Amazed how much sugar is in things

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pwh300
pwh300 Posts: 99 Member
Trying to cut back some on sugar...Any suggestions?

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  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
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    Ummm, I am gonna go with eat less of it. Works every time.
  • pwh300
    pwh300 Posts: 99 Member
    edited April 2015
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    LOL Camo....I was surprised some things that had sugar.

    I love my fruit. Not drinking juices.
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
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    @pwh300 that's a rather open ended question unless we know what sort of foodstuffs you incorporate into your meals today.

    Eat fresh wherever possible, avoid highly processed foods as much as possible, and keep an eye out for hidden sugars (as you appear to be doing).
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    eat less processed food...

    But yeah, fruit and veg have sugar too...personally, if you're not eating cake and washing it down with multiple 40 ounce Big Gulps per day, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Yep. You have to read labels. In costco the other day they had three options for pasta sauce. One had 2 grams, one had 7 grams, one had 12 grams. Per serving. In pasta sauce.

    I look closely at the breads, sauces, dressings etc.
    And choose ones that taste good, have shorter ingredient lists, and LESS added sugar (in keeping with the WHO and Government recommendations).
    (and I really look at frozen and boxed convenience foods.)

    (and assume I'm getting a crap ton of added sugar when I eat out)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2015
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    If the issue is fruit, I wouldn't worry about it unless you are failing to meet other goals (like protein) or not hitting your calorie target.

    If it's packaged stuff, you have to figure out if it matters to you and read labels, not just how many grams of sugar there are. People flip out about sugar in dairy, but if it's plain dairy that sugar is from the milk only, not added. If it's flavored yogurt, it of course generally has added sugar, but a lot of the sugar is still from fruit and lactose and a little more may not matter to you if you like it better and are more likely to eat it.

    For another example, I make my own pasta sauce (tastes better that way IMO), but a serving of mine that I made a week or so ago--and had NO added sugar but did have tomatoes and lots of veggies--had 7 grams of sugar/serving (I'm trying to figure out how it could have only 2--I guess not a tomato and veg based sauce?). So the idea that there's lots of added sugar in a jarred pasta sauce is often not true. There's probably a little, of course, just as in many recipes it will be included--so if you care about this you need to read the labels--but it can be harder to sort out what's added and what's from added fruits and veggies and how much that matters.

    For something like dressing it's easy and avoids the issue if you just make your own, of course.
  • pwh300
    pwh300 Posts: 99 Member
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    I found out that the lite ice tea I get is 13 grams of sugar. Time to change that.

    Thanks for your suggestions.


  • mandy_bird
    mandy_bird Posts: 20 Member
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    Yes, processed foods and drinks are the worst. I admit, I like to drink soda and that stuff is awful. But, there are better options out there.

    One thing I've thought about doing is fruit water. Slicing up fruits, herbs, and some veggies into water. Now that it's closer to summer in the USA, more fresh fruits and herbs will be available. That way you still get a flavored drink, but without all the crap.


    Here's some good examples
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I make my own iced tea. Pick a kind that's fruity (like Republic of Tea blackberry sage for a national brand) and chill it. I guess it has natural blueberry flavor, if that bothers people, but I think it tastes good without any sweetener and almost no calories. I like to browse at tea shops in the herbal teas and try flavors that taste good combined with each other.

    I'm also obsessed with the Yogi Mayan Cocoa Spice and Aztec Sweet Chili flavors, but some might find them weird.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
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    read the labels on everything, reduce processed foods, reduce/eliminate juices or dilute them with water, if you want flavored yogurt buy plain and flavor it yourself with fruit or whatever you like. There are a lot of ways if you are willing to make it a priority.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    How can a pasta sauce only have 2 grams of sugar when the tomatoes would have their own sugars?

    What brand was that?

    To the OP, it's unfortunate the labels don't differentiate between natural and added sugars for your purposes, since you obviously want to cut back on added sugars. Try to read ingredient labels and judge where sugar appears on them as indicative of how much has been added. Remember that fruits and vegetables and dairy contain natural sugars of their own.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
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    How can a pasta sauce only have 2 grams of sugar when the tomatoes would have their own sugars?

    What brand was that?

    To the OP, it's unfortunate the labels don't differentiate between natural and added sugars for your purposes, since you obviously want to cut back on added sugars. Try to read ingredient labels and judge where sugar appears on them as indicative of how much has been added. Remember that fruits and vegetables and dairy contain natural sugars of their own.
    Yeah, that's really the best we can do. By law, they are required to list ingredients in order based on weight, so there is more of the ingredients listed first on the label. However, often they split the added sugar into a few different sugar names so they can legally move the sugars later in the ingredient list...so you might think there isn't much sugar in it but there really is.

    The only thing I can add is that you can't just look for "sugar". They will sometimes use terms like cane sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose (and any other word ending in "ose"), fruit juice concentrate, malt syrup, etc. Our labeling system really is screwed up.
  • alida1walsh
    alida1walsh Posts: 72 Member
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    I don't worry too much about going over the allowance for sugar. I went over by just having an orange and a banana even though this is the daily amount recommend by the Australian Heart Foundation. Just avoid too much processed food.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    How can a pasta sauce only have 2 grams of sugar when the tomatoes would have their own sugars?

    What brand was that?

    To the OP, it's unfortunate the labels don't differentiate between natural and added sugars for your purposes, since you obviously want to cut back on added sugars. Try to read ingredient labels and judge where sugar appears on them as indicative of how much has been added. Remember that fruits and vegetables and dairy contain natural sugars of their own.

    It would be nice. And I suspect with the new government guidelines that day is coming.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    Less premade food/meals, more home cooked food. Less fruit, more vegetables. I've found that even many dessert recipes taste just as good or better with less sugar than called for.
  • pwh300
    pwh300 Posts: 99 Member
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    mandy_bird wrote: »
    Yes, processed foods and drinks are the worst. I admit, I like to drink soda and that stuff is awful. But, there are better options out there.

    One thing I've thought about doing is fruit water. Slicing up fruits, herbs, and some veggies into water. Now that it's closer to summer in the USA, more fresh fruits and herbs will be available. That way you still get a flavored drink, but without all the crap.


    Here's some good examples

    THANKS for the link...They really look good too.