According to the World Health Organization, that glass of orange juice in the morning no longer is healthy.
Under its new guidelines for sugar intake, an average glass of orange juice exceeds the six teaspoons of sugar an adult should consume in a day.
The proposed recommendations would cut the sugar intake from 10 percent of your allowed calories to just five percent.
Joining the list is cans of Coke (or any other non-diet pop), two or more Oreo cookies, and any chocolate bar found in the candy counter. A can of sugar-sweetened soda, for instance, contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar.
Even healthy milkshakes are troubling, as are those caramel frappuccino coffees from Starbucks.
These new recommendations are aimed at reducing heart disease, obesity, and other serious diseases such as diabetes.
As a diabetic, I’m constantly watching my sugar intake, realizing that ice cream, cookies, cakes, and juices can spike my blood sugar levels.
Before I was diagnosed with the disease, I gave little thought to the two or three cans of pop I drank in the day, or the double sugar in my coffee, or the piece of cake that I ate.
Cookies, ice cream sundaes, chocolate bars, and other sweets never were given a second thought.
It appears everything that is good to eat is bad for you. Even in moderation, some items should not be enjoyed. In our household, we enjoy making baked beans from scratch and the recipe calls for a considerable amount of brown sugar and molasses.
Now a single portion under the new WHO sugar guidelines might exceed the normal allowable sugar intake.
We will make pulled pork but the mopping sauce, with brown sugar, molasses, ketchup, and spices that is mixed in at the end when the pulled pork is put on a bun, probably exceeds the allowable sugar levels, too.
A dietitian will tell you that a juicy hamburger (or ribeye steak or a slice of prime rib) is very high in fat and not really good for you, but you enjoy those items anyway.
Adding ketchup, mustard, and sweet pickle relish to a hamburger makes it doubly dangerous. That single serving of ketchup has one teaspoon of sugar.
Adding fries with ketchup is not great, either.
Even store-bought tomato spaghetti sauce may exceed allowable sugar levels. You also might be surprised to learn that healthy no-fat yogurt with fruit may exceed the new normal suggested levels for sugar intake.
Many of the sugars are hidden in the process foods we consume.
The WHO today tells you that you really shouldn’t wash down that hamburger and fries with a can of pop or a milkshake.
Even a healthy salad can be dangerous. By adding just a single portion of Thousand Island or Catalina dressing, you are consuming a teaspoon of sugar.
What does one make of all these rules? Everything should be done in moderation. An occasional piece of red meat, a single burger, a skinless chicken breast, a very small orange juice, pancakes and waffles without syrup, and cake without icing will have to make up our diets.
Then again, maybe we should be foolhardy and enjoy all the great foods we have grown to enjoy.
