Fit for ’15 07.10.15: Avoiding added sugar

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering changes to nutrition labels by breaking up the total amount of sugar in a food into natural and added sugar.

“Added sugars are sugar or syrups that are added to food during processing,” explained Melanie Lewis, a registered dietician at Providence Memorial Hospital.

Many food manufacturers add sweetness through granulated sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Added sugars are in many different foods, from yogurts and breads to pasta sauces and condiments. Lewis is among many who said consuming too much sugar can lead to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

“It adds a lot of empty calories,” added Lewis. “That means we’re getting calories but no nutritional benefits.”

Lewis urges everyone to eat foods that give the most nutritional benefits and to limit your sugar intake to about 6 teaspoons daily for women, 9 teaspoons for men. She also suggests buying plain yogurt and adding minimal amounts of sweetener, such as honey or fruit, switching to unflavored milk or unsweetened nondairy milk and drinking more water instead of flavored and sweetened coffee and energy drinks.

“You want to pick those sugars carefully and try to get them from natural sources like fruit, milk and whole grains, versus sugar-sweetened beverages and cereals,” said Lewis.

Local business owner Farzad Farrokhnia told ABC-7 he doesn’t add any sugar to his juices sold from his store, Mom’s Fresh Juice.

“It’s straight from the earth to the bottle,” Farrokhnia said.

Mom’s Fresh Juice is at 518 W. San Antonio Avenue in the Union Plaza District in Downtown El Paso. Two employees were busy making from scratch cold-pressed and raw juice when ABC-7 stopped by this week.

“We’ve got greens, we’ve got roots, citrus, almond milks and fruits,” said Farrokhnia. “They don’t have sweeteners. Our juices are pretty much all-natural sugars. Whatever is in the fruits and vegetables already, that’s it. We don’t add anything extra.”

Farrokhnia said he hopes his year-old business can help make El Paso more health conscious, and believes he’s making a difference in the lives of the customers he’s reached so far.

“It’s not things that are so outrageous. It’s not diet pills. It’s not crazy weight-loss. It’s fruits and vegetables.”