The average American eats approximately 1,500 pounds of food every year. Of that, 160 pounds are primarily sugar. Of course, sugar is delicious, and I know I’m the happier for its existence, but of all the things we consume, it has the least nutritive value. In fact, except for the energy in its calories, there’s not much to recommend about sugar. It’s a prime source of empty calories, and for those of us who are trying to lose weight, sugar’s the first thing we should start trimming from our diets. But here’s the problem—despite our best intentions to remove excess sugar from our diet, the food industry has found more and more devious ways of slipping us the sweet stuff. Whether the food industry calls sugar by another name or adds it to foods we never thought would have needed it, our sweet tooth is constantly being bombarded. Fortunately, with stricter labeling laws, we have a fighting chance at cutting back on sugar.

Why does the food industry want to fill us so full of sugar?

It’s basically the same as any other industry. For the oil industry to make more money, it needs us to use more of its product by driving more miles. The food industry needs us to use more of its product by eating more calories. The problem is that the American food industry is already producing around 3,900 calories per person per day, which is way more than we need. One solution to this surplus is to sell the food cheaply overseas, which the industry does. The other solution is for Americans to eat more calories. And sugar and its corn sweetener brethren are great calorie delivery systems, as they pack a huge caloric punch, without causing much satiety, or feeling of fullness. Most people would probably stop eating steak after they reached 1,000 calories, because they’d be stuffed, but after you drank 1,000 calories from your Big Gulp cup, there’s still room for dinner. The other reason the industry pushes sugar so hard is that it’s cheap to produce, and the cheaper the calorie, the larger the profit margin.

Sugar in labels—hiding in plain sight.

One of the best ways to disguise the amount of sugar in a product is something the government already requires—printing the information in grams. Most Americans only have the foggiest idea of how much a gram is, because we’re unaccustomed to the metric system. So when we pick up a can of soda that contains 40 grams of sugar, we pretty much shrug our shoulders and pop the top. And that attitude is all right with the soda industry! But what if the label said that it contained over 10 teaspoons of sugar? If you saw someone ladling 10 teaspoons of sugar into their morning coffee, you’d think they were crazy, but that’s how much people consume in a typical 12-ounce can. In a 64-ounce fountain drink that you’d get at a movie theater or a convenience store, you get over 53 teaspoons of sugar—almost two cups! Naturally, people would probably think twice if the nutritional information on products was given in measurements that were meaningful to them. But until our heavily food industry-subsidized government decides to change its policy, it’s a metric world, we just live in it. But we can take note that four grams equals one teaspoon. So when you check out the label, divide the grams of sugar by four, and that’s how many teaspoons you’re consuming.

Sugar, by any other name, would taste just as sweet.

Another strategy the sugar pushers use to get us to consume more calories is to rename the offending ingredient. We know to stay away from sugar, but how about molasses, honey, sorghum, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, lactose, dextrose, sucrose, galactose, maltose, or concentrated juices like grape or apple? Another path to profit that the food industry has discovered is that instead of harvesting relatively more expensive sugar cane and beets, the industry can produce sweeteners in a laboratory more cheaply and with just as many calories as beet and cane sugar. And with some sweeteners, especially the popular high fructose corn syrup, it is believed that your body will be less likely to reach satiety than with sugar, so you can consume more. Mo’ calories, mo’ money. Another advantage to these doses of -oses is that, aside from the fact that many people won’t guess they’re just different forms of sugar, they can be spread out in the ingredient list required by law, so that it won’t be as obvious that what you’re consuming is pretty much all sugar. When you look at a list of ingredients on a product, the manufacturer is required to list them in order of amount, from highest to lowest. So they can bury a quarter cup of fructose, a quarter cup of sucrose, a quarter cup of dextrose, and a quarter cup of corn syrup in the middle of the list, so you won’t be as likely to notice that when you add them all up, the main ingredient in the product is sugar.

Hide and seek. You’re it.

So, if you’re like me, you may have sworn off soda except for special occasions, and turned the candy bowl into an unsalted-almond bowl. No more sugar, no more problems. Except for this problem—the food industry has cleverly snuck its sugars and corn syrups into products where we never would have thought to look for sugar. It’s good for the manufacturer. It jacks up the calorie load, can enhance the product’s appearance (high-fructose corn syrup gives hamburger buns their golden glow), and can keep our sugar jones simmering at a low boil, in case we ever decide to go back to the real thing. Here are some types of products whose labels could bear more scrutiny.

