As someone who is very diligent about the amount of sugar I ingest in my diet, I am often astounded at the surprising variety of products which contain sugar, that I would not normally expect. While it is a good approach to eat whole foods where they are availiable whether it be by locality, or by cost, it is not always possible for people to shop with that strategy. It is in these commercially produced products that I often find the sugars I would not expect for the product type.
What The Sugar?!
When I am out grocery shopping it does take longer than it should, since I do check each of the products nutritional labels to determine the amount of sugar included for serving size listed on the food. I am often surprised to find suagr in products that I would not expect which has me put the product back on the shelf. I am going to call this response "What the Sugar?!" since I avoid products with these unexpected sugars. Over time I plan to post about some of these products I find to raise awareness to these surprising sources of sugar. I follow a ketogenic approach to eating, but any reduction in sugars and added carbohydates can be beneficial on your health and wellness.
Why it matters to check sugar content in food
One of the challenges when trying to gauge how much sugar is in your diet is being aware of "hidden" or "added" sugars to items that you may not normally expect to find sugar. While many people are awakening to the idea that limiting our sugar intake is a great step to improving our overwell health and wellness, we are not always aware of all the ways that sugar may be entering in our daily diet. So if you asked people to "watch their sugar intake" their natural approach is to limit foods they know to be higher in sugar such as the normal variety of "sweets". However it is the products that they don't realize contain sugar may also be contributing to their daily sugar intake. It is also important to note and limit the amount of many carbohydrates in your food, since your body will metabolize these into sugar, also known as glucose.
So while we are looking to limit our sugar intake we avoid those higher sugar products, we should be limiting the carbohydrates to turn into sugar, and finally choose to identify products with unexpected added sugars.
Where are the sugars hiding?
With the historical move toward lower fat food products, many food manufacturers have chosen to replace those removed fats with added sugars to enhance the flavor of those foods to make them more palatable
Sugar comes in many different natural and unnatural resources and can be listed on ingredient labels by different names, but they are still "sugar". Depending on where they appear in the ingredients list, you can have a rough estimate of the makeup of the product, with the more plentiful ingredients being in the front of the list.
From the article THE STICKY TRUTH: HIDDEN SUGARS IN 10 COMMON FOODS:
- Agave nectar, Brown sugar, Cane crystal, Cane sugar, Corn sweetener. Corn syrup
- Crystalline fructose, Dextrose, Evaporated cane juice, Organic evaporated cane juice
- Fructose, Fruit juice concentrates, Glucose, High-fructose corn syrup, Honey, Invert sugar
- Lactose, Maltose, Malt syrup, Molasses, Raw sugar, Sucrose, Syrup
I will often find a variety of the above in things like prepared meats:
- Breakfast meats such as sausages and bacon. Bacon normally has small amounts of sugar used in the curing process, but I have seen more products that are forgoing including sugar in this process
- Packaged burgers, chicken breasts, etc. This is usually seen mentioned in their % of flavoring solution.
- Smoked or "jerked" meat products.
- When I go to the butcher counter, I do ask if the meat they are being displayed has been "enhanced" with any flavoring solutions.
- When eating out, ask if they add any sugars or flour to things you may not expect, like their steaks, burgers, chicken wings.
I will also find sugar included in things like prepared salads, or vegetable medleys, so it is not always meat products.
It is also becoming easier to identify these products thanks to the recent FDA nutritional label updates in the US, instead of relying on reviewing the list of ingredients for the product. While it is far from perfect, it is at least more information for people to make their food purchase choices on.
You can't avoid it all the time
Awareness of the sugars in the food you eat will help you on your wellness goals. I have been finding it easier as the newer labeleing reaches more products, but you really can't avoid them all. At least being aware, you can find the products that may be adding those hidden sugars, and help yourself decide if it fits into your wellness goals.
What foods have you been surprised contained sugar?