I have never looked into % of daily calories or grams/day because I have found paying attention to the dietary context was more effective with my patients. “Optimally” I’d say as little as possible–especially from refined sources: sugar, HFCS, etc. Although “natural” I consider honey, maple & agave syrups and even undiluted fruit juice all to be refined sweeteners.

In the context of a higher protein, high healthy fat and limited overall carbohydrate (Zone-ish) diet, any of the refined sweeteners (natural or un-) will levy LESS of their detrimental effects. Here, a limited amount of added sugars could be acceptable in our recommendations given the context. How much you ask? Less than you see in the Aunt Jemima commercials.

Outside of that high-prot./fat low-carb. meal context, I would say none at all. (Well… none unless the subject just did a major exhaustive workout or were in a hypoglycemic crisis.) Mostly, I can’t think of a single health promoting food that has added refined sugars. Refined sugars are almost always used to make processed food more palatable/addictive. So avoid them both!

Fresh whole fruit and veggies inherently have fiber to counter some of the sugary effects. Game-on/unlimited in this department. In my practice, I usually recommend eating fruit with/after a good load of protein and fat to slow the sugar’s absorption (Don’t tell the food sequence camp!) or a limited amount of “naked” fruit when blood sugar is low.

In my practice, a sugar/sweets/artificial sweetener washout of 2-3 weeks usually get’s people off the sugar craving roller coaster. Afterward, artificially all the artificially and naturally sweetened products taste REALLY strange. All but the most hardened sweet tooth’s would have to force themselves to eat them–unless you let yourself get habituated again.

What does this hard line naturopathic doc put on his home made (wheat-free) waffles? Full-fat organic yogurt, organic butter, organic almond butter, and fresh or frozen organic fruit. They’re GRRRRREAT! I usually have organic eggs and a free range meat on the side too. It’s a rare grainy treat for me. Please send in your questions.