Sugar may be sweet, but the effects it can have on your health are decidedly not.
Although some foods naturally contain sugar (fruit and milk, for example), many foods have added sugar to enhance their flavor, including some that you might not suspect because they don’t taste too sweet. Processed foods, baked goods and even condiments like ketchup and salad dressing often contain added sugars.
“Added sugars contribute to the sweetness and taste of foods, but do not add any beneficial nutrients. This is why they are called “empty calories”,” explains Brittany Poulson, RDN, CDCESCertified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist in Grantsville, Utah.
The flow Dietary Guidelines for Americans We recommend limiting added sugars to no more than 10% of your total daily calorie intake, or about 12 teaspoons of sugar for a standard diet of 2,000 calories per day. You can reach – or even exceed – these limits quite quickly if you’re not careful. In fact, according to data published in Nutrition Frontiers in June 2021Americans consume an average of nearly 17 teaspoons of added sugars per day.
Excessive sugar consumption has been linked to a wide range of health problems. A general review published in BMJ in April 2023 found associations between excess sugar in the diet and 45 different health conditions, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular problems, asthma, cancer and depression.
Sugar is thought to contribute to these and other health problems by wreaking havoc on blood sugar levels and causing cellular inflammation, a marker of many chronic diseases, a study suggests. study published in Frontiers in immunology in August 2022.
Breakfast is a great opportunity to reduce added sugars, according to Lauren Harris-Pincus, RDN, the founder of Nutrition Starring You in Green Brook Township, New Jersey. Many traditional morning foods, including cereal, pastries, pancakes, French toast, and even yogurt, can be loaded with sweets and lack nutrients like fiber or protein that lessen the impact on blood sugar (the (this is why the sugar naturally present in fruits and vegetables generally does not have the same negative effects).
“Replacing added sugars with natural sugars, like those in fruit, increases nutrients while providing the sweetness that many people desire in their breakfast foods,” says Poulson.
Luckily, making a breakfast without added sugar is easier than you think and doesn’t have to mean sacrificing taste. These 15 recipes prove it.
1. Quinoa and raspberry porridge
Refresh classic oatmeal with this quinoa flake version, which adds protein, since quinoa is technically a seed and not a grain. Raspberries add natural sweetness as well as a host of nutrients, including fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, says Poulson. The best part is, you can make this healthy breakfast in just two minutes.
Nutrition per serving (serves 2): 124 calories, 1 g total fat (1 g saturated fat), 3 g protein, 26 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 8 mg sodium
