9. Crackers, 7 crackers have 0-4 grams of sugar for wheat thins, Nabisco Triscuit had 0 grams. Brands and types, Nabisco Triscuit, Nabisco Wheat Thins and Ralph's Wheat Crisps.

10. Heinz Ketchup has 4 grams of sugar per Tablespoon.

11. Vanilla Ice Cream has 19 grams of sugar per ½ cup serving. Brands and types were Breyer's Vanilla, Ben & Jerry's Vanilla and Haggen Daz's Vanilla Bean.

12. Chocolate Ice Cream has 20.67 grams of sugar. Breyer's had 16 grams, Ben & Jerry's had 27 grams and Haggan Daz had 19 grams, all chocolate.

13. Surprisingly baby food had natural sugars derived from the vegetables or fruit contained in the products. Each product seemed to be filled with other additives that I couldn't pronounce with the exception of one brand that really stood out for me. I looked at Gerber, Beech Nut and Earth's Best. Could Earth's Best really be best? It stood out as the front runner for me that was for sure. It contains only organic fruit, vegetables, meat or rice. It did not have other added ingredients and it was the only baby food Kosher certified.

14. Toothpaste contains Saccharin, artificial processed sugar. Brands looked at were Crest, Colgate and Aqua Fresh.

Now looking at all these various foods, I took a few products that seemed logical and ones that I could consume in a day and did some calculations. Remember 186 grams of sugar a day equals 150 pounds per year.

A Typical Sugar Day

SUGAR
Bowl of cereal 2 cups (who can eat just one cup) 24 grams
2 Cokes 78 grams
2 tsp of sugar in a cup of coffee X 2 cups 8 grams
3 cookies x 2 (again, once you start you have to have more) 22 grams
1 yogurt Yoplait Strawberry 99% Fat Free
(you thought it was healthy) 27 grams
1 Frosted Strawberry Pop Tart 21 grams

TOTAL SUGAR GRAMS IN ONE DAY 180 grams

TOTAL SUGAR GRAMS PER YEAR

180 grams X 365 days per year = 65,700 grams

Convert Grams to Ounces

65,700 X.035273962 = 2,317.50 ounces

Convert Ounces to Pounds

2,317.50 ÷ 16 ounces to a pound = 144.84 pounds per year

It is almost at the 150 pound mark and that is not adding any candy bars or ice cream. Is sugar causing our health issues? It certainly seems like there could be a direct correlation with the rise of diabetes and other diseases. One last item to mention from another article I read that was written by someone in the UK, I found the information shocking and horrifying, but maybe it is true. They stated that the chemical formula for sugar and cocaine are almost identical with the exception of one atom of Nitrogen. Is sugar a drug? If someone is a chemist, please let me know if this is true. THANK YOU.

Processed Sugar, Do You Know How Much You Eat?

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