Are you looking to make one significant improvement to your health this year? If so, vow to remove the unnecessary sugar from your life. Aside from the annual holiday party or special occasion, most people are unknowingly over-consuming this highly addictive substance in its many forms on a daily basis. If any of your daily foods come in a package, wrapper, or from a restaurant, chances are you are eating much more sugar than you realize. Your “healthy” breakfast of strawberry yogurt, for example, has an incredible 29 grams of sugar! To give you some perspective, a Snickers candy bar has 20 grams of sugar. So, just how healthy is that morning yogurt really? Sugar in its many forms plays a significant role in the development of illnesses and obesity. Below are just some of sugar’s many aliases to watch out for:
- Agave (not healthy!)
- Corn sweetener
- Evaporated cane juice
- Fructose
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Glucose
- Grape juice concentrate
- High fructose corn syrup (the worst!)
- Honey
- Maltodextrin
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
- Rice syrup
- Sucrose
If you are going to eat anything processed (i.e., in a sealed box, wrapper or bag), always remember to look at the grams of sugar listed on the label. Aim to consume foods with less than 6 grams of sugar. Better yet, eat real food that doesn’t come with a label to ensure that any sugar you do eat is nature-made (from fruit and veggies) and is loaded with vitamins and nutrients.