Those of you that know me know that I can become obsessed with my and my children's sugar intake. There are a few reasons.
First: There is almost no purpose to added sugar besides that it makes food taste better. It does add some carbohydrates, a necessary nutrient, but there are many healthier choices for adding carbohydrates.
Second: Added sugar is not officially addictive, but, according to The Harvard Gazette. the physical and psychological effects are real (The Harvard Gazette)."
Finally, according to a Google AI overview of sugar's effect on health says sugar can lead to weight gain, increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and dental problems like cavities.
The general recommendation for sugar intake is 50g a day depending on your total calories, with 25g total for additional benefits. Many people reach that amount through only the sweetened beverages they drink (soda, sweetened coffee drinks, etc.).
Those first five paragraphs show the basic information, so feel free to stop reading reading here, but I did a little experiment on myself to see if I could get close to 0g of sugar for a day. I found that eating no sugar was almost nearly impossible with my regular diet, though I could have if I'd stuck to rice, beans, meats, veggies, and fruit.
Here's how the foods with sugar broke down:
Breakfast:- Egg and cheese on an English muffin (1g of sugar)
- Beans prepared with brown sugar (5g sugar)
- Clam chowder: No sugar
