It’s critical to keep your eating habits healthy and balanced. That includes keeping track of your consumption of vitamins, carbs, proteins, and… sugar. No matter how hard you try to avoid it – it’s everywhere! And for diabetics it’s an additional headache: you have to put some extra work to investigate what you eat, because even bread, veggies, and potatoes have sugar in them these days!
So, we did an investigation for you, and here’s a list of foods that usually contain hidden sugars.
Sauces, salad dressings & other condiments
Unfortunately, most of your favorite condiments (such BBQ sauce, pesto, ketchup, soy sauce, or chili) include a high concentration of sugar. It works well mixed with acid and salt, which evokes all sorts of taste palettes in sauces. Sugar will find its way by having pseudo-names such as corn syrup, fructose, etc. It might contain 10-12 grams of sugar in 2tbsp!
What to do?
There are a few possibilities. You can reduce the amount of gravy you pour on your dish OR you can try homemade sauces. That way you will be able to cut sugar from the recipe and put quantities of ingredients according to your taste.
Granola bars & dried fruits
If you enjoy protein or granola bars and consider them to be a healthy, crunchy snack… Well, hate to break it to you, but they also contain sugar. Whole-grain, nuts, and dried fruits are O.K. but sometimes honey, yogurt glaze or chocolate chips can fool you. Even raisins or other dried berries have some corn syrup in them. Adding to that, we suggest avoiding canned fruits also. The amount of glucose in that fruit-soaking liquid is insane.
What to do?
Read the labels on the products carefully. Try eating organic bars made from clean ingredients. You will feel full, energized, and less overpowered with sugar supplements.
Yogurt, cereal & oatmeals
Breakfast for most individuals consists of cereal, yogurt, or quick oatmeal. However, little do we know that these morning starters and energy boosters contain sugar – sometimes more than we could imagine. Flavored yogurts, sweetened cereals, and oatmeals have corn syrup, agave syrup, and other sneaky sugary ingredients that are difficult to track or inspect.
What to do?
Use plain yogurt or greek yogurt and top it with fresh fruit. With cereals and oatmeals try searching for whole-grain, natural, and, also, non-flavored ones. You can garnish it by your own choice – with bananas, berries, or nuts.
Bottom line
Nobody said staying healthy would be simple! However, as long as you learn and start to track your sugar consumption (by reading labels, swapping ingredients, or cutting the portion sizes – sauces, dippings, syrups, etc.).
Indeed, it’s never easy to stay consistent and keep up with your newly implemented habits. So, it’s definitely worth trying an app that can help you stay disciplined and stick to a new routine. Some example apps are Calorie Counter, mySugr, and Klinio.
The third mentioned option is designed for people with diabetes who struggle to manage diabetes. This app includes a bunch of features, including an entirely personalized meal plan, a beginner workout program, and a tracking interface for various health metrics.