Sneaky Sugar
It lurks in bread, tomato sauce, salad dressings, pasta sauces and a multitude of other foods. It’s sugar and it’s sneaky! If you’re trying to cut more of this nutritionally vacant substance out of your diet, you need to know some of its many aliases.
If you’re not an avid label reader, it’s a good idea to become one. Then you’ll understand if sugar is impersonating another ingredient, including high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltodextrin and many others.
In addition to reading the ingredients on a food label, it’s also important to see how many grams of sugar are in a single serving. You might be surprised to discover that foods that aren’t considered to be sweet treats can be relatively high in this sticky substance. Slash sugar from your diet and get regular preventative dental checkups to smile brilliantly!
Are Your Snacks Damaging Your Teeth?
Keeping your teeth free of cracks and cavities can be as simple as taking inventory of your snacks. While calcium-rich foods and crunchy fruits and vegetables are great choices not only for your oral health but overall health, other foods can tarnish your teeth.
Soft, sticky sweets such as taffy and caramels cling to your teeth’s surface, contributing to tooth decay. Likewise, hard sweets can leave your teeth bathed in cavity-causing sugar. Not only that, if you bite down on a hard sweet your tooth could chip!
While popcorn isn’t the worst offender when it comes to tooth damage, chewing uncooked kernels can cause cracks in your teeth. Chances are you wash your snacks down with some type of beverage. Choose water, as sodas are high in decay-causing sugar.
Want to have a brighter smile? Make teeth-smart snack selections, brush and floss each day, and get regular preventative checkups.
