Last week I discussed ways to find those sneaky added sugars that creep into your favorite foods when you least realize. So once you have identified them, what are some easy swaps and substitutes to help you cut them out and not feel deprived? Here are few ideas to reduce the added sugar in your diet!
1. Cut out regular sodas or reduce your total amount. Currently drink 16 oz daily? Try dropping to 12 oz and keep going from there. Soda is pure added sugar.
2. Choose canned fruit in it's own juice or light syrup (not heavy!). And don't drink the syrup...
Halloween is that time of year when kids rejoice, parents groan and dentists cringe. The holiday by tradition is filled with sugar-glazed donuts, gooey caramel apples and chewy candies of all sorts. It is a good thing Halloween comes only once a year, as regular intake of these high-sugar foods wreaks havoc on our health in more ways than one. A study assessing the U.S. NHANES 2007-2008 data reported that added sugars provided 14.6% of total energy intake in individuals' diets with the main contributors being soda and energy/sports drinks, grain-based desserts, fruit drinks, dairy desserts and candy. The USDA recommends no more than 32gm (or 8 tsp) of added sugars/day per 2,000 Kcal of intake; this is equivalent to 6% of calories from added sugars.
So after the costumes are put away and the candy is eaten (or thrown out), what can you do on a daily basis to make sure your intake of added sugars isn't sky-high? First, lets review the facts:
This week, enjoy a guest blog post from Carrie Aprik MS, RD, CSSD. Carrie practices as sports RD in Michigan. She can be reached at Nutrition4Motion@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @Nutri4Motion. Thanks Carrie!
Be Extraordinary,
RDKate
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For
many students, the college experience
has become synonymous with binge
drinking; an activity that may involve up to dozens of alcoholic drinks in a
single weekend. Every weekend. Surprisingly, “excessive drinking” is classified
as much less: 5 or more drinks in one bout for males, 4 or more for females. According to the NCAA1, though the
prevalence has decreased, 46% and 33% of male and female athletes,
respectively, admit to excessive drinking. Beyond the well-known threat of liver damage to the
average college student, student athletes have many more alcohol-related issues
to worry about.
Pregnancy no longer means stopping all exercise. Nowadays, with the okay of a doctor, women can keep exercising right up until they deliver. This is great, but also poses questions about eating. If you are pregnant and exercising, here are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Without exercise, you need to add approximately 300 Kcal per day during the second trimester and 300-500 Kcal per day during the third trimester for proper growth of the baby. So, should you choose to keep exercising, be sure to increase intake too. Pregnancy is not a time to lose weight.
Last week I blogged about great late-night eating options for those athletes that are hungry and/or need to eat late at night, but are not sure what they should choose. The other question I am often asked is which foods are best early in the morning before athletes feel like they are really "awake" but know that they need to eat. So, once again, lets start with some ground rules:
1. If you have an early workout, it is never too early to eat something. In fact, never go to a morning workout on an empty stomach. Even athletes who have severe exercise-induced GERD can typically find something that they tolerate in small quantities.
2. If you are chronically skipping the first meal of the day because it is "too early", it is common to no longer feel hungry in the morning. The body will adjust to what you throw at it. If you ignore early morning hunger signals, the body eventually gives up signalling. But you can bring those back by starting to eat again.
