Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and caries are some of the main diseases that predispose excessive consumption of sugar.
I imagine that this will not catch anyone (or practically anyone) by surprise, but what we can escape is that many of us often associate this “excessive consumption of sugar” with spending the day eating sweets, sweets and drinking sugary sodas . But nothing is further from reality because the really worrying thing is the large amount of sugar we consume almost without being aware of it .
You can, then, content to add sweetener to coffee (saccharin, cyclamate, stevia …) thinking that we no longer ingest any sugar all day is a thought as innocent as covering our eyes thinking that nobody would can see. Keep reading reheat chicken wings.
And, nowadays, to avoid an excessive consumption of sugar it is necessary, at least, to have certain food and nutrition knowledge, to be able to sort out certain foods and choose others instead of giving us enormous amounts of sugar. With this objective, today we bring you a list of the 10 commonly consumed foods that contain more sugar as well as some healthier proposals:
1. Soluble cocoa
We talk about cocoa powder that we usually add to milk to chocolatearla. Many times it is overlooked, but the truth is that the amount of sugar in this product is almost as high as the sugar itself, not in vain this is its main ingredient (along with some defatted cocoa). This means that 2 teaspoons of soluble cocoa give us 15g of sugar, an exaggeration for the simple fact of giving some flavor to the milk.
Much more healthy alternatives can be soluble cereals , which although some are also rich in sugars, their frugal weight means that with 2 teaspoons just add 3 or 4g. The coffee itself without adding sugar or an infusion such as tea (American tea) can also be good options to add flavor to milk without adding sugar.
2. Breakfast cereals
It’s nothing new and here in Medciencia we’ve already talked a lot about it. Breakfast cereals, even if some insist, are not a really healthy option because their contribution of sugar in some varieties can reach almost 50g per 100g of product.
3. Cookies and pastries
The cookies (even if they are whole, with soy, digestive …) and pastries such as muffins, biscuits and others also contain too much sugar. In almost all cases more than 20g of sugar per 100g of product.
I know, with this and with the breakfast cereals I am loading the breakfast of more than one person, therefore, if you want to try new breakfasts with alternatives to these foods, we also have some examples.
4. Sugary soft drinks / energy drinks
Being liquid foods it seems that their energy and sugar contribution can not be high. But many will be surprised how much sugar a simple can of cola can have: more than 35g. In addition, the scientific literature strongly associates its consumption with a greater body weight and could also favor the appearance of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
5. White / milk chocolate and chocolates
On occasion we have talked about the benefits of chocolate . However, its advantages are always associated with the consumption of dark chocolate with 70% or more of cocoa, which is why it is the best alternative to white or milk chocolate.
6. Marmalades
The commercialized jams usually have 50% sugar and 50% fruit.
Although a small portion spread on whole grain bread does not suppose an excessive contribution of sugars, the best alternative will be fresh fruit to which sugar will not have been added and it will not have lost nutrients such as vitamin C since it has not been exposed to high temperatures.
7. Dairy desserts
Often camouflaged after the healthy claim to be rich in calcium, custards, custards or even certain yogurts can provide more than 30g of sugar per unit, so we should get used to not consume these sweet foods and choose the least processed dairy products and no sugar added.
8. Fried tomato
While it does not have an exorbitant amount of sugar, it is normal that many tomato sauces contain much more sugar than they should. This happens because the industry adds it to ensure a very pleasant taste and avoid some acidity.
If we make homemade tomato sauce and we want to avoid acidity without having to add sugar, a trick is to poach a bit of onion before giving it sweetness and some people also recommend adding a piece of orange peel while cooking the tomato.
9. Sauces
Although generally the raw materials used make the sauces a very greasy product, they also usually have an appreciable amount of added sugar as is the case of many commercial sauces or even certain condiments such as sweet mustard or ketchup.
10. Candies, sweets and candies
Obviously they are not in the last position because they are the foods that have less sugar, but because they are assumed to be sporadic (at least more sporadic than those seen so far). Because in the case of sweets, sweets or candies, the sugar content is the same as that of the sugar itself , since it consists of products that are almost exclusively made with sugar, sugar syrups and dyes.
