Nutrition: Don’t Forget the Big Picture

This week I came across an interesting article from Mayo Clinic about sugar vs. artificial sweeteners. You can read the article under Artificial Sweeteners and Other Sugar Substitutes. I was looking specifically for a comparison of sugar against the various substitutes because I was confronted with the question: Is it better to sweeten coffee and tea with artificial sweetener instead of sugar. The answer is, not really.

As the article points out, and as we all could probably guess on our own, there are really two reasons for using artificial sweetener. One is for weight control, and the other is if you are a diabetic. For diabetics, you should consult with your doctor about what to use. For the weight loss crowd, as always, I think we should step back and look at the big picture. The article tells us that sugar is 4 calories per gram and that a teaspoon is about 4 grams. Tallied up, that equals 16 calories per teaspoon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any statistics on the average number of teaspoons americans put into their coffee, but from life experience, I’d say it’s usually 2-3. According to statisticbrain.com the average number of cups consumed per day is 3.1. So all told, if you are at the max and drink 3 cups a day with 3 teaspoons of sugar that would be 144 extra calories per day.

It’s true that those calories add up over the course of a year, but I would stop short of saying that this is a very important battle for the average person. Consider what the calorie counts are on the other items that can be bought right alongside the coffee. I went to Starbuck’s nutrition info on their website for a sampling:

Chonga Bagel – 300 cal

8 Grain Roll – 380 cal

Butter Croissant – 310 cal

Double Chocolate Brownie – 410 cal

Plain Bagel – 270

Greek Yogurt With Berris Parfait – 220 cal

Think about what those numbers mean. It takes 2 days of coffee drinking (again, assuming you drink 3 cups with 3 teaspoons of sugar) to equal the same number of calories that are in just one of their butter croissants. (And if you are like me, you will still be hungry after the croissant.) Thus, at the end of the day switching artificial sweeteners for sugar just isn’t that much payout. Chances are, if you have weight to lose, you will be far more effective by cutting out some of those bad habits in the snack department. Chips, candy, pastries, and other junk snacks are the major contributors to excess calories. If you were to eliminate just one of those snacks from your day, you could easily keep the real sugar and still be taking in less total calories.

I understand that some people would argue that cutting out the snack and the sugar would be that much better. Or that by cutting out the sugar all week, you could trade those calories in on the snack you want. In my opinion, though, splitting hairs over a few calories worth of real sugar in your coffee only allows you to look away from the bigger issues. We need to understand that eating a cookie, croissant, or yogurt parfait is really the unacceptable habit and we need to focus on fixing that. I’ll admit that it’s far easier to reach for splenda instead of sugar than it is to give up your favorite snack, but that is exactly the problem. The big ticket items might be tougher, but they will lead to more far reaching results. Behavior change is what really leads to lasting weight loss and wellness. Behavior change empowers and that empowerment is what makes your goals attainable and sustainable.