Sharing w/others – lessons learned

Refined sugars and high-fructose corn syrup are considered by many experts to be the biggest contributors to obesity and poor health in Western civilization.  In her book What To Eat, Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at NYU, suggests that any food that contains more than 15 grams of sugar per serving is closer to dessert than anything else.

Here’s the sugar content of a few common foods and menu items:

1.      Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut — 10 grams

2.      Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream — 16 grams

3.      Starbucks caffè latte grande (16 oz) — 17 grams

4.      Subway 6″ sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich — 17 grams

5.      Tropicana 100 percent orange juice (8 oz) — 25 grams

6.      Yoplait original yogurt — 27 grams

7.      Craisins dried cranberries 1/3 cup — 29 grams

8.      Vitamin Water (20 oz bottle) — 33 g

9.      Oscar Mayer Lunchables crackers, turkey & American cheese — 36 grams

10.  Coca-Cola Classic 12 oz can — 39 grams

11.  California Pizza Kitchen Thai chicken salad — 45 g

12.  Jamba Juice blackberry bliss 16 oz — 49 g

13.  Odwalla SuperFood 450 ml bottle — 50 g

14.  Starbucks caffe vanilla frappuccino grande (16 oz) — 58 g

Foods we recognize as dessert (e.g. doughnuts, ice cream, cookies) often have far less sugar than things we consider “healthy” (e.g. juice, yogurt, dried fruit).  Dessert is sometimes hidden in things like sandwiches.  Some foods marketed to children aren’t much better than soda.  “Natural” foods can have lots of sugar.  And the worst offenders are drinkable.