added sugars

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mgodby86
mgodby86 Posts: 27 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all!

I am currently reading a book called "Eat Your Way to Happiness", and I am up to the chapter discussing added sugars. I hardly ever eat 'junk food' (candy, etc.), and thought I was doing great with my sugar intake. However, what I DO eat really adds up.

The book says it is not natural sugars (fruit, etc.) that you need to worry about, it's added sugars. So, I have a question. One of my favorite foods is Wallaby Organic Downunder yogurt (fruit @ the bottom). They have about 22g of sugar, which I know is really high, but I love them! The ingredients are:

"Organic Pasteurized Reduced Fat Milk, Organic Grapefruit Juice, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Lemon Pulp, Pectin, Organic Lemon Juice Concentrate, Organic Locust Bean Gum, Natural Flavor, Fruit and Veg Juice for color."

In this case, how much of those 22g do you think is attributed to added sugars? I read that cane juice is not as bad as refined sugar, but it's still "added."

Also, I was considering cutting out my daily OJ because it also had around 22g of sugar. However, it doesn't list any kind of sugar in the ingredients, so these are natural sugars, right?

Thanks in advance for any insight! :)

Replies

  • bostonmia
    bostonmia Posts: 15 Member
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    Dairy is tough, because sugar count comes from Lactose (which is sugar) as well as any added sugars. I would take a look at the plain version of the yogurt (no fruit, no flavor) and see if that helps you to guage what is being added in. For example the Total Fage site discloses that they do not use any added sugars, so it should be coming from the fruit and lactose. http://www.fageusa.com/Nutrition.aspx

    Other tips, if you normally use jelly or jam on toast, bread, etc then you should switch to "spread" as this does not have added sugars, only from the fruit and natural juices.

    I would go for eating the whole fruit and not the juice. It's fresher and less chance of getting anything added in!
  • safiresp04
    safiresp04 Posts: 29
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    Organic Evaporated Cane Juice is sugar. That's where your 22g comes from. Sure, some comes from lactose, I believe yogurt is relatively low in lactose compared to milk. Try buying fat free plain yogurt and adding your own fruit. If you need added sweetness, try adding some honey or a little bit of sweetener.

    Yes, natural sugars are good when it comes to your OJ, but there is more nutritional value in eating an orange vs. drinking a glass of juice.
  • mgodby86
    mgodby86 Posts: 27 Member
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    Well, I looked at a container of plain organic yogurt, and it had 11g of sugar (from just the milk). I would assume that the fruit juices in Wallaby also add a minimal amount of sugar, so perhaps more like 10g comes from added sugar? That's still not very good, but better than 22g. I think I'll still eat them, but just cut back.

    I've tried adding my own berries to the yogurt but it just tastes gross to me. Perhaps I will try adding a tiny bit of sweetener myself.

    As for the OJ, I am glad to hear that it is ok; I actually had an orange this morning, but I don't have a juicer, so it doesn't have that 'thirst quenching' feel that I get from OJ. Hm...
  • triggerasynapse
    triggerasynapse Posts: 15
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    This is what I know about sugars:
    Lactose, found in dairy products, is quite minimal in cultured dairy like cheese and yogurt. The active cultures use the lactose as food and then their by-products are what make yogurt and cheeses so yummy. So even though milk has lactose, yogurt and cheeses really don't have much.
    Juices are very high in sugar. Even the all natural ones. They never tell you how many oranges they use to make orange juice- but it's a lot, and most people would drink way more (sugar) in one cup of orange juice than they would eat of just plain oranges any day. Plus you lose out on the fiber when you drink juice.
    Pure cane juice (or whatever variation) is unrefined white sugar. A lot of companies get creative in what they want to call added sugar because they want you to buy their product.
    For me personally, and for a lot of people I know, if you can get yourself to quit added sugar for just one week your body will adjust fairly quickly and when you go back to eating things with added sugar they will taste too sweet and you won't want to eat them. The trick is resetting your taste buds.
    You can freeze a lot of fruits (strawberries (you have to hull them first), blueberries, raspberries) and then you can have a variety that will last a while. It's not that much more effort to buy plain things and add your own fruits to them. At first it may not taste as awesome as the added sugar stuff, but that's because you're not used to it. Additionally it helps to buy quality fruits (the best quality comes when the fruit is in season- think strawberries in the summer, clementine oranges in December...).

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