As we all know, sugar has no nutritional value.  It makes food taste good, who can't deny that?  I know I can't.  I'm a diabetic, and I still use sugar in my coffee. Granted, I make myself feel better by saying "I use raw sugar" - but let's face facts - it's sugar - 10g of carb for a teaspoon of sugar!  Many people who eat sugar laiden food are not eating healthy food (are Twinkies healthy - they taste so good?) and of course there are the calories that are involved in high sugar. Which results in high calories and if we don't burn those off - well - you know where it ends up (I'm looking down at my belly here as I type this out - yikes).

I came across a Good Morning America episode today - that was informing the viewers about sugar consumption in the American population (though I think this applies all over).  Did you know that the average person a day consumes .... 21 teaspoons of sugar a day?  The American Heart Association (AHA) is recommending that we reduce that amount of sugar consumption by a third - to only 7 ½ teaspoons a day. 

Also, what was amazing - was when the doctor being interviewed (Doctor Johnson)  said that a single can of pop drink contains 10 to 12 teaspoons of sugar!  Ouch!  I mean I know they are high in sugar - who hasn't consumed a Coke when they need to fix a hypo (I have) - but there is that much sugar in just a can of pop floors me.   He continued to point out that boys (do girls not consume as much I wonder?) from the ages of 14-18 consume on average 35 teaspoons of sugar a day.

Reducing the amount of sugar we consume will of course help reduce our chances of having heart attacks, strokes and of course diabetes.  They are all related in many ways to our love of sugar in our diets.

I know that my parents many years ago decided to cut out excess sugar from their diets.  I'm not sure if it was because of my being a diabetic - but they have managed to wean themselves off of it in their tea and coffee and they also don't eat many sweet things.  Being of British descent - where we are known for bad  teeth (though have been told that's due to the bad dentistry at the time) - that's quite something else.  They are both in excellent health and they are in the 70's - so perhaps cutting out sugar has helped them - along with healthy eating.  I am hoping I can say the same thing when I reach their age - as I'm sure we all feel the same way.

To view the video - as well as read up abit more about our consumption of sugar - go to this link.