13 Oct Cut out sugar by watching what you’re drinking

One of the best ways to reduce your waist line is to cut out soft drinks from your diet. And that certainly does not mean switching from regular coke to Diet Coke. The average 12-ounce can of regular soda has about 8 teaspoons of added sugar, nearly all the recommended daily amount of sugar.
The American Heart Association reports that, “soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the No. 1 source of added sugars in the American diet.”
Those additional sugars add up to more calories, which people need to avoid in order to loss weight and cut down on belly fat.
It‘s best to cut out soda altogether if you can and replace it with drinks such as unsweetened iced tea, milk and, of course, good old water.
Americans consume way too much sugar as it is, about 22 teaspoons a day. That’s far more than the American Heart Association’s recommended levels of 6 teaspoons per day for women and 9 per day for men.
To put it another way, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that Americans basically consume their weight in sugar in a year’s time.
And beverages are the No. 1 source of added sugar in the diet. Although soda has the most sugar, most fruit drinks and sports drinks are also full of added sugar.
Of course, drinking alcohol is another way to add a great deal more sugar to your body. Added sugars have no nutritional value.
The American Heart Association says to limit sugar in the diet to no more than 100 calories a day for most women and 150 calories for most men.
So watch what you drink, and watch your waist line tighten up.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com