It’s fridayyyy woo : D Even though I’m off everyday for winter break, I still love Friday’s. Something about the vibe I guess, I’m always in a good mood.

Before I forget, who has Daily Mile?! I just signed up and I want to track all of your workouts! Add me here!

Last Nights dinner I tried a new to me meat.

Lamb. Now, I’m not the biggest red meat fan. I honestly don’t even like it that much and I will probably never cook it on my own.

However, my mom is a meat eater and when she cooks something, I’ll eat it.

It kind of had a weird taste to it, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m one of those people that gets freaked out by the fat around the edges of a meat.

I thought we got a lean cut, but nothing a knife can’t fix. Well, yeah, by the time I cut around the edges, I got like none.

Anyway, it wasn’t bad but I probably won’t want to make it again. You live and you learn! I’m always up for trying new foods though, so I’m glad I tried it.

And obviously I scarfed down my veggies and sweet potato. Those are always good.

Green beans and squash.

After taking Bentley for his night time walk, I was flipping through one of my mom’s RDH magazines. RDH is dental hygienists magazine in case you’re wondering, but that’s completely irrelevant. 

I came across this article that immediately caught my eye.

Sugar Obsession in America

I love learning about this kind of stuff, so I started reading. I found some really interesting stuff.

First of all, the facts:

• American’s consume an average of 22 to 30 teaspoons of empty calories daily from sugar added during the processing of food and beverages.
• The intake of added sugar has jumped 20% since 1970, and sugar-sweetened beverages boost the risk of disease in America.
• Energy drinks, sports drinks, sweetened teas, and soda make the leading source of added sugars in the US diet.
• Over 2/3’s of the adult population in America is overweight.
• “Diabesity” refers to diabetes occurring in the context of obesity. The US has the highest known expenditure on diabesity worldwide.

Now, I usually stay away from partially hydrogenated oils, and anything ending in “ose” such as dextrose, fructose, etc. because I know they are added sugars. But the next thing surprised me.

Added sugars include: sucrose (table sugar), fructose, glucose, agave syrup, honey, raw or organic brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and juice concentrate.

• Sucrose or table sugar is broken down in the body to half fructose and half glucose. At that point it is essentially identical to high fructose corn syrup.

So many people may avoid high fructose corn syrup, but think regular sugar is better than that. Whereas, this explains that is it pretty much the same once it is in your body.

Also, Fructose ends up in the liver, whether or not one needs the calories for energy, whereas glucose is not retained in the liver if one doesn’t need the calories. What happens to fructose in the liver is that it is converted to fat.

Interesting stuff, huh? So basically, try to cut back on your sugar intake. I know it’s not ideal to completely cut out every form of sugar, and every gram right this second, but you can definitely cut back.

Tips

1. Read labels.
2. Strive to limit added sugar consumption to 100 calories or 26g for women and 150 calories or 38g for men daily.
3. Strive to eliminate sugar drinks with empty calories from daily consumption.
4. Continue to consume natural sugars found in dairy products, fruits, and some vegetables.
5. Substitute non-calories sugar sweeteners or sugar alcohols in foods and drinks, in moderation.

Wow, way to give a whole teaching lesson first thing on Friday morning huh? ; )

What do you think about this? Do you think America has a sugar obsession?

I honestly believe it. Many people may not realize, but I think people rely on sugar way more than they should.

Do you stay away from added sugars or all sugars?

I try to stay away from almost all. I do use stevia though, although I saw it has maltodextrin in it!

Do you drink soda?

Nope, I stopped before high school and never went back. I don’t even like it now!