I am certain most people know that eating too much sugar is bad for their health.
It has been scientifically proven to increase the risk of dis-ease in the body causing disease, including obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, candida, just to name a few.
As people are becoming aware of this dilemma, they are trying to minimize their sugar intake. It is however easy to miscalculate how much sugar you are consuming, due to many foods containing hidden sugars.
Sadly unbeknown to most, the products claimed to be light and low fat often contain more sugar than the "normal" version.
The AHA (American Heart Association) recommends added sugar to six teaspoons pe day, amounting to 24grams and nine teaspoons for men, amounting to 36grams.
On average most people would have that just in 2 cans of coke, let alone anything else they eat or drink.
Herewith a list of 18 foods and drinks that will shock you at how much sugar is in each of them.
1. Low-Fat Yogurt For a start, I would abstain from yogurt that is made with dairy. Some people believe it to be very nutritious, however I find it to be mucous as are most products made from dairy. I mentioned above many low fat products are laden with sugar, well low fat yoghurt is not exempt, in order to enhance the flavor.
A single cup of low fat yogurt (240grams) can contain up to 47 grams of sugar, (12 teaspoons.) This is more than the daily limit for both men and women in just one single serve, of what most people believe is healthy.
2. BBQ Sauce Many people use BBQ sauce to make marinades or dips, however, in just two tablespoons, it can contain around 14 grams of sugar.
3. Tomato Sauce (Ketchup) Ketchup is one of the most popular condiments worldwide, but like BBQ sauce, is often loaded with sugar and sadly loaded onto little childrens plates to make their veggies more palettable.
You need to be mindful of your and your families health and if you continue to consume it at least control the portion size when using ketchup. A single tablespoon of ketchup contains 1 teaspoon of sugar.
4. Fruit Juice Fruit juice may contain a small amount of vitamins and minerals, however, these vitamins and minerals come with a large dose of sugar and minimal fiber. Because it takes so much fruit to produce a single glass of juice, the sugar is more concentrated in the juice than if you were to eat the fruit whole. This means by drinking a glass of juice you are consuming a large amount of sugar quickly, making it no different than drinking a soda.
5. Spaghetti Sauce Spaghetti sauces naturally contain sugar since they are made with tomatoes, but sadly, extra sugar is always added to the recipe. Make your own. It's tastier and safer.
6. Sports Drinks Many people think because they play sports it is good to drink the sports drinks found on the market. What they don't realise is these drinks are designed to hydrate and fuel top athletes during prolonged, intense workouts, marathons, matches etc. making them loaded with sugars for the body to quickly absorb and use for energy.
A standard 570ml bottle of sports drink contains 32 grams of added sugar, (equivalent to eight teapoons), which is 159 calories.
The best drink for anyone doing sports who is not a marathon runner or elite athlete is water. http://www.healthreform.com.au/blogs/water-for-life
7. Chocolate Milk Milk that is flavored with cocoa and sweetened with sugar is called chocolate milk. A 230ml container of chocolate milk has two teaspoons of added sugar.
8. Granola As much as I love Granola, I will not purchase it due to the high content of sugar. It is always marketed as a healthy, low fat breakfast option despite being high in calories and sugar. The other thing to consider is plain rolled oats are a well-balanced cereal, however, uncooked will leach the calcium from your body. 100 grams of granola contains nearly 400 calories and over 6 teaspoons of sugar.
Try making your own granola, its delicious and nutritious.
9. Flavored Coffees Flavored coffee has become a popular trend, even being served to young children. In some coffee house chains, a large coffee can contain up to 25 teaspoons (100grams) of sugar, which is staggering. That is three times the amount than in a 340ml can of coke.
I persoanlly abstain from coffee due to the toxic effect, however if you must have one, stick to the unflavoured syrups.
10. Iced Tea Iced tea is usually made from black or red teas which are not very healthy at all. They are usually sweetened with sugar, containing around 33grams per 340ml serve or flavored with syrups that are equally loaded.
11. Vitaminwater Vitaminwater is marketed as a healthy drink containing added vitamins and minerals, however, like many other so-called "health drinks," Vitaminwater comes with a large amount of added sugar. A bottle of regular Vitaminwater contains 120 calories and 32 grams of sugar. Despite all the health claims, it is wise to avoid Vitaminwater and stick to plain water
12. Ready Made Soups When soup's are made with fresh whole ingredients, it is definitely a healthy choice and is a great way to increase vegetable consumption for children who don't want to eat veggies.
Many soups prepared commercially have a lot of unwanted added ingredients, including sugar, preservatives and fat.
Get into the habit of looking at the label for ingredients like sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, barley malt, dextrose, maltose and other syrups. The higher up on the list an ingredient is, the higher its content in the product.
13. Cereal Bars They are a quick on the go breakfast, which seem to be a healthy and convenient choice, but are they? I believe they are candy bars in disguise containing minimal fiber, protein or nutriment, simply loaded with added sugar which is the famous selling point.
14. Canned Fruit All fruit contains natural sugars called fructose. Some canned fruit is peeled and preserved in sugary syrup. It has now become a processed food stripped of its fiber and loaded with sugar. The canning process is also known to destroy heat-sensitive vitamin C, although they claim most other nutrients are well preserved.
I say stick to whole fresh fruit.
15. Canned Baked Beans Who would ever have thought they would be loaded with sugar? 254 grams of regular baked beans contain about 5 teaspoons of sugar. The low sugar can contain about half the quantinty of sugar than the regular ones
16. Boxed Breakfast Cereals Boxed cereals are very popular, especially for mothers with young children as it makes a quick and easy breakfast. This is very sad, because these cereals are loaded with sugar and the combination of sugar and fat have a devastating effect in the gut just 20 mins later.
These young ones then leave for school and the teachers are taring their hair out trying to deal with a classroom of hyper active children who cannot sit still. The parents are then informed their children have ADD or ADHD and really it is all in the diet.
Wake up and cook your children a good hearty breakfast. That will help them enormously.
The Main Point We don't need added sugars in our diet. They can and will cause us serious harm if unchecked and not corrected. It will serve you and your family to make all your meals from scratch. It will save you in the short, medium and long term.
If for whatever reason you continue purchasing ready made food, get into the habit of checking the labels and start identifying any hidden added sugars, or perhaps other harmful ingredients as mentioned.
Written by Michele Hill 29th January 2019 inspired in a cafe for my father in laws 90th birthday today...