Eating For Health

Are you drinking one or more sugar sweetened beverages every day?   Some of the students in my class drink sweet tea which is common in the South.   Other common sugar sweetened beverages besides soda and sweet tea include:   Caramel Latte’s, sports drinks, fruit drinks (not real juice), or other beverages loaded with added sugar.   One student drank Gold Peak Sweet Tea and noted they added 347 calories to their day.   This would be 347 calories of added sugar and empty calories.   It is also common for parents to serve even very young children sweet tea or a soda at meals instead of milk.   The meal is then loaded with empty calories instead of the nutrition a glass of real milk provides.   This sweet tea is loaded with added sugar. Why cut back on sodas and other sugar sweetened beverages ? The Dietary Guidelines for 2015-2020 recommends limiting foods and beverages high in added sugars: Added sugars:   Less than 10% of calories per da...

Eating healthy can help you feel better, have energy and reduce your risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.   But some people think they are “eating healthy” by cutting their carbs.    They may choose a low-carb diet to lose weight such as the popular Atkins diet.   Or they choose the low-carb Paleo diet as way to “eat healthier”.   But a recent study indicates that low-carb diets may actually shorten your life span.  To paraphrase one article , cutting carbs may also cut your lifespan. So often you hear people say, “I am watching my carbs.”    Or, “carbs are bad for you”.   I know people who order a cheeseburger, but then take off the bun and only eat the hamburger patty and the cheese because they are cutting their carbs.   Or they order a Subway sandwich and then take off the bread.   But is this a wise thing to do?   Maybe not.   New research indicates you may want to keep the carbs in your ...

Nutrition has certainly been in the news recently.   Some topics that have been making the headlines: Added Sugar – the Dietary Guidelines for 2010 recommend all of us:   Reduce the intake of calories from added sugar.   Note it is ADDED sugar and not sugar.    Why?   Many foods such as fruits have the naturally occurring sugar, fructose.    No one is recommending we cut back on fruits because they contain fructose.   But we are to cut back on sugar that is added to foods like sucrose, high fructose corn syrup. Added Sugar and Fatal Heart Attacks – The headline read:   Sugar is Sweet But Also Deadly , which would attract most peoples’ attention.   Much has been written about the negative health consequences of too much added sugar, but deadly?   Researchers    studied over 30,000 Americans over age 44 and analyzed responses to questions about added sugar in their diets and death.    They found ...