What's Your Sugar I.Q.?
Americans have a sweet tooth - to the tune of 22 extra teaspoons a day! That's a whopping 350 extra calories daily, and 2-3 times the recommended healthy intake (even health guidelines allow some daily indulgence of 100-150 calories!). We're not talking about "nature's" sugars - like in fruits and veggies - but added sugars of all kinds (think honey, brown sugar, molasses - not just white table sugar) to dozens of different foods.
That's the topic of my Today Show segment (check back later for the video and game questions and answers). I'm playing a nutrition game with Hoda Kotb to test her "Sugar IQ". Come play along, and see how you do!!
How does your "sweet tooth" compare to the national findings?
QUESTION 2: How much weight would you gain in a year, chowing down this much extra sugar every day? Is it 10, 20, or 30 pounds?
QUESTION 3: Which of these has more sugar - a chocolate bar or licorice??
QUESTION 4: Does this glass of grape juice have MORE than 6 teaspoons of sugar, or LESS than 6 teaspoons of sugar?
QUESTION 5: What percent of these cereals are sugar (by weight of ingredients)? Is it 20%, 35%, or 50%?
QUESTION 6: How many teaspoons of sugar would you cut out if you replaced these 2 chocolate chip cookies with a bowl of microwaved popcorn? Is it 8, 14, or 18 teaspoons?
QUESTION 7: How many teaspoons of sugar do you save if you used 2 tablespoons of no-sugar added preserves, instead of regular preserves? Is it 2, 4, or 6??
QUESTION 8: Does this milkshake have 20, 25, or 30 teaspoons of sugar?
CONTINUE READING FOR THE ANSWERS
ANSWER 1: 350 calories a day
ANSWER 2: 30 pounds
ANSWER 3: Chocolate Bar (6 teaspoons of sugar - versus the licorice has 4 teaspoons)
ANSWER 4: MORE. It has 10 teaspoons of sugar
ANSWER 5: These are 50% sugar.
ANSWER 6: 18 teaspoons of sugar, (and save 300 calories!!)
ANSWER 7: 6 teaspoons of sugar saved (nearly 100 calories - 96)
ANSWER 8: it has 25 teaspoons of sugar - a whopping 400 calories worth!!
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In today's increasing awareness of the value of natural foods rather than chemical and processed foods, it seems wrong to advise people to eat sugar free to lower their sugar intake. Rather than fixing the problem, this just adds a whole new set of problems (mainly cancer) when people eat the chemical sugar substitutes. Why not suggest naturally sweet foods like fruit or at least more natural sugars like honey.