“Healthy” foods with a shocking amount of sugar
| 2 min read
Do you think you could cut out all sugar for a week? A month? How about a full year? As impossible as that sounds, Eve Schaub challenged her husband and two young children to do the latter and go without sugar for an entire year. Along the way she wrote a book called Year of No Sugarabout their triumphs and setbacks and what it takes to actually conquer this goal.
And Schaub isn’t the only one who wants people to eat less sugar. The FDA’s new nutrition labels will include an “added sugar” category to help other families accomplish this goal. If you’re one of the many Michiganders trying to cut back on sugar, you’ve probably already nixed canned soda and desserts. But what you may not know (and what Schaub couldn’t believe) is that some seemingly healthy foods can also be packed with more than a few teaspoons of the sweet stuff.
9. BBQ sauce – An easy addition to any picnic or grilled meal, but one ounce can cost you 9 grams of sugar.
8. Marinara pasta sauce – Although delicious, especially in your mom’s lasagna recipe, red sauce can have 15 grams of sugar in roughly half a cup.
7. Fruit Loops – One cup of your kid’s favorite breakfast cereal also has 14 grams of sugar.
6. Tomato soup – Grilled cheese isn’t complete without some tomato soup, but it also comes with 15 grams of sugar in one serving.
5. Applesauce – The classic snack is also equal to a little more than one doughnut in terms of amount of sugar (15 grams).
4. Flavored yogurt – Greek yogurt may be the best thing since sliced bread, but if you pick the wrong flavor you could be adding 20 grams of sugar to your seemingly healthy snack. Go with the plain and add your own fruit instead.
3. Orange juice – Instead of sugar-packed juice (20 grams), reach for an actual orange to still get your calcium and vitamin C.
2. Low-fat blueberry muffin – One of these baked goods can add up to nearly 30 grams of sugar.
1. Dried cranberries – Not only does it have 34 grams of sugar, but enjoying only an ounce of dried cranberries is like eating more than two and a half donuts (that’s right, two and a half!).
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Photo credit: Vox Efx
