Americans eat way too much sugar — here’s where it comes from

[marmar]

(MarketWatch) The new federal dietary guidelines that came out last week put a number on how much sugar we’re supposed to consume, and it’s even less than you might think.

The guidelines, which the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture release every five years, put an emphasis on healthy food “patterns” that include nutritious options and state that no more than 10% of the calories in one’s diet should come from added sugar. To put that number into perspective, for the 2,000-calorie recommended diet, that’s about 10 to 12 teaspoons, or about 40 to 48 grams of sugar.

And there are 39 grams of sugar in one 12-ounce can of regular Coke.

“If you look at the label on your yogurt and it has upwards of 25 grams of sugar, just at breakfast you’re getting half of your daily sugar allotment,” said Despina Hyde, a registered dietitian and diabetes educator in the weight management center at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.

In previous sets of guidelines, the HHS and USDA recommended choosing and preparing foods with low amounts of added sugars, but they did not specify the amount of calories in the diet that should come from sugar. .................(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-eat-way-too-much-sugar-heres-where-it-comes-from-2016-01-08?link=MW_home_latest_news

[HereSince1628]

1. Americans consume way too many glucose spiking carborhydrates

which obviously includes high fructose corn syrup that come from soft drinks.

But, the overarching problem for the American diet is that sort of carbohydrate is seemingly LOW COST which means in an ever stressed economic environment choices are made that yield consumption of poor quality because high quality alternatives are out of sight.

$6 a pound quinoa is impossible as a staple, which is why 59 cent per pound potatoes are the staple, followed by wheat flour products.

[Gregorian]

2. And the price we pay is sky high, both in dollars and health.

It's astounding how we've been sold ill health in the name of profits.

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. Sweet potatoes and brown rice are cheap.

Beans are super good for you and they are cheap. Split peas ate cheap and don't take long to cook.

Bananas are cheap.

There's some good cheap stuff put there. You just have to know which ones to buy.

Fresh fruit is really expensive. Frozen veggies aren't too bad.