Surprise! These Foods are Packed with Sugar
By Sara Butler
There are some foods you don't even need to check in order to see they contain more sugar than you should eat. Candy is a perfect example since it's mostly sugar! The problem that lurks around more corners than you may realize is the problem of hidden sugars. From milk to marinades, sugar is hiding everywhere and some choices you thought might be healthy may be hiding as much sugar as a donut! Here are a few of the foods you may want to take a second look at when trying to avoid excess sugar in your diet.
Low-Fat Yogurt
Your morning go-to may be hiding a secret -- sugar! Yogurt is a nutritious food and some of the sugars are naturally-occurring sugars found in fruit and milk, but most of the sugar found in flavored yogurt comes from added sugar. One container of yogurt can have more than 20 grams of sugar. To put that in perspective, the American Heart Association suggests you limit your sugar intake to 25 grams per day.
Peanut Butter
Peanut butter can be a part of a healthy eating plan -- as long as you keep an eye on added sugars! Many different types of peanut butter you can buy has a lot of added sugar, especially if you buy one flavored with honey, chocolate, or cinnamon. Nut butters are a great source of protein, so don't cut them out of your diet. You simply need to make sure the kind you're buying isn't filled with sugar that destroys all your healthy eating intentions.
Dried Fruit
Fruit is good for you, right? Well, most of the time it is. The truth is that dried fruit is a far cry from the juicy fresh fruit you've come to know and love. Without water, the concentration of sugars is higher in dried fruit and often manufacturers will coat the outside of fruit in even more sugar to help offset some of the tartness of the dried fruit. You're far better off reaching for the hydrated version and saving yourself the added sugars.
Salad Dressing
Salads seem healthy, but they lose their healthy street cred the minute your douse them in salad dressing. Salad dressing is known to be a calorie and fat bomb, but it's also a sugar bomb. Often, fat-free or light versions of your favorite salad dressings add extra sugar to make up for the missing fat, meaning that you're probably getting a lot more sugar than you bargained for when you were simply trying to make a healthy choice.
Sugar is often hiding in plain sight, sneaking into foods you wouldn't normally suspect of being sugar bombs. That's why it's important to read nutrition labels so you can ensure you're keeping your sugar intake in check.
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