Calories in Sugar

Learn how many calories you waste each day on sugar in your tea or coffee.

Sugar is relatively high in calories, with 10 calories per teaspoon (2.5 grams). Sugar consists totally of carbohydrates: it has neither protein nor fat. Sugar contains no essential vitamins or minerals, which is why calories in sugar are often referred to as “empty calories”.

A McDonald's sugar packet has 4 grams of sugar and gives you 15-16 calories. To burn off these calories, you need to walk for about 4 minutes or do aerobics for 2 minutes. That does not look difficult to do. However, if, for example, you have 5 cups of tea with 2 packets of sugar each day, you consume 150 calories from sugar alone and have to walk for 40 minutes or do aerobic exercises for 20 minutes in addition to you fitness routine just to burn calories from sugar.

Sugar is extremely addictive: our cravings for sweets and sugar-loaded beverages only increase when we get more sugar. Breaking sugar addiction is not easy; however, to lose weight, you have to avoid added sugar or reduce table sugar consumption to a minimum.

Reference

Avena N, Rada P, Hoebel B. Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake.

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