I have a huge sweet tooth, so I can relate to your cravings for cookies, chocolate, and the like. The problem is, too much sugar can lead to weight gain, metabolic disorder (a precursor of type 2 diabetes and heart disease), and possibly even certain cancers. Added sugars should make up only six to 10 percent of your daily calories. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet that adds up to between 30 and 50 grams. I'm not talking about naturally occurring sugars in fruits and veggies though. I'm talking about foods made with white sugar, so keep your intake to about 40 grams. If you're a label reader, it can be hard to discern how much of the white stuff you're getting though, since all sugars are lumped under the "sugar" category. So the best thing to do is limit the amount of foods you eat that have sugar, brown sugar, or high fructose corn syrup in the list of ingredients.
To see how many grams of sugar are in some common sweet foods read more.
| Food | Amount of Sugar |
| Slice of chocolate cake | 30 g |
| 1 oz. Dagoba organic dark chocolate | 12 g |
| 1 chocolate chip cookie | 7 g |
| 6 Oreo cookies | 20 g |
| 1 Starbucks chocolate hazelnut biscotti | 10 g |
| 1 Krispy Kreme glazed donut | 13 |
| 20 plain M&Ms | 9 g |
| 1/2 cup serving of vanilla ice cream | 21 g |
| 10 oz. Coffee with 1 packet of sugar | 2.8 g |
| 12 oz. Coca Cola | 39 g |
| 12 oz. ginger ale | 32.4 g |
| 12 oz. Sprite | 38 g |
High
Ann Sofie Back
farfetch.com
I limit my refined sugar intake as it is. I try to eat mostly fruits and veggies and I do let myself have a sweet treat every day (otherwise, I think I'd go nuts!). I'm pretty sure I don't get more than say, 30 grams a day though.
1This is such important information that it can't be emphasized enough. The average American eats way too much refined sugar and too many foods with high fructose corn syrup as a key ingredient. We write extensively about diet and diabetes control at my blog www.dentistryfordiabetics.com/blog. There we also talk about the role good oral hygiene and good dental care play in helping keep blood sugar under control.
Charles Martin, DDS
2Founder, Dentistry for Diabetics
I'm curious - I have a Jamba juice addiction. They have very high amounts of sugar, but I think it's all from fruit (I only have the classic flavors NEVER the creamy ones).
Is this OK, or is it still too much sugar?
I'm pregnant and have been CRAVING fruit and fruit juice but am worried that I'm just pounding too much sugar, even if it is directly from fruit.
3I'm curious about the sugar content in milk. I think it's the lactose that counts as sugar. Is this "bad" for you? A cup of skim milk has 13 g of sugar in it!!
4I'm curious (3 posts of being curious in a row now!) if there's a limit for total sugar intake as well. I mostly eat fruits, veges, grains, nuts, a little dairy (almost always greek yogurt), and a little lean meat each day (usually an egg or tofu). I don't really have processed food all that much anymore (the closest thing to it would be a Kashi granola bar). For fruits, pretty much everyday, I have an apple, orange, banana, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, mango, cantaloupe, and honeydew. Then for veges, I have things like sweet potato, red pepper, and carrots (just naming the ones with more sugar). The sugar from all those fruits and veges add up and although it's not added sugar from things like HFCS I've wondered if I should be watching my total amount of sugar each day also. Any idea?
5I was suprised when I realized that yogurt is often full of added sugar. A lot of brands have more than 20g per serving!
6A Coke has more sugar than a Krispy Kreme? Bring on the donuts! jk
7mmmm cheesecake
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