SUGAR is one of the main ingredients in almost everything that we eat daily. We put it in our morning coffee, we like it in our snacks, and we enjoy it in desserts.
What we always avoid to know is the harm it can give to our bodies once intake is out of control.
There are two types of sugar: naturally occurring sugar (such as the lactose in milk) and added or ‘free’ sugars that include refined table sugar (sucrose) frequently inside concentrated substances like fruit juice, honey and syrups.
Sugar is needed to energize, fuel your muscles and keep your brain active. However, there are sugar in most of the processed food we eat that brings calories and people end up consuming more than what they need. This lead to our blood sugar levels to shoot up and cause even more cravings for more sugary foods.
The most common disease caused mainly by high sugar intake is diabetes. It gets serious when the body cannot properly control the amount of sugar in the blood due to lack of insulin.
Gathered below is the list of foods and drinks that contain high sugar counts as recorded through evidences by Healthline and HealthALicious. Grocery-goers must be on the lookout for these to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
1 Low-fat yoghurt. Consumers are often deceived by the tagline “low-fat” but little did they know that fat is not the only harmful ingredient inside a pack of yoghurt. Companies indeed lessen the fat but in order for the food to taste good, they add more sugar in it.
For example, a single cup (245 grams) of low-fat yogurt can contain up to 47 grams of sugar, which is 12 teaspoons. This is more than the daily limit for men and women in just a single cup.
2 Ketchup. Ketchup is one of the most common condiments found in every household’s table. It is known for the rich taste it gives to our food. However, it also has sugar overload hidden in every bottle.
You must be careful in consumption as a single tablespoon of ketchup carries 1 teaspoon of sugar.
3 Fruit juice. These juices provide vitamins and minerals to our bodies because they are made out of real fruit extracts. Despite this, it still can be considered as one of the food rich in sugar levels.
Most fruit juices have the same sugar amount as that of some sugary drinks like bottled or canned sodas.
4 Cookies, cakes and pies. It’s obvious that these foods cannot function well without sugar. Lots of sugar. The range of sugar amount inside them goes around 25 percent to 61 percet according to experts’ estimations.
5 Spaghetti. You will be surprised to know that the added sugar is main ingredient of foods that we don’t even consider to be sweet, such as the sauce used for spaghetti. It doesn’t taste that sweet right?
However, it contains natural sugar as it’s made out of tomatoes. Manufacturers also add extra and artificial sugar to further enhance the taste.
6 Jams, preserves and spreads. We love our bread with our spreads. It doesn’t taste as good without them. The sugar level inside our favorite jams and marmalades range from 10 percent to 54 percent, according to health monitor sites.
7 Cereals. Like bread and coffee, cereals are also a mainstay in breakfast tables. Kids and adults love it with or without milk. What they should know is that the ingredients used to create these sumptuous meal range from 27 to 50 percent in sugar levels.
8 Ice cream. It’s everyone’s favorite dessert! You cannot see a restaurant without ice cream on their menu because people love the taste of this cold food. It’s also undeniable that it contains a high number of sugar. You can tell in its taste.
An average tub of ice cream contains up to 25 percent of sugar depending on the flavor.
9 Iced tea. Tea when chilled usually takes sweeteners and syrups to have an improved taste. Most commercially prepared iced tea will contain around 33 grams of sugar per 12-oz (340 ml) serving, almost the same as that of a canned soda.
10 Dried fruits. Mangoes, apples, these are the most common fruits people also enjoy when dried. What they don’t know is that drying up fruits can require a high amount of sugar.
Processing them can take up to 81 percent, based on studies.
Sweets cannot just be easily removed from our system because we love the taste and pleasure it brings to our mouths. A meal is not complete without something sugary to chew or bite, right? The solution to prevent diseases like diabetes is maintaining a healthy lifestyle by watching our sugar intake.
Ruth Karla Mae M. Domingo
Image credits: pixabay.com
