6/25/12

Unsuspecting Foods Laden With Sugar

9:20 AM  Amariei Raluca  No comments


Drinks:

Vitamin Water: The name of this drink alone portrays a healthy alternative to soda or juice. Who would imagine that a bottle of vitamin water would contain 32 grams of sugar? Skip the fancy water and make sure you read the labels.

Fruit Juice: Many people, especially parents of young children, are under the impression is it healthier to drink fruit juice instead of soda. The truth is juice is almost as bad as soda when it comes to the sugar content. For example, an eight ounce can of Pepsi has 27 grams of sugar. An eight ounce glass of Simply Orange fortified orange juice has 22 grams of sugar. There are very few fruit juices on the market anymore that do not contain high fructose corn syrup as well.

Fruit Smoothies: While homemade fruit smoothies can be very nutritious since you control the ingredients, be wary of buying fruit smoothies since many places add sugar or other sugar filled ingredients. As a result, it is barely healthier to drink a strawberry smoothie than it is to drink a strawberry milkshake.

Popular Breakfast Foods:

Dried Fruit: It would seem obvious that dried fruit would be simply that – dried fruit. However, most dried fruits have added sugar for flavoring. You must check the labels to ensure you are getting pure fruit without excess sugar.

Yogurt: It has always been believed that yogurt is a healthy breakfast item. Do not be fooled by flavored yogurts though, even if they are flavored by fruit. In addition to fruit, they also can contain up to 28 grams of sugar per serving! It would be much wiser to buy plain yogurt and add fruit yourself.

Flavored Oatmeal: While oatmeal has always been considered a wholesome breakfast, the majority of the flavored instant varieties are loaded with sugar – up to 14 grams per serving. Even the low-sugar varieties still contain a lot of sugar. If oatmeal is too bland for your taste, you are actually better off adding a little sugar yourself from your own sugar bowl at home. At least then you can control how much is added and avoid adding several teaspoons, which is what will happen if you opt to prepare flavored instant oatmeal.

Granola: Granola conjures up images of healthy, earthy people who are slim and trim. As such, people believe granola is a healthy alternative to typical sugar laden breakfast cereals. Do not let the healthy image of granola fool you – it can eat up to 40% of your RDA of sugar in one serving! Half of a cup of Kashi Mountain Medley contains 12 grams of sugar, while Bare Naked Apple Cinnamon contains 14 grams per half cup. Most people consume at least this amount, if not more in a single setting, which can really add up when watching sugar intake.

Jelly: Most people don’t enjoy the taste of plain toast and instead opt to smother it with jelly, which has sugar listed as the second ingredient and contains around 6.5 grams per tablespoon.

Nutella: We have all seen the commercial for this spread that insinuates it is much healthier for your family than regular jam or jelly. It states it is made with quality ingredients, such as hazelnuts and skim milk. What it doesn’t tell you is that based on weight, it is 53% sugar!

Cereal: Even though avoiding colorful cereals with marshmallows seems like a good way to steer clear of sugar loaded cereals, you will be shocked at the amount of sugar in the healthier ones as well. Eating a single serving of Kashi’s GOLEAN Crunch or Kellog’s Cracklin’ Oat Bran is like sprinkling four teaspoons of sugar on your breakfast cereal – before you even add milk. This is more sugar than a Krispy Kreme original glazed donut!

Condiments:

Ketchup: Most people trying to eliminate sugar and carbohydrates from their diet will ditch the bun when eating a burger or bake their fries instead of deep-frying them. What they may not realize, however, is that adding ketchup to their burger or dipping their fries in ketchup is more or less the equivalent of sprinkling them with several teaspoons of sugar before eating them. That makes no sense when trying to eat healthy – neither does adding ketchup, which can be up to one-third sugar per tablespoon and let’s face it, most of us squirt a pile of ketchup on our burgers or on our plate to dunk our fries. We could be unsuspectingly consuming several teaspoons of sugar simply by using one of our favorite condiments.

BBQ Sauce: This is another condiment that can add a staggering amount of sugar to your diet if you are not careful. One serving of BBQ sauce – two tablespoons – can pack as much as 15 grams of sugar. When eating an item dripping in BBQ sauce, such as a BBQ pulled pork sandwich, you can be consuming up to 20 tablespoons of this yummy sauce, which can add up to over 150 grams of sugar!

Salad Dressing: Just like adding ketchup to a burger, pouring salad dressing – even the low-fat versions – on your salad can pack on several grams of sugar to your otherwise healthy meal. Many low-fat salad dressings have added sugar in order to boost the flavor.

Other Unsuspecting Sources:

Marinara Sauce: Although a pasta dish with a basic tomato sauce is the last place you would suspect to find two or more teaspoons of sugar, it is certainly there. It is a mystery why manufacturers bother to add the sugar since you can’t taste it in the sauce anyway. Beware of ordering tomato based sauces in restaurants for this reason and always read the label carefully when buying jarred sauce at the grocery store.

Energy Bars: Energy bars were originally touted by athletes as a nutritional way to give them energy while working out or competing in sports. They gave the public the misconception that if a healthy athlete is eating them, they must be good for the body. In reality, when it comes to sugar content, eating some energy bars is not much different than eating a candy bar. Several leading energy bars, such as Zone, NutGo and Luna all pack about 14 grams of sugar in each bar.

Resources:

If you are interested in learning more about how to live a healthy and secure lifestyle, visit Canada's Life Insurance Guide at Kanetix.ca. This website provides detailed information on the best practices in getting a life insurance policy and how to get the best insurance rates in Canada. If you are looking to get the best life insurance quotes in Canada, visit Kanetix.ca today to do an online quote comparison.

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