Spring 2013
Diabetes Bytes Humility of Mary Health Partners Diabetes Education Newsletter
Do you have a sugar belly? Diabetes (dye-uh-BEE-teez) occurs when there is too much glucose (sugar) in the blood and not enough in the cells of your body. This can interfere with your body’s ability to convert food into energy needed for daily life.
Soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, coffee drinks, cakes, cookies, pies, cereal, candy. The list of sweets is endless. Studies show the average American now consumes 22 to 28 teaspoons of added sugars a day. That is 350-440 empty calories few Americans can afford. Moreover, Americans’ who drink sugary drinks don’t tend to compensate for those calories by increasing exercise or eating less. Women who exceed 6½ teaspoons a day (100 calories) and men who exceed 9½ teaspoons (150 calories) a day have an increased risk for diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and diabetes. Favorite sugary foods/drinks and their sugar content:
Diabetes affects 25.8 million people ─ 8.3 percent of the population.
Nabisco Oreo (4 cookies): 3.5 tsp. Dunkin’Donuts Reduced Fat Blueberry Muffin: 10 tsp. Starbucks Tazo Chai Tea Latte (16 ounces): 10 tsp. Hershey kisses (9 pieces): 6 tsp. Coca-Cola (12 ounces): 10 tsp. AriZona Extra Sweet Green Tea (23.5 ounces): 17 tsp. McDonald’s Sweet Tea (large, 32 ounces): 18 tsp.
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Chick-fil-A Cookies and Cream Milkshake: 17 tsp. *Source: Company Nutrition Facts The Bottom Line: Read the nutrition facts label for your favorite drinks/foods that contain sugar. To find out how many teaspoons are in a serving, divide the grams of added sugar by 4 to get the teaspoons of sugar. Remember, just 100 extra calories a day can add up to about 1 pound of weight gain in a month.