It’s a love – hate relationship. Something that offers so much goodness and destruction at the same time. Sugar supports happy memories such as savoring a delicious ice cream cone outside of a small town ice cream shop, enjoying grandma’s homemade cookies and celebrating a birthday with cake.  When enjoyed and indulged in moderation sugar can support moments of bliss and happiness.

But, I think we’re all well aware that sugar isn’t just left as an indulgence for the majority. It’s become a way of life.  And sugar isn’t only in our candy, donuts and coffee. It’s in our salad dressings on our “light salad” and our ketchup on our burgers. It’s an accumulation of day in and day out sugar that leads to damage to our body and mind.

In my coaching experience I don’t encourage clients to use numbers or counting as a way to calculate nutritional values, except when it comes to sugar – at least at first. When starting to look at sugar in your diet it’s important to know where it is coming from and how much. 

According to Heart.org, the average American consumes 17 teaspoons (68 grams) of Added sugar per day. There are 4 grams in 1 tsp sugar. The American Heart Association recommendation is limit daily sugar consumption as so;

Men: 9 tsp max per day (36g)

Women: 6 tsp max per day (24g)

Children: 2-18: 6 tsp max per day (24g)

To better understand, here are a couple of examples on an average day for an American Man and Woman:

One 12 oz can of Mountain Dew – 11.5 tsp (46g)

Nutri Grain Breakfast bar – 3.25 tsp (13g) 

Pulled pork sandwich with 3 tbsp BBQ sauce – 6.375 tsp (25.5g)

Stir Fry with 3 tbsp sweet n sour sauce – 4.5 tsp (18g)

Daily total sugar consumption: 25.6 tsp (102.5g) 

(almost 3x recommended men’s daily amount)

One cup vanilla yogurt with granola – yogurt 5 tsp (20g) granola 2.5 tsp (10g)

One cup coffee with 1 tbsp creamer – 1 tsp (5g)

Salad with 3 tbsp french dressing and dried cranberries – 

dressing 2 tsp (8g) cranberries 3.6 tsp (14.5g)

Chicken and potatoes with 2 tbsp ketchup – 2 tsp (8g)

Daily total sugar consumption: 16 tsp (64g) 

(almost 3x recommended daily amount for women)

Getting started – Simple swaps

• Start counting your daily sugar consumption as a baseline

• Swap vanilla yogurt for plain. Add in fresh fruit. Cut the granola or make your own.
• Use Less condiments. Replace with homemade dressings, mayo or use grass-fed butter and herbs and spices for flavor
• Cut soda all together. Do not replace it with sugar free.

Put sugar in its place and embrace the sweetness it can add in the right amounts and ways.

For questions or interest in coaching through a new relationship with sugar, contact Anna Simon – Happianna1@gmail.com

DELICIOUS low sugar Homemade Salad Dressing:

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 tbsp balsamic or apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp yellow or dijon mustard

1 tbsp honey or pure maple syrup

Squeeze of ¼ lemon

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp sea salt

Black pepper to taste

Options: Other dried herbs or spices

1 drop orange essential oil, squeeze of orange slice or 1 orange rind slice into dressing

Mix together in jar with a lid. Can blend for thicker consistency. Add 3 tbsp mayo for creamy texture (blend). Keeps at room temp for up to 1 week or place in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.