11.How to Keep Sugar in Check
As with salt, you can control how much sugar you get by reading labels. For a 2,000-calorie diet (a typical adult diet), you should aim for less than 50 grams of added sugar, or 200 calories, each day (less than 10% of total daily calories should come from added sugars). Check the ingredients, too. Certain ones should give you pause. These include corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, agave nectar, cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, coconut sugar, dextrose, malt syrup, molasses, and turbinado sugar.
12.What to Watch For: Trans Fat
Found in processed foods like baked goods, salty snacks, and margarine, trans fat can affect your cholesterol and lead to inflammation that’s linked to heart disease, stroke, and other conditions. Recent government rulings have made trans fat increasingly difficult to find, but read labels: More than 5 grams per 100 grams of serving size is high. Also know that even if a product’s label says it has 0 grams of trans fat, it can have up to 0.5 grams of it.
