Beware of Hidden Sugars
By Nancy Adler
Added sugars aren’t a necessary nutrient in your diet. Although small amounts are fine, they can cause serious harm if eaten in large amounts on a regular basis. A teaspoon of sugar contains 4 grams, so this amounts to 24 grams per day for women and 36 grams for men. Most people today eat much more than that.
As I always preach, the best way to avoid hidden sugars in your meals is to make them at home so you know exactly what’s in them. However, if you need to buy prepackaged food, make sure you check the labels to identify any hidden added sugars, especially when buying foods from this list.
Let’s start with breakfast cereals. They are a popular, quick and easy breakfast food. However, the cereal you choose could greatly affect your sugar consumption, especially if you eat it everyday. Some breakfast cereals, particularly those marketed to children, have lots of added sugar. Some even contain 12 grams, or 3 teaspoons of sugar in a small 30-gram (1-ounce) serving
Check the label and try choosing a cereal that is high in fiber and doesn’t contain added sugar. Or better yet, wake up a few minutes earlier and cook a quick healthy breakfast with a high-protein food like eggs. Eating protein for breakfast can help you lose weight .
All fruit contains natural sugars. However, some canned fruit is peeled and preserved in sugary syrup. This processing strips the fruit of its fiber and adds a lot of unnecessary sugar to what should be a healthy snack.The canning process can also destroy heat-sensitive vitamin C, although most other nutrients are well preserved.Whole, fresh fruit is best. If you want to eat canned fruit, look for one that has been preserved in juice rather than syrup, which has a slightly lower sugar content.
The very popular, on-the-go breakfasts, cereal bars can seem like a healthy and convenient choice. However, like other “health bars,” cereal bars are often just candy bars in disguise. Many contain very little fiber or protein and are loaded with added sugar.
Vitamin water 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.In fact, a bottle of regular Vitaminwater contains 120 calories and 32 grams of sugar. Despite all the health claims, it’s wise to avoid Vitaminwater as much as possible.You could opt for the sugar-free version, which is sweetened with artificial instead. That being said, plain water or sparkling water are much healthier choices if you’re thirsty.
Protein bars are a popular snack. Foods that contain protein have been linked with increased feelings of fullness, which can help with weight loss. This has led people to believe that protein bars are a healthy snack While there are some healthier protein bars on the market, many contain around 30 grams of added sugar, making them similar to a candy bar. When choosing a protein bar, read the label and avoid those that are high in sugar. You can also eat a high protein food like yogurt instead.
Iced tea is a chilled tea, usually sweetened with sugar or flavored with syrup. It’s popular in various forms and flavors around the world, and this means the sugar content can vary slightly. Most commercially prepared iced teas will contain around 33 grams of sugar per 12-oz (340 ml) serving, which is about the same as a can of Coke. If you like tea, pick regular tea or choose iced tea that doesn’t have any sugars added.
Here it comes! Coffee! A large flavored coffee in some coffeehouse chains can contain up to 25 teaspoons of sugar.That’s equivalent to 100 grams of added sugar per serving, or nearly 3 times the amount you would get from a 12-oz (340 ml) can of Coke. Considering the strong link between sugary drinks and poor health, it’s probably best to stick to coffee without any flavored syrups or added sugar.
Sports drinks can often be mistaken as a healthy choice for those who exercise. However, sports drinks are designed to hydrate and fuel trained athletes during prolonged, intense periods of exercise. For this reason, they contain high amounts of added sugars that can be quickly absorbed and used for energy. In fact, a standard 20-oz (570 ml) bottle of a sports drink will contain 32 grams of added sugar and 159 calories, which is equivalent to 8 teaspoons of sugar . Woah! Sports drinks are therefore categorized as “sugary drinks.”
Like soda and fruit juice, they have also been linked with obesity and metabolic disease . Unless you’re a marathon runner or an elite athlete, then you should probably just stick to water while exercising.This is by far the best choice for most of us .
Fruit juices , like whole fruits , contain some vitamins and minerals. However, despite seeming like a healthy choice, these vitamins and minerals come with a large dose of sugar and very little fiber.It usually takes a lot of fruit to produce a single glass of fruit juice, so you get much more sugar in a glass of juice than you would get by eating whole fruit. This makes it easy to consume a large amount of sugar quickly. In fact, there can be just as much sugar in fruit juice as there is in a sugary drink like Coke. The poor health outcomes that have been convincingly linked to sugary sodas may be linked to fruit juices too. It’s best to choose whole fruit and minimize your intake of fruit juices.
Ketchup is one of the most popular condiments worldwide, but like BBQ sauce, it is often loaded with sugar. Try to be mindful of your portion size when using ketchup and remember that a single tablespoon of ketchup contains 1 teaspoon of sugar.
BBQ sauce can make a tasty marinade or dip. However, 2 tablespoons of it can contain around 14 grams of sugar, or over 3 teaspoons . In fact, up to 40% of the weight of BBQ sauce may be pure sugar.If you are liberal with your servings, this makes it easy to consume a lot of sugar without meaning to. To make sure you aren’t getting too much, check the labels and choose the sauce with the least amount of added sugar. And remember to watch your portions.
Added sugars are often hidden in foods that we don’t even consider to be sweet, such as spaghetti sauce. All spaghetti sauces will contain some natural sugar given that they’re made with tomatoes.Many spaghetti sauces have extra sugar added to them as well.
The best way to ensure you aren’t getting any unwanted sugar in your pasta sauce is to make your own. However, if you need to buy pre-made spaghetti sauce, check the label and pick one that either doesn’t have sugar on the ingredients list or where it’s listed very close to the bottom. This indicates that it’s not a major ingredient.
Nancy Adler is a certified nutritionist and practitioner in Linwood. Her office is located in Cornerstone Commerce Center, 1201 New Rd. Learn about her practice at ww.nancyadlernutrition.com (609)653-4900
You may listen to Nancy every Sunday at 2 pm Nancy Adler Nutrition LIVE! NewsTalk 1400 WOND
