It’s no secret that sugar is bad for your health. I’m not talking about the natural sugars we eat with fruits and honey; That amount is minuscule compared to all the sugar we consume with seemingly sugar-free products. You don’t have to eat cookies and chocolate bars every day to eat sugar: there are products that contain a lot of sugar and are not even sweet! Yes, even that tomato soup you buy at the supermarket contains your daily dose of sugar. If you really want to reduce your sugar consumption, you need to know some tricks. Here are 10 foods that contain a lot more sugar than you think.
soda
Companies like to hide the amount of sugar they put in their products, so they give it various names to deceive the buyer. You may be looking for regular sugar, but instead you’ll find sucrose, carob syrup, fructose, dextrose, and all that. You really need to up your chemistry game to understand how much sugar is in the product you are purchasing. Soda is a pretty obvious choice, but get this: one can of soda contains 29 grams of sugar—that’s more than your daily dose! Women are recommended to consume 25 grams of sugar per day, while men can consume up to 36 grams.
flavored yogurt
Flavored yogurt may be advertised as healthy, but this is rarely the case. Especially those low in fat: companies add more sugar to compensate for the lack of flavor, making flavored yogurt as healthy as a scoop of ice cream. An 8-ounce yogurt can contain up to 33 grams of sugar, so you’d better read labels carefully. The best option is to buy natural yogurt and add fresh fruits and honey.
agave syrup
Agave syrup is often promoted as a healthy sugar substitute, but it is far from it. It is 85% fructose, which affects the liver and can cause big problems in the long term. Fructose is harder for the body to metabolize than, say, sucrose, but ultimately neither is better than the other. Still, it will be a little easier for your body to metabolize cane sugar than agave.
Granola bars
Granola bars are no better than candy with their chocolate coating or sugar-filled yogurt. They may also contain brown sugar, honey, corn syrup, and other unhealthy sweeteners. Half a cup of granola may seem like an innocent snack, but it contains about 10 grams of sugar. If you don’t feel full enough and eat one more serving, it will become a sugary mess for your body.
Barbecue sauce
Good barbecue sauce is a real sugar bomb, even if you take a small amount. Just a few tablespoons of BBQ sauce contains more sugar than I expected. You can take two tablespoons of this sauce and consume two teaspoons of sugar along with it. Up to 33% of BBQ sauce is pure sugar! Be careful with your portions and try to make your own sauces when possible.
