How To Avoid Eating Excess Sugar
Sugar is pretty much everywhere these days. Companies even add it to things that you wouldn't suspect because they aren't sweet. But food companies put it in everything from bread to salad dressing. In fact, just the other day I took a look at a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup and the second ingredient (after tomato puree) was high fructose corn syrup. This is a type of sugar made from corn. And food ingredients are listed by their amounts which means that as the second ingredient on the list, there is a lot of sugar in this soup. Our bodies naturally crave sugar and that's why companies put it in so many items. Even if you aren't eating something that you would think of as sugary, your body still knows it's there and it will make you come back for more.
Of course, not all sugar is bad for you. All different types of sugar are okay to eat in moderation. The issue is that food companies put extra sugar in so many foods that it's hard to keep track. Foods that contain sugar naturally (like fruit) are okay (in moderation) and usually also have healthy ingredients such as fiber or vitamins. Fiber helps regulate how fast your body processes sugar. When it comes to fruit, you'll also get some water which helps dilute the amount of sugar you eat. But when you eat foods that are high in sugar and have very little nutritional value (like pizza, chips, etc.), your body can't burn off the excess sugar so it stores it as fat. This can lead to weight gain, damaged arteries, and diabetes. Today, the average American consumes about 77 pounds of sugar every year. This is why diseases like heart disease and diabetes are skyrocketing in the United States. This is also why more and more Americans are being classified as obese.
Remember how I said ingredients are listed in order of their amount? According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, manufacturers are allowed to list different types of sugar by their individual names. This can lead to the impression that there isn't as much sugar in a food, especially if the first one listed is further down the list. But all this sugar adds up.
Of course, sometimes sugar is listed under very obvious names like coconut sugar or brown sugar. But companies love to use more complicated sounding words to throw you off. So you also need to know words like fructose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, sucrose, and saccharose. Fruit contains glucose and fructose and when mixed together they create sucrose, which is the same type of sugar that's extracted from sugar cane plants to make table sugar.
Don't be mislead by labels like "natural" and "low-fat". Just because the sugar in a food comes from "natural" sources doesn't mean there can't be too much in it. And many food companies will put excess sugar in "low-fat" foods in order to improve the taste. Foods that you generally think of as healthy like smoothies and protein bars usually have added sugar.
You might be thinking, what about artificial sweeteners? Well, they can be a good option to help you eat less sugar because they don't have any calories but they can lead to stomach problems when you eat too much. So it's a good idea to consume artificial sweeteners in moderation. If you want to keep an eye on the amount in your food, look for names like ascelfame-K, aspartame, stevia, saccharin, and sucralose.
References:
Pew Research Center. What's on Your Table? How America's Diet Has Changed Over the Decades. December 13, 2016. Accessed at http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/12/13/whats-on-your-table-how-americas-diet-has-changed-over-the-decades on January 31, 2018.
Self. 12 Surprising Foods That Are Packed With Added Sugar. May 27, 2016. Accessed at https://www.self.com/story/12-surprising-foods-that-are-packed-with-sugar on January 31, 2018.
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