Added Sugars. They are hiding in our favorite beverages, muffins, breads, cereals and yogurts. We often believe we are choosing the right “healthy, all natural” foods, when grocery shopping, unaware that our yogurt has more sugar than our chocolate chip cookies.

We can no longer rely on food manufacturers to direct us to nutritious food options. I encourage you to take a moment the next time you shop to recognize the amount of added sugars in your food.

The American Heart Association says most women should consume no more than 100 calories, or 6½ teaspoons, a day from added sugars. Most men should consume no more than 150 calories or 9½ teaspoons a day from added sugars.

To put this into perspective…

–A Dairy Queen Heath Blizzard has 26 teaspoons of added sugars
–A Pepsi or Coke (20 oz.) has approximately 17 teaspoons of added sugars
–Nabisco Oreo Cookies (3 cookies) has 3.5 teaspoons of added sugars

What does that mean for your family? Here are some tips on ways to reduce the added sugars in your grocery cart:

• Don’t drink beverages sweetened with sugar, high fructose corn syrup or other caloric sweeteners. Try unsweetened, naturally flavored waters such as Hint Water, O Water and Ayala’s Herbal Waters.
• Limit fruit juices to no more than one cup a day. Choose fresh fruit over fruit juice, to increase the fiber, lower your sugars, and make you feel more full and satisfied.
• Limit all added sugars, including high fructose corn syrup, cane or beet sugar, evaporated cane juice, brown rice syrup, agave syrup and honey.
• Don’t worry about naturally occurring sugar in fruit, milk and plain yogurt. Many Greek-style yogurts are lower in sugar and higher in protein as well.