It has been discovered that the consumption of sugar in excess has a direct relationship with our bone health, cardiovascular diseases, some types of cancer and it has even been observed that it may be related to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Not to mention that is one of the main responsible for obesity today, as Vitónica nutrition experts explain to us.
Natural sugar, present for example in an apple, is not the same as the added sugar in a soft drink, and our body reacts differently to each of them.
When we talk about added sugar, we mean any additional sugar added in the preparation of a product, and for purposes such as preservation or to improve the flavor of a product. It can be added in the form of sucrose, glucose, fructose and many other components, and they are a type of free sugar.
Free sugar can be presented in another form, as a sugar extracted from the food itself and added later, as in some fruit juices. TOl As with added sugar, free sugar is harmful to health and both have negative effects on us, and they hide in many products in our shopping cart without us even realizing it.
It is evident that products such as donuts or any sweet, candies and sweets, have added sugar in large quantities, but today we will tell you some foods with more added sugar than you think, and that can have a very negative effect on your health.
Vegetable drinks
Plant substitutes for milk they can contain in many cases a high percentage of added sugars, so it is vital to review the labeling well to locate those that have less. In the case of the almond drink, for example, most brands contain added sugars, so if you want to reduce consumption you will have to avoid them.
You can try the rice drink, since almost none of the ones we find in the market contain added sugars, or make your own almond milk at home, with this recipe from Directo al Paladar in which we can control the amount of sugar we add.
Salty crackers
If you thought that only dinosaur cookies had sugar or that when it puts digestive This is a cookie without sugar, you are as wrong as when you think that salty cookies are not also sugary. They contain less sugar, yes, but yesEven having an excessive contribution, in addition to many more calories than we imagine.
Some can contain up to 7.1 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Replace your purchase with homemade ones, like these crunchy salty crackers of seeds and herbs that they propose to us in Vitónica and that they are ideal to accompany a healthy yogurt dip.
Cereal bars or energy bars
As much as they put diet, light and other words that we tend to associate with healthy (wrongly), cereal bars tend to have a high percentage of added sugars. A good way to avoid them is to make the bars at home or choose one that specifies no added sugar.
The prepared sauces
From ketchup to teriyaki sauce going through mayonnaise, salad dressings such as caesar sauce or vinaigrettes. The sauces sold in supermarkets are almost always a bad choice if we want to reduce the consumption of added sugars. The best? Make the sauces at home to avoid that excess sugar.
Sliced bread
We go back to the whole grain or low fat trap: any sliced bread has more sugars (many more) than a loaf of sourdough bread, for example. It is not as healthy as it may seem and it is easily substituted in any meal, even if we make a sandwich. Eliminate it completely from the diet is to avoid a food with many added sugars.
Breakfast cereals
Breakfast cereals should be your last option if what you are looking for is start the day in a healthy way. The vast majority of cereals have high amounts of added sugar even when it comes to low-fat, like energy bars.
Juices
Usually packaged drinks, unless otherwise stated, have a lot of sugar. Both cola drinks and cold teas and even isotonic and energy drinks. The same happens with juices, which usually have added sugar to improve their flavor.
Balsamic vinegar
Modena vinegar is a delicatessen, but what we normally buy in the supermarket under the pseudonym of balsamic vinegar has nothing to do with the Italian original. The one normally sold here has a high percentage of sugar, about 15 grams per 100, because it is a mixture of caramel, vinegar and coloring, unhealthy even if we put it in a salad.
Photos | Rod Long, dhanya purohit, Brian Suman, Caroline attwood, Nyana stoica, Mateusz feliksik, and M Azharul Islam in Unsplash