News Taffy

Stop! Put down that latte/coca-cola/energy drink and read this first. You may not want to finish it after learning a few facts.

This chart lists some popular beverages, their total calories, serving size and the sugar load they contain. Note that 39 grams of sugar in a coke measures 9 tsp. or almost 1/4 cup.

Starbucks Mocha, 16 oz. 35 grams of sugar 360 calories
Starbucks Skinny Mocha, 16 oz. 15 grams 140 calories
Coke or Pepsi, 12 oz. 39 grams 140 calories
Mountain Dew, 20 oz. 77 grams 290 calories
RockStar, 16 oz. 62 grams 248 calories
Red Bull, 8.3 oz. 27 grams 108 calories
Arizona Lemon Ice Tea, 24 oz. 72 grams 270 calories
Minute Maid Lemonade, 20 oz. 67 grams 260 calories
Minute Maid Orange Juice, 8 oz. 24 grams 110 calories
Sobe Mango Melon, 20 oz. 70 grams 280 calories

Here are a few disturbing facts for you to think about today as you eat your lunch or have your afternoon-pick-me-up coffee. With the mindless consumption of calories day in and day out, there is a terrible price to pay and the cost is your health. Scientists say that women should consume no more than 25 grams of added sugar a day while men no more than 37.5 grams. You can see how easily we consume way too much sugar from the chart above before we’ve even had any food to eat.

Recently one of my husband’s patients confessed that he consumed TWELVE regular sodas a day! He is overweight, his cholesterol is out of control and he has heart disease. Amazingly, he didn’t seem to understand how many calories and sugar he was guzzling each day (about 1680 calories and 108 teaspoons of sugar!) Given his age and activity level, he only needs around 2000 calories a day so it is easy to imagine how many calories he actually takes in each day. Worst of all, none of his physicians had asked him about his diet until my husband met with him.

Don’t think you are doing yourself any favors with diet beverages. New studies are showing that artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Equal also cause your blood sugar to rise, perhaps even more than sugar. That may explain why those who drink diet sodas tend to gain more weight over time and have an increased risk for Type II diabetes than those who drink regular soda. Plus artificial sweeteners trigger headaches in some and the citric acid can ruin your teeth similar to a meth user.

If you are serious about your health or you want to lose weight, look at what you are drinking. Many think nothing of drinking sugar laden beverages all day as if they were water, without thinking of the consequences. Eating that much excess sugar causes your blood sugar to spike and your pancreas to work harder to produce enough insulin to process the sugar. Over time, this vicious cycle of overeating can lead to insulin resistance, where the body doesn’t use insulin properly, or even diabetes.

I know I’ve preached on this topic before but until there is real change in American eating habits, I will continue to climb on my soap box. Until people realize what they are doing to themselves, we will continue to have a health crisis and escalating health costs.