It’s come to my attention recently after talking to some friends that most people don’t really know exactly how much sugar is in their food. Yeah, it says grams but what does that really mean in terms of how much sugar they’re consuming?

   To my left is the nutritional information for a 20oz bottle of Pepsi with 28grams of sugar per serving.

   Calculation for converting sugar

              Grams of sugar ÷ 4 = Teaspoons of Sugar

  1) First convert the number of grams into teaspoons.

              28 ÷ 4 = 7

  2) If you plan on consuming the entire container, you must calculate the sugar with the number of servings.

              7 tsp. sugar x 2.5 serv. = 17.5 tsp. sugar

                                     That’s almost 6 tablespoons of sugar! Imagine adding 6 tbs’s of sugar to your coffee, your cereal, or anything else you generally add sugar to. People would make fun of you so you likely wouldn’t do it. It’s a lot of sugar, so just be aware when you’re going out and buying things with added sugar.

Sugar hides under the names

Agave Nectar    Barley Malt     Brown Sugar   Cane Juice    Corn Sweetener

Corn Syrup       Dextrin           Dextrose        Glucose   High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Honey             Invert Sugar    Maltodextrin   Malt Syrup    Maltose

Maple Syrup     Molasses         Raw Sugar     Rice Syrup    Saccharose

Sorghum          Sugar             Syrup           Treacle        Turbinado Sugar  Xylose

There is sugar available in processed and natural foods like fruits and veggies. It is preferable to get your sugar from whole sources than from products with added sugar because you’re getting more bang for your buck, i.e., nutrients instead of empty calories.

The American Heart Association says “that most women should consume no more than 100 calories (about 25 grams) of added sugars per day. Most men should consume no more than 150 calories (about 37.5 grams) each day. That’s about six teaspoons of added sugar a day for women and nine for men.”

* A special thanks to Bon-Appetit for reminding me about the sugar problem this morning while I was on my way to eat some stuff with sugar in it.

If you have ever experienced that burning sensation after a meal, or the feeling that food is coming back up and run to your cabinet for tums or another antacid you could be running for the wrong thing. Have you ever felt that no matter how many tums you take it just doesn’t seem to help after awhile?

As someone that suffered for years with chronic stomach burning and belching I spent most of that time on either tums, Prilosec, cimetidine, or other acid blockers thinking that I was doing the right thing for my stomach. Time after time when I would stop taking these things the pain would just come back and the nights of discomfort would return as well. Even taking the required “offending” foods out of my diet never really seemed to work, besides the fact that I didn’t want to take a lot of that stuff out of my diet all of the time. Coffee, citrus fruits, and tomatoes! No!!!!!! These are things that I love and don’t believe should have to be given up on a lifetime basis.

So what should you be doing when you have chronic heartburn?

Well pretty much the exact opposite of what you’re doing. Many people believe that the body has too much stomach acid aka Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) and so they take acid inhibitors so that they don’t feel pain but what really might be wrong is there is too little acid.

But I can feel burning in my esophagus

Acid inhibitors do seem like they work when you have painful acid coming back up your esophagus because they reduce the acidity of the painful acid coming back up. However, the problem is that things should not be coming back up your esophagus in the first place. The LES valve or Lower Esophageal Sphincter is the valve between your esophagus and your stomach. This valve relies on the acidity of the stomach to know whether or not it should stay closed. If you don’t have the proper amount of acid with the proper pH between 1.5 - 3.5 the LES valve will open.

This all means that by lowering the amount of stomach acid and neutralizing it, you could actually be leaving yourself open to even more reflux and midnight pain.

What stomach acid does for you

• Digests your food! It’s there to breakdown your food so that you get the nutrients from it and it passes properly through the rest of your digestive system. It activates the enzymes necessary to breakdown your food. If your food is not properly broken down you will not get all the nutrients or absorb many of the nutrients once they pass into your small and large intestines.
• Kills harmful bacteria and parasites! The acid in your stomach kills lots of unwanted bacteria that can make you sick, including many different strains of e. coli that you don’t want proliferating in your tummy. Having enough stomach acid with the appropriate level of pH can help protect you from some unwanted invaders. No, acid doesn’t kill all bacteria, there are a few like H. Pylori that no matter how much you have, will continue to live. 
• Closes your LES valve
• Tells other organs to get ready to digest. Lets your pancreas know to secrete digestive juices and your gallbladder to prepare to release sodium bicarbonate - an acid neutralizer once food needs to be secreted into the small intestine. 
• Digests your food! I really had to add this again. It is just so important to have properly digested food.

What having enough stomach acid can help you solve

• Acid Reflux, Gerd, IBS, constant food poisoning, nutrient deficiencies, and more!

What having enough stomach acid CAN’T help you solve

• Other problems like hernias or other strains. Ulcers should be treated first before increasing stomach acid. 
• Eating too much. If you eat too much, your body is going to have a hard time digesting in the first place. Smaller meals makes it easier for your body to digest everything and makes life a whole lot easier on your stomach and you.

Now that you know you might need more acid, how do you go about adding it to your diet?

Well, I had the chance to read some great stuff for my training program and one of them is called Why Stomach Acid is Good for You. You can check it out at your local library, by from Amazon, or check it our from me if you’re in the area. It has some great tips on natural ways to increase your HCL levels.

I personally used to supplement with Betaine HCL for awhile because my acid was so low from years of antacids and acid blockers. I currently don’t take anything because I’ve increased my own natural production of acid and I don’t have acid reflux. However, when supplementing you want to be under a providers care well, such as an NTP, ND, or MD to make sure you’re dosing correctly. If you want a natural solution that will help your body to maintain itself and keep you from relying on over-the-counter meds.

There is a lot of conflicting information about what should be done when you have acid reflux. I am a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and so my goal is to help get people away from over-the-counter solutions and back to letting their own bodies work for them. If you are skeptical, do more research or… just try it out and see for yourself how much better you can make yourself feel! Please see side effects of Betaine HCL vs. things like Prilosec or Ranitidine and decide from there.

If you want to read more about stomach acid.

If you have anymore questions, reply to this post or email me directly at nicole@foodeasenutrition.com

**The materials and content contained in this website are for general health information only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

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