With summer almost here, sweetened beverages and treats will be all around us. “Added sugars” are those put into food and beverages when they are prepared or processed. This does not include naturally occurring sugars like those in milk or fruit.

Added sugars mean a lot of calories with no nutrients — in other words “empty” calories.

But that’s not all. Added sugars have been shown to contribute to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

In May of 2016, the FDA announced the new Nutrition Facts label for packaged foods will included “added sugars” to make it easier for consumers to make better informed food choices and limit the foods that could cause health problems.

Chances are you have already seen a lot of food companies include added sugars on their food labels. Larger companies are required to do so by July 2018 and smaller companies are required to do so by July of 2019.

With these new food labels, you can be a more educated consumer and one of the smartest decisions for your health you can make is avoiding products with added sugar.

So many products have added sugar. Soda and beverages are loaded with added sugar. Other products on the market that have a plethora of added sugar are ketchup, yogurt, spaghetti sauce, cereals, breads, etc.

SweetLeaf Stevia sweetener is one way that you can avoid added sugar.

For example, if there is an iced tea on the market that you absolutely love, and it is 12 ounces and has 36 grams of added sugar, don’t buy it. In doing so, you are consuming 9 teaspoons of dangerous sugar.

I have a better solution for you. And I promise you that the drink will be as sweet and delicious with no added sugar and no calories at all.

Brew your own iced tea at home and to sweeten it, add stevia sweetener. Containing zero calories and no artificial ingredients, stevia is a sugar alternative. It is super sweet and delicious too. In fact, one teaspoon of stevia is as sweet as 8 teaspoons of sugar.

To make this homemade iced tea as sweet as your commercial tea, simply brew 12 ounces of tea and add just over a teaspoon of stevia to your brewed tea. It will probably even taste better than that commercial tea!

Being healthy is all about making healthy food choices. Avoiding added sugar is one healthy choice that can have a huge and awesome impact on your health. I am so happy that there is a solution to being able to have sweetness in my food and drinks without added sugar thanks to SweetLeaf Stevia.

Kelly Springer is a Registered Dietitian and founder of Kelly’s Choice. For more nutrition education, visit  kellyschoice.org and be sure to follow her on Instagram and Facebook!