Sneaky Sugar Sources
Cutting back on sugar is one of the best things you can do for your health—the sweet stuff has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and obesity, as well as depression, anxiety, acne and wrinkles. But avoiding the obvious sources like cookies, candy and soda isn’t enough. You need to be a vigilant label reader because sugar is an ingredient in nearly 75% of the packaged food sold in grocery stores.
To make things more complicated, there are over 60 different names for sugar on food labels. Are food manufacturers trying to sneak sugar into products on purpose? Absolutely. They know sugar is addictive, and that people tend to prefer sweet over savory. If a label doesn’t list “sugar” look for other terms: words that end in -ose such as sucrose, dextrose, fructose, lactose and maltose (all sugar); malt (like barley malt); syrup (such as carob syrup and corn syrup); fruit nectar or concentrate; honey; agave; molasses; and so many more. Here’s a link to a list.
Sugar is hidden in everyday foods you’d least suspect such as bread, ketchup, salad dressing, yogurt, sauces such as spaghetti, barbecue, hoisin and teriyaki, granola, peanut butter, energy bars, store-bought teas and smoothies. . . The average American ingests a whopping 88 grams of sugar a day, which is over 21 teaspoons! The American Heart Association recommends a daily limit of 25 grams (or 6 tsp.) for women and 37.5 grams (9 tsp.) for men—but even those amounts are a lot if you’re trying to lose weight. Not only does sugar lead to excess belly fat, but because it’s addictive, eating foods that contain sugar makes you crave more sugar.
Although I make my own salad dressing and smoothies, and usually make homemade marinara and bread, there are a small number of packaged products I buy for my family—all have very few grams of natural sugar per serving (and no added sugar):
Primal Kitchen Organic Unsweetened Ketchup 1 gm sugar
Elmhurst Unsweetened Milked Almonds (almond milk) 1 gm sugar
Mary's Gone Crackers 0 gm sugar
Santa Cruz Organic Peanut Butter 1 gm sugar
Woodstock Almond Butter 1 gm sugar
Rao's Marinara Sauce 4 gm sugar
Good Culture Cottage Cheese 3 gm sugar
Nature's Promise Organic Salsa 0 gm sugar
Bread Alone Organic Nine Mixed Grain Bread 0 gm sugar
Trimona Organic Plain Bulgarian Yogurt 6 gm sugar
Salsa Fresca
¼ small white or red onion, minced
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 lb. fresh, ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1 to 3 jalapeño or serrano chiles, minced (and seeded, if you like a milder salsa)
4 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro, more to taste
1 to 3 teaspoons fresh lime juice (optional)
Salt to taste
Place minced onion in a bowl and cover with cold water. Add vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes or longer. Drain and rinse with cold water. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients and stir in onions. (If your tomatoes are full of flavor, you won’t need lime juice.) Ideally, let stand at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes before eating so that flavors will blend.