1. Spaghetti sauce. A half cup of store-bought sauce can contain as many as three teaspoons of corn syrup or sugar. While some of the naturally occurring sugar in tomatoes and other vegetables will show up on the nutrition label, most of the sugar is added. Look for brands that don’t include sugar or its aliases or make your own from fresh or canned tomatoes.
2. Ketchup. Ketchup can be 20 percent sugar or more. Not to mention that you’ll get 7 percent of your daily sodium allowance in one tablespoon. Look for low-salt, no-sugar brands, or make your own, using pureed carrots to add flavor and texture to the tomatoes.
3. Reduced-fat cookies. Most brands of cookies now offer a reduced-fat version of their product. Nabisco even offers its own line of low-fat treats, Snackwells. But while you’re patting yourself on the back for choosing the low-fat option, check the label. The sneaky food manufacturers did take out the fat, but they replaced it with, you guessed it, sugar. Many times, the reduced-fat cookie is only slightly less caloric than the one you want to eat. And because there’s no fat to make you feel full, you’ll be tempted to eat more “guilt-free” cookies. And just because there’s less fat, it doesn’t mean you’ll be less fat. Fat doesn’t make you fat. Calories make you fat.
4. Low-fat salad dressing. Like the cookies, manufacturers have taken the fat out of the dressing, but they’ve added extra salt and sugar to make up for it. Check the label to make sure you’re not replacing heart-healthy olive oil with diabetes-causing sugar—because that’s not really a “healthy choice.” Your best bet? Make your own vinaigrettes using a small amount of olive oil, a tasty gourmet vinegar or fresh lemon juice, and some fresh herbs.
5. Bread. Most processed breads, especially white hamburger and hot dog buns, can contain a good bit of sugar or corn syrup. That’s what gives them the golden-brown crust. As always, check the ingredient label, and consider getting your bread at a real bakery or a farmers’ market—it’s the best idea since, well, you know.
6. Fast food. Needless to say, fast food is generally not good for you. But even if you’re staying away from the sodas and the shakes, everything from the burgers to the fries to the salads is a potential place to hide sugar. Check out the ingredients carefully at your favorite restaurant. You may be getting more than you bargained for.

Get in shape, and work off that sugar with P90X Extreme Training Workout!

Almost everywhere we go we’re reminded that we need to eat better. We can’t take a trip to the grocery store, read the paper, or browse the Internet without being reminded that we’re getting fatter and less healthy, and how we need to change our dietary habits. Along with this obvious information, we’re also given a smorgasbord of options that all promise to turn the tide on the obesity epidemic. Some of these are reasonable, but most are marketing gimmicks that are often expensive, rarely effective, and sometimes border on the bizarre. Below, we offer five simple, traditional, money-saving, and effective ways to take control of your diet.

1. Eat slow. As more and more daily activities get heaped on our plates, we tend to get bogged down and do everything in a rush. Learning to eat slower will help make each meal an experience. And the more that eating is an experience, the higher the likelihood that you’ll want to make it pleasant. One of the effects of eating slower is that you’ll tend to make better food choices. Furthermore, the slower you eat, the better chance you’ll have of not overeating. Your body registers when it’s full fairly quickly, but we’ve become a society of speed eaters who inhale far too many calories—before our natural responses even have time to take effect. Eating just a bit slower can be enough to allow your brain to feed you healthy signals. Also, chewing your food thoroughly has two additional benefits. For one, you’ll taste your food better. Therefore, if you’re making better food choices, it will heighten the pleasure of the meal. It also aids your digestion process. Well-chewed food puts less stress on your body to break it down and, hence, you’ll feel more energized following your meal.

   How slow is “slow”? A study done at the University of Rhode Island showed that those who chewed their food thoroughly ate less in 29 minutes than those who chewed their food slowly ate in 9 minutes. So you can still slow down and have plenty of time to enjoy your lunch hour.

2. Drink less during meals. Most of us are aware that we don’t drink enough water (more on this later), but meals are not the place to catch up. Liquid dilutes your stomach acids, which can counteract some of the work you’ve done following step one. Furthermore, “washing down” your food is exactly the opposite of what you want to be doing with your calories. The less you drink while eating, the more effective your meal will be.

   How we became a society that quaffs large quantities of liquid while eating is a bit of a mystery. No other animals do it naturally, so it’s most likely an effect of advertising. Not much can be worse for you than combining “hamburger, fries, and a Coke,” which some ads offer up as the pinnacle of a manly meal. Water alone, which is healthy, dilutes your stomach acids and should be limited, but coupling your meal with soda—even diet soda—is just plain awful. Not only does soda contain calories, it also contains phosphates and acids that change your stomach’s ability to digest the food you’re eating. Not to mention that they are all overly sweet, which interferes with your ability to savor the flavor of natural foods and negatively impacts your enjoyment of the meal. There’s probably a lot more rationale behind the fact that wine has been the meal accoutrement in most cultures. It tends to enhance the flavor of foods but, more importantly, it’s generally consumed in small quantities. A four-ounce glass of wine is plenty to “wash down” most any meal, and that’s all the liquid you need.

3. Drink more water (except during meals). As we’ve stated time and time again, plain water is incredibly good for you and most of us don’t drink enough of it. Beginning each day with a large glass of water is one of the best practices to turn into a ritual. This step alone both helps hydrate you for the day and can instill a habitual response for wanting to drink more water as you become dehydrated.

   Staying hydrated affects almost every aspect of your life. It makes you less hungry, so it’s one of the best weight loss tricks you can do. You cause less cellular damage, so you’ll function better on almost every level. You’ll be more energized, think better, work out more effectively, and recover from workouts and stress quicker, and your skin will stay supple and young-looking.

   How much water you need varies, but most of us should drink six to eight or so eight-ounce glasses of it a day. This is, of course, highly variable, which is based on temperature, activity level, and the rest of your diet. A diet that is filled with natural foods that contain water—like fruits and veggies—will require that you drink less water, whereas the standard American “junk” diet of fast “convenient” foods, sugar, and fatty meats will require that you drink more.

   Do keep in mind that, while unlikely, you can drink too much plain water. This is mainly a concern if you’re exercising a lot. Plain water dilutes your body salts—electrolytes—and excessive diluted amounts can cause a condition called hyponatremia. However, most of us consume far too much salt in our diets, making this diluting effect a positive one. For a normal person, hyponatremia isn’t a concern unless you’re drinking in excess of a gallon of water per day.

4. Eat more fruit. Most of us don’t eat enough fruit. Fruits offer us not only an abundance of fiber, water, vitamins, and minerals but also bioflavonoids, which protect our blood vessels, as well as provide well-documented antioxidant benefits. Fruit has gotten a bit of a bad rap lately because of its “high” sugar content, but even people with diabetes may eat three to five servings of fruit a day. The sugar contents of plain sugar, honey, candy, sweets, sodas, etc., are basically empty calories. Replacing your standard sweets with fruit is probably the best dietary swap you can make.

   Fruit’s sugar content is often exaggerated. For example, let’s look at the sugar content of some raw fruits.

   Fruit (100 grams)	Percent Sugar
   Banana	19.6
   Raisin	14.2
   Apple	11.0
   Pineapple	10.6
   Grapes	9.3
   Peach	7.5
   Cantaloupe	6.5
   Grapefruit	5.2
   Strawberry	4.5
   Watermelon	3.2

   Furthermore, natural raw fruit fructose sugar is sparse, not dense, making its calorie impact limited. It is metabolized through the liver, and there, it is generally converted into liver glycogen stores. Since raw fruits offer fiber, fluids, vitamins, and minerals that start on the acidic side but degenerate within digestive straits toward alkaline-ash metabolites, they are regarded as the healthiest appetite-suppressing whole-food snacks you can choose.

5. Change your focus. Instead of focusing on the junky foods you shouldn’t eat, try focusing on the foods you should eat. The easiest way to do this is to focus on what these foods can do for you and how they will make you feel. This can take a little practice because our natural tendency is to let our mind slide into “craving” mode. But by learning to crave performance from your body, your mind will naturally begin to crave foods that make this happen.

   The easiest way to begin this change is by focusing on how your workout feels when you’ve eaten well and how it feels when you’ve eaten poorly—can you “Tilt, Tuck & Tighten” with Shaun T or Turbo Jam with Chalene Johnson without getting exhausted? At no time will your mindset desire to create good habits than when being put under the duress of exercise. This is the time to reference those chili-cheese fries you had at lunch or the cake you ate at a coworker’s going-away party. Nothing creates cravings for plain whole foods like referencing how your body is feeling during the 45th minute of P90X Plyo